Passages: Jerry Holtrey, ASCA Hall of Fame Coach, 86
Longtime Ohio high school swimming coach and ASCA Hall of Fame inductee Jerry Holtrey died on Dec. 23. He was 86 years old.
Holtrey spent more than 45 years as the coach at Hawken School in Cleveland before retiring in 2014. He led the Hawks to 26 state championships as a team, including 16 consecutive on the girls side to end his tenure, a streak that would extend to 24 titles and run through 2023. It was the third-longest active streak in the nation when it was broken.
Holtrey’s star pupils include Olympic gold medalists Diana Munz, Melanie Valerio, Sharon Wichman and Matt Vogel. He mentored more than 400 collegiate All-Americans, 24 individual event winners at Senior Nationals and high-point winners at both Senior Nationals and World Open Water Champions.
“Hawken School mourns the passing of legendary swimming coach Jerry Holtrey,” Director of Athletics Jim Doyle said in a press release. “Coach Holtrey dedicated 45 years of his life to Hawken, beginning in 1969, and built one of the most respected swimming programs in the state.”
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Holtrey began coaching in 1963. He took over the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins and joined Hawken in 1967.
As a swimmer, Holtrey competed for Huntington YMCA, which won a YMCA National Championship in 1957 under coach Glen Hummer. He swam at Club Olympia in Fort Wayne, Indiana, then in college at the University of Michigan (under Gus Stager) and Indiana (with Doc Counsilman).
He had brief coaching stints in Indiana with Club Olympia and in Ashland, Kentucky, before taking over the Silver Dolphins. Holtrey taught at the Hawken School from 1969-2008.
A multiple-time coach of the year in Ohio and regionally, Holtrey was on the staff for two Pan Pacific Championships, as well as USA junior teams in international delegations.
He was elected to the ASCA Hall of Fame in 2010.