By Mark Soltau<\/i><\/p>\n
STANFORD, California, August 2. THE 2014-15 season will be the 100th on The Farm for the Stanford men\u2019s swimming team. <\/p>\n
The storied program has produced eight NCAA titles, 62 conference crowns, more than 100 All-Americans, dozens of Olympians and nine world record holders.<\/p>\n
Established in 1916 and guided by head coach Ernie Brandsten (1916-1947), who doubled as the diving coach, Stanford dropped its first intercollegiate dual meet to Cal, 41-27. But Brandsten\u2019s squads improved quickly, churning out 17 consecutive conference titles and many national and AAU champions in the 1920s and 30s, sparked by three-time Olympic gold medalist Norman Ross. Ross set 13 world records at international distance and 18 more in AAU competition. Other key contributors included John McKelvey, Austin Clapp, Ted Wiget and Emmet Cashin.<\/p>\n
Brandsten\u2019s wife, Greta, earned an Olympic gold medal in diving in 1912 competing for Sweden, and later coached the Stanford women\u2019s swimming team.<\/p>\n
Tom Haynie followed Brandsten (1948-1960) and the program didn\u2019t skip a beat. During his 13-year tenure, Stanford compiled an 84-9 dual meet record and won 11 of 13 league championships. Haynie was a star swimmer at Michigan, where he led the Wolverines to NCAA titles in 1937 and 1939.<\/p>\n
At Stanford, his teams went 24-0 against Cal, 13-0 against UCLA and 11-2 against USC. Among his distinguished swimmers were world record holder Robin Moore and Olympians George Harrison and Paul Hait.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the kind of coach who cared for his swimmers,\u201d said Jim Gaughran, who swam for Haynie and succeeded him as head coach. \u201cHe was a great influence on all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The same can be said of Gaughran. He coached Stanford to its first NCAA team title in 1967 at a meet hosted by Michigan State in East Lansing, Mich. The championship came down to the final event \u2013 the 800-yard freestyle relay \u2013 with Stanford prevailing to edge USC, 275-260.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the highlight of my coaching career,\u201d said the 82-year old Gaughran, now retired and residing in Carmel Valley, Calif. \u201cWe broke the American record by six and a half seconds, which is unprecedented. Those kids all swam lifetime bests, some by several seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two of his stars, Greg Buckingham and Dick Roth, attended nearby Menlo-Atherton High School. Both won two events and swam on the winning relay in the 1967 NCAA meet.<\/p>\n
Gaughran never intended to coach. After swimming and playing water polo on The Farm, he attended Stanford\u2019s law school and was working in Sacramento as the deputy attorney general for the State of California when athletic director Al Masters called about the position in 1960. He accepted and held the post until 1979.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was quite thrilling for me,\u201d said Gaughran, who also coached water polo for four seasons and often returns to campus for meets and matches. \u201cJust coaching any Stanford student-athlete is a marvelous thing to do. They\u2019re just a different breed of animal. I\u2019m still dear friends with all of those swimmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaughran had no trouble keeping up with his swimmers. He competed in five Ironman Triathlons, and once rode his bike from Carmel Valley to Stanford \u2013 a 100-mile trek \u2013 to watch a swim meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife gave me a ride home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gaughran\u2019s replacement, Skip Kenney, grew up in Fresno and was a diver at Fresno City College, where he was coached by Fresno State football coach Darryl Rogers (Fresno City College didn\u2019t have diving boards and the team practiced at Fresno State). Rogers went on to coach at San Jose State, Michigan State, Arizona State and the Detroit Lions. <\/p>\n
Although Kenney had no swimming experience, he was resourceful, a quick study and a great motivator. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn Fresno, the best job in the world — because it\u2019s so hot — is to teach swimming lessons,\u201d said Kenney. \u201cSo I would teach little kids. You don\u2019t really have to know anything. You just have to get them comfortable and safe with the water.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenney\u2019s father was a Marine, so he enlisted in 1965 and reported to Fort Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif., and was sent to Vietnam, where he became a sniper.<\/p>\n
Kenney\u2019s plan after discharge from the service in 1967 was to work for a recreation program and coach junior high football or basketball. He wound up moving to the Long Beach, Calif., area and gave swimming lessons. <\/p>\n
One of the parents liked the way Kenney communicated with the swimmers, and asked him to coach her child\u2019s club team. Kenney politely declined, but she was persistent, and he finally agreed to a meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe go to this guy\u2019s home in Redondo Beach and the all the parents were there,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were about 20 swimmers. None good. For Christmas, they go to Hawaii. I said, \u2018The whole team?\u2019 And they said, \u2018Yeah, even the coach.\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019m your guy.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Kenney immediately bought a book written by legendary Indiana University swimming coach Doc Counsilman called, \u201cThe Science of Swimming,\u201d which detailed his weekly workout, and used them for his team. But when the group lost their pool to Red Cross lessons during the summer, Kenney decided to learn more about the sport and went to see five-time Olympic coach Don Gambril at Long Beach State. Kenney was convinced he could help his swimmers with dry land workouts, but Gambril insisted it was pointless. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had no clue,\u201d said Kenney.<\/p>\n
But his experiences with the Marines taught him discipline, focus and sacrifice.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was everything,\u201d Kenney said of his military experience. \u201cWith no swimming background, from boot camp to combat, you learn and can see it happening. And when a guy is alive because of that, it\u2019s an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Impressed by his enthusiasm and eagerness to learn, Gambril offered Kenney a job as an age group coach for the national powerhouse Phillips 66 team if he would bring his best kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had about eight Olympians,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I started at the very top.\u201d<\/p>\n
From there, Kenney followed Gambril to Harvard for a year, and then took a club job in Cincinnati for four years. His next stop was Cincinnati, where he spent three years as a club coach.<\/p>\n
Along the way, Kenney met Gaughran.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019re ever going to retire, but you have the best job in the country,\u201d Kenney told Gaughran. \u201cLet me know when you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
And he did. New Stanford athletic director Andy Geiger was aware of Kenney. Geiger was the athletic director at Brown when Kenney coached at Harvard. After Kenney got a call for an interview with Stanford, he did hours of research and many mock interviews with lawyer and doctor friends.<\/p>\n
He impressed the selection committee, which included Gaughran. \u201cYou know more about Stanford than I do,\u201d Gaughran said.<\/p>\n
Geiger\u2019s first hire was a home run. Kenney led Stanford to seven NCAA titles and 31 consecutive league championships (1981-2012) during his 33-year stay.<\/p>\n
When he arrived on The Farm, one of the first things Kenney did was contact former Cardinal swimmers to find out what made them successful in the pool and in life. <\/p>\n
\u201cThose people that came before were really the people that spurred us on, because we could talk about that,\u201d said the 71-year old Kenney, who lives in Santa Cruz. \u201cIf you had nothing to talk about, it\u2019s hard to go in and try to convince people it\u2019s going to be the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenney\u2019s first big recruit was Dave Bottom. His two older brothers were All-Americans at USC, but Kenney sold him on Stanford \u2026 with help from Cardinal standout Wade Flemons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had him room with Wade because he was a champion, and I wanted Dave to know he could be a champion, too,\u201d Kenney said. \u201cThis may sound silly, but in those days you couldn\u2019t go through college without going to the library. But Wade had a goal to go through four years without going to the library. Dave heard this on his recruiting trip and said, \u2018Wow, Wade. This place is nice, but so is USC. There\u2019s probably one thing left that would sway me to come to Stanford: I gotta see the library. Will you take me in and show me?\u2019 And Wade looks around and says, \u2018Wow, Dave. Good luck at S.C.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Kenney nearly fainted when Flemons recapped the visit, but Bottom committed anyway and helped him land high school stars Jeff Kostoff, Pablo Morales and John Moffet. Kenney collected log books from as many ex-swimmers as he could find and based most of his workouts and strategy on the information he gleaned from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cDod Wales kept an unbelievable log book and I used it the rest of my career,\u201d said Kenney. \u201cHe would write little things about the way he felt and what he accomplished at the end of almost every workout. Then, I could give you the set and say this is what you\u2019re looking for. It changes everything when you have a little goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wales won the 100-yard butterfly in the 1999 NCAA Championships, something his father did while swimming at Princeton. They are the only father-son duo to accomplish the feat.<\/p>\n
In 1981, Kenney accompanied Flemons to the NCAA Championships to coach him in the 100-yard backstroke. When Flemons approached him the morning of the preliminaries to ask for advice, Kenney didn\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I just said, \u2018Win your heat this morning. Don\u2019t go all out. And then tonight, come back and go for the win.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat night, when they introduced him on the blocks, he was doing golf swings and I thought, \u2018Damn, he\u2019s not even focused.\u2019 And he ended up winning. Later, when people asked him how he improved so much, he said \u2018Because coach had so much confidence in me, he told me in the morning to just swim to win my heat. And when I looked at my heat, the American record holder was in my heat. I had confidence like mad.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
It marked the first of many NCAA champions for Kenney.<\/p>\n
One of Kenney\u2019s signature training strategies was using a white board in the locker room. Whenever a swimmer recorded a personal or lifetime best in practice, they marked it down. This helped in two ways: 1.) Because Kenney and assistant coach Ted Knapp could never remember times; and 2.) It helped push and motivate the team and created camaraderie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn football, the team is always together, so the captains are the leaders,\u201d said Kenney. \u201cBut if you\u2019re the best leader in the world and you\u2019re in Lane 2, Lanes 6-7-8 don\u2019t get any advantage. There\u2019s no interaction. So in swimming, all the leadership takes place in the locker room. That\u2019s why we started the white board. At the end of the week, Ted and I could go in and say, \u2018Look at this.\u2019 At the end of the Saturday practice, we\u2019d wash off the board. It was a way to get everybody to be a leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kenney, whose teams had a 100 percent graduation rate, said it is impossible to name his favorite group, but several stood out.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, in 1998, they are the only team in NCAA history to have a top-eight finalist in every single event and every relay,\u201d he said. \u201cThe 1992 team is the only team to win all five relays and has the highest point total in NCAA history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brian Retterer was part of the latter and won three NCAA titles in the 200-yard backstroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a difficult year in that the Olympic Trials were two weeks before the NCAA Championships and the Pac-10 meet had to be moved to December of 1991,\u201d said Retterer, now a director of healthcare sales and a swim coach at his local YMCA. \u201cWe entered the season as the favorites to win, and we did. Three of our relay teams set American records and everyone at the meet scored in at least one individual event.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut my favorite memory is what happened before the meet and why I believe we were so successful. It was a concept we called \u2018big team.\u2019 As the season started we had a lot of really fast guys, and frankly speaking, to make the Olympic team we would be racing each other in a lot of events. We had a team meeting right after Christmas training and a couple guys stood up and told us they had decided not to go to the Olympic Trials to focus on the NCAA Championships instead. As a young man, I couldn\u2019t believe they were passing up a shot at the Olympics, but respected their decision. To be clear, these were studs and would have definitely been top-eight at the Olympic Trials. One was Chas Morton, one of USA swimming\u2019s all-time greats.<\/p>\n
\u201cEric Maurer was one of the guys that chose not to go to the trials. He won the 50 free, setting a school record, and became the first man in Stanford history to win the event. I touched second. My best memory is celebrating with him post-race. To me, it was all about the team, and Eric showed what Stanford is all about.\u201d <\/p>\n
Dr. Kurt Grote won the 200-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Championships in 1993 and 1995. Later, he qualified for the 1996 Kenney-coached U.S. Olympic team and earned a gold medal in the 4×100 medley relay and placed sixth in the 100-meter breaststroke and eighth in the 200-meter breaststroke in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember my freshman year, where our senior class was at risk of graduating without having won an NCAA title,\u201d said Grote, who attended Stanford\u2019s medical school and is now a partner in McKinsey & Company\u2019s Healthcare Payor and Provider Practice. \u201cIt would have been the first class since the mid-80s to have done that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat whole season just felt like it was building toward a momentous event. We were closer than any group of people I had ever been a part of. I remember during the meet, one of the seniors on the team, Kevin Henderson, who had never scored a point at the NCAAs, got 16th-place in the 50 freestyle, and thereby scored one point. The team just erupted in support of him. I think it was emblematic of how incredibly tight were that any individual\u2019s accomplishment \u2013 no matter how small \u2013 was valued equally and incredibly strongly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morales won four consecutive NCAA titles in the 200-yard butterfly from 1994-97, and three straight in the 100-yard butterfly. He is now the head women\u2019s swimming and diving coach at Nebraska.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dominant reflection I have about my experiences is the complete brotherhood characterized by our team,\u201d Morales said. \u201cEveryone supporting each other, caring about each other, competing for one another, united by a common goal, with passion and unselfishness. Aside from becoming a father, it was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Messner won back-to-back NCAA titles in the 200-yard NCAA butterfly in 2000 and 2001. Stanford swimming made a huge impact on his life.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore even putting a toe in the water at Stanford, recruits are taught by coaches and leaders on the team to think about life after swimming,\u201d said Messner, a father of two, who owns an electrical supply company and lives in Marin County. \u201cFor many 18-year old swimmers, it\u2019s hard envisioning a life where sport isn\u2019t the center of their world. The more talent or successful the athlete, the less relevant that message seems to be \u2013 this seems true among all college athletes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving said that, one can\u2019t help but be impressed by the number of Olympians, NCAA champions and record holders produced by Stanford swimming; but arguably even more impressive is the number of CEOs, entrepreneurs and thought leaders it has produced. No other college swimming program in the world combines sport and vision the way Stanford swimming does. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was young, it was hard to appreciate Stanford\u2019s swimming reputation since I spent so much time under water \u2013 figuratively and literally. Now I am part of a professional network of Stanford swimmers with members that either own or have influence in businesses in just about every job sector from grassroots nonprofits to the world\u2019s largest banks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Grote, \u201cWe shared the same vision of success and talked often about the great things we would achieve. I think that\u2019s how I try to lead and inspire people in my professional work. I\u2019m often calling back on those experiences and trying to re-create them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Knapp, who last spring finished his second season as the Goldman Family Director of Men\u2019s Swimming, swam for Kenney and was his assistant coach for 28 years. Kenney\u2019s presence is often felt on the pool deck.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Skip was one of those guys who had a mission,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that may stem back to his years as a Marine. He insisted on a team culture, and you knew that. He would wear it on his sleeve and you knew where you stood with him. I think in many, many ways that was evident in the teams that he coached to such great, great success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knapp remembers training with Mike Bruner, who was a gold medalist in the 200-meter butterfly in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, and won the 200-yard butterfly NCAA championship in 1977. He also flashes back to Jay Mortenson, a two-time NCAA winner in the 200-yard butterfly; Jeff Rouse, who won the 1990 and 1992 100-yard NCAA backstroke, 1989 and 1992 200-yard backstroke, and 1992 200-yard IM; Ray Carey, 1993 NCAA champion in the 200-yard butterfly; Tom Wilkins, the 1998 NCAA 200-yard IM and 1997 and 1998 400-yard IM champion; and Markus Rogan, winner of the 2002 NCAA 200-yard backstroke and 200-yard IM.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe names just continue,\u201d said Knapp.<\/p>\n
What does Stanford swimming mean to him?<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m getting old, but I don\u2019t look at things historically yet,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll have time in the years to come. But 100 seasons for this program is pretty spectacular. My goal is to get us back on track to being one of the programs that can compete internationally as well as the NCAA level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grote said the 100th season of men\u2019s swimming is especially meaningful to him and his former teammates because of those who swam before him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we used to have recruits come in to visit, as opposed to just taking them out to party, which is what happens on a lot of recruiting trips, we would actually take them on a tour of the quad, ride bikes around campus and give them a sense of history of the place,\u201d said Grote. \u201cOne of our main cheers \u2013 we call it a Leland \u2013 was to spell out, \u2018Leland Stanford University, organized 1891.\u2019 There was a sense we\u2019ve been here a long time and we know about the team in the 1960s that won and the team in the 1980s. The way we describe it is, \u2018You\u2019re standing on the shoulders of these greats.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
No one appreciates that sense of history, tradition and success more than Knapp.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a doubt,\u201d said Knapp. \u201cI talk to these guys in the recruiting process about their goals and how I can help them get there. That\u2019s probably not much different than anywhere else. But at Stanford, they are so goal-oriented and such high achievers in everything they do. So that\u2019s the challenge. They want to be good at everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knapp smiled when he recalled overhearing a recent conversation between two of his swimmers on a flight home from Los Angeles after a dual meet against USC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were talking about air flow over a plane wing and all the different theorems and variables that come into play,\u201d he said. \u201cI can just imagine what the other people sitting around them were thinking about these two Stanford swimmers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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