Berkeley Aquatic Club Unveils Jim Wood Memorial Pool

Jim's brother Bob (middle) cut the ribbon for the naming of the Jim Wood Memorial pool with Mayor Al Morgan (right) and BAC head coach Tristan Formon (left); Photo Courtesy: Bobbie Peer, tapinto.net

Jim Wood, who founded Berkeley Aquatic Club in New Jersey, was honored on Saturday with the unveiling of the Jim Wood Memorial Pool and Celebration of Life memorial. Wood passed away in January this year at the age of 69.

Approximately 500 guests were on hand to celebrate Wood’s life and share their favorite memories and stories from his life.

At Saturday’s Celebration of Life, Tristan Formon, BAC Head Coach, told tapinto.net, “Jim connected with each one of us — to some of us, he was a coach, mentor, a colleague, support — father, a friend.”

Mayor Al Morgan, a childhood friend, said, “Jim was a guy we all admired as kids — and he drove a 65 Mustang convertible.” Morgan said, when Wood had difficulty securing a new location in Berkeley Heights, “we welcomed him with open arms in New Providence — you are a hometown boy,” Morgan said to Wood. He purchased the former Panasonic property for Berkeley Aquatic to come to New Providence. “He was an inspiration to me and a lot of people sitting here today. What a great influence he had on everyone — celebrate Jim’s life — celebrate and continue his dream.”

Wood was honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame with the lifetime achievement award last month for his contributions to the sport of swimming.

In 2006, Wood was the first swim coach to be elected President of USA Swimming. After serving his term of President at USA Swimming, Wood was elected to serve the entire governing body community, when he was elected President of the United States Aquatic Sports group in 2010.

Wood founded the Berkley Aquatic Club in 1977, a successful swim club team in New Jersey, while simultaneously influencing the future of swimming on a global scale. His passion for the sport and his desire to see it expand and grow inspired the entire swimming community for decades. He spoke extremely well before a large audience and he was often outspoken in his messages on the floor of the USA Swimming House of Delegates at its annual convention. Many of his friends will remember Jim as the champion for bringing back Junior Nationals to USA Swimming, mostly because he saw so many young swimmers benefitting from this first step to being recognized on a national level.

Photo Courtesy: Bobbie Peer

Wood gained national attention for being very active on the administrative side of the sport, setting high ethical standards. His first national responsibility was as the Chairman of USA Swimming’s Time Standards Committee. He served 12 years (1992-2004) as Chairman of the USA Swimming Olympic International Operations Committee and was a member of the USA Swimming delegation at the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.

In 2011, Jim was inducted to the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame and in 2015, he was voted as one of the “30 Most Influential People in Swimming Over the Past 30 Years”. In 2017, he was elected as one of the ASCA’s Vice Presidents.

At the time of his passing, Jim was Chairman of the USA Swimming Steering Committee, a member of the USA Swimming Board of Directors and a member of the USA Swimming Foundation. On a local level he previously served as the General Chairman of New Jersey Swimming.

The Berkeley Aquatic Club (BAC) swim school that Wood founded, taught over 8,000 school children how to swim. In 2012, it was reported that BAC competitive swim team had won 57 out of the last 64 state championships. At least 30 BAC swimmers have held first place national rankings and have raced 38 times at the U.S. Olympic Trials since 1980.

BAC athletes have represented the United States and “medaled” in every major international swimming competitions including the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. Wood coached Scott Goldblatt, a USA Olympian who won silver in 2000 and gold in 2004 as a member of USA’s 4×200 Free Relay, and Lauren Reynolds in the lead up the 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games. Reynolds won a Paralympic Gold medal in the women’s 400 free (S7 disability class) setting a new world record. She earned two silver medals in the 100 free S7 and as a member of the 400 free relay.

At the 2001 FINA World Swimming Championships, Wood was on the pool deck in Fukuoka, Japan to watch the USA swim to a third-place finish in the men’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay. He may have been the only one to notice that two men swam in a different order, but while this may have escaped everyone else’s attention, he urged the National Team Director to self-report the violation, resulting in the relay team’s disqualification. Jim Wood was a man of integrity and this is but one example of his character. In 2003, the USA Swimming Award, the organization’s highest honor was presented to Wood in recognition of his contributions to the sport of swimming.

In 2004, he had a vision to build his own aquatic complex. It was a dream that started with the purchase of the 2004 USA Olympic Trials pool from Long Beach, California. The pools were shipped across country and were to become the cornerstone for his vision, “The Center for Excellence”. The pools sat in storage for years while he considered more than 50 properties and fought countless zoning issues across several municipalities while searching for the optimum location. In 2015, Wood’s dream facility finally opened in New Providence, New Jersey, just miles from his childhood home.

Beyond swimming, more than 50 BAC swimmers have earned High School All-American Honors. All Berkeley graduates have gone on to attend four-year colleges such as Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Texas, US Military Academy at West Point, the Naval Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and UNC, to name a few. More than 20 BAC graduates have earned NCAA All-American Honors.

Over the course of his coaching career, Jim was stubborn……Jim was outspoken……and Jim was a man of the highest integrity. As a swim coach Jim Wood will always be loved.

Tapinto.net contributed to this story.

At the conclusion of the memorial, luminaries were sent into the pool; Photo Courtesy: Bobbie Peer, tapinto.net

Name*

Email*

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

Name*

Email*

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Chuck Warner

4 years ago

A fantastic celebration for the best friend the sport of swimming and his swimmers could ever have.