Long Beach State – Swimming’s Cradle of Coaches?

PHOENIX, Ariz. – 07-31-04 – POSSIBLY motivated by the Olympic swimming fever passing through his old stomping grounds in Long Beach, five-time U.S. Olympic coach Don Gambril wrote a short note to Phil Whitten, our Editor here at SwimInfo, to praise the incredible list of swim coaches in Long Beach State (LBS) history.

Gambril got a note from another LBS coaching alumni, Stanford Men’s coach Skip Kenny, forwarding the recent announcement by Soka University that head coach Dave Salo had added the first two assistants in school history, John Urbanchek and Adam Crossen. Salo had commented that Soka might be the only school in the country with two US Olympic coaches on its staff. Gambril’s juices were stirred enough to comment on LBS coaching history, which even includes Urbanchek — in his pre-Michigan life.

Gambril wrote:
Phil: It might be worth a mention Long Beach State has had Skip
Kenny, John Urbanchek, and myself as Olympic Coaches, and all of
us, along with Dick Jochums, were head world championship
coaches. Skip and I were head Pan Am coaches as well. I know
Jim Schultz was head Pan Am water polo coach, and I think there
might have been more for WP too.

The trials were great and the men's team may well rival the 76
team for gold medals. Granted there are more events now.

Don Gambril

Well, Don, if Miami of Ohio was the cradle of legendary football coaches, ….

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x