Sam Kendricks<\/strong>, one of the main voices on deck at major swim meets in the United States over the last two decades, passed away in July after a nine-month battle with Merkel Cell Carcinoma. Kendricks discovered the cancer in September 2021 and had surgery to remove the mass, but the cancer had metastasized to his torso by December. He spent the last six months undergoing treatment for the disease<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kendricks was the primary announcer for the NCAA Division I swimming championships over the last decade, and he was one of the primary voices for USA Swimming competitions for more than two decades. He was part of the announcing team at five Olympic Trials (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016). In addition, he worked as a residential realtor in Los Alamos, New Mexico.<\/p>\n Before that, Kendricks was an undergraduate student manager for the University of Texas men\u2019s team under coach Eddie Reese<\/strong>,\u00a0including the first national-title-winning squad in 1981. He was later an assistant coach for the Texas women under\u00a0Richard Quick<\/strong>\u00a0from 1985 to 1987, and then he coached club teams in Arkansas for eight years. After leaving club coaching, he was asked to return to one of his old clubs to announce a meet, and his career in announcing took off from there.<\/p>\n As an announcer, Kendricks developed a signature style that brought excitement to crowds around all corners of the country. He reserved his primary catchphrase, \u201cBOOM-SHAKA-LAKA,\u201d for the most impressive of swims. As an announcer, Kendricks hoped to showcase each swimmer in a way that would make their experience at the meet as positive as possible.<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal is really just to highlight and find experiences and memories and spot situations that really accentuate what is great about that swimmer, that relay, that team, whatever it is, and remember that there are people in the stands that this means so much on behalf of that swimmer or diver that you want to give them as much as you can,\u201d Kendricks told Swimming World<\/em> earlier this year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo Courtesy: Duke Athletics<\/p><\/div>\n Passages:<\/strong> Dan Colella<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Duke head coach Dan Colella <\/strong>passed away Friday after a battle with cancer. Colella, who was the Blue Devils\u2019 head coach since the 2005-06 season, was 60 years old.<\/p>\n The University announced his death in a press release Saturday afternoon. Colella is survived by his wife, Victoria<\/strong>, and children Henry<\/strong>, George<\/strong>, Ellinor<\/strong> and Caroline<\/strong>.<\/p>\n During Colella\u2019s time at the school, Duke swimmers and divers collected 64 All-America honors and 24 ACC championships, and last year, the Duke women recorded their highest-ever finish at the ACC Championships with a fifth-place result \u2014 which was followed by a 24th-place finish at the NCAA Championships \u2014 while the men took 10th on the conference level. Duke swimmers set 10 school records last season, and every single school record was set during Colella\u2019s time at the school, with the oldest mark dating back to 2010.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Harold Cliff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Harold Cliff<\/strong>, the Canadian sports administrator who helped turn U.S. Olympic team trials in Omaha into a whirlwind success, has died.<\/p>\n Cliff\u2019s passing was first reported by Swimming Canada, for which that native of Victoria, British Columbia had worked for 12 years.<\/p>\n Cliff arrived in Nebraska just before the city was due to host its first of what would become four Olympic Trials in 2008. He was a big reason for their success<\/a>, and his work with the Omaha Sports Commission solidified the city\u2019s place as a premier destination for amateur sports. It also raised the level, in terms of spectator experience and commercial appeal, of the selection event for the U.S. Olympic swim team.<\/p>\n Cliff was recommended to the city by former USA Swimming assistant executive director Mike Unger<\/strong> in 2006. Cliff passed on the chance to run his third straight FINA World Championships, in Rome in 2009, to help Omaha get Trials off the ground.<\/p>\n The success continued for Omaha, with ticket sales exceeding 150,000 for the week-long event and an economic impact in the tens of millions of dollars<\/a> becoming the norm. He stayed on through the 2016 Trials<\/a>, which required Omaha to outbid several new cities, before at age 65 saying he was retiring to Ottawa, where his wife lived. But he was so drawn to the area that he stayed, becoming president of the<\/a> Nebraska Multisport Complex, a $125 million project in La Vista. (That decade-long construction is still underway, with an opening slated in 2023<\/a>.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Werner Franke<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Werner Franke,<\/strong> a German doctor who helped expose East Germany\u2019s expansive state-sponsored doping program, has died.<\/p>\n Franke died of an intracerebral hemorrhage on Nov. 14 in Heidelberg<\/a>. He was 82 years old.<\/p>\n Franke and his wife, Brigitte Berendonk,<\/strong> were central players in exposing the East German doping scheme<\/a> that affected athletes like Berendonk, a shot putter and discus thrower who competed for the GDR in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics. Upon the fall of the Berlin Wall, Franke and his wife investigated documents from the unlocked secret files of the Stasi, the East German secret police. That included records smuggled from the Military Medical Academy in Bad Saarow.<\/p>\n That evidence documented State Plan 14:25, a systematic distribution of anabolic steroids to young athletes, particularly women, many without their consent or knowledge. The revelations comprised the 1991 book, written by Berendonk<\/a>, Doping Documents: From Research to Fraud<\/em> (In German, Doping Dokumente: Von der Forschung zum Betrug<\/em>).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Don Sammons<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Don Sammon<\/strong>s, the former head coach of the University of Illinois swimming and diving team, died on Nov. 24<\/a>. He was 90 years of age.<\/p>\n Sammons coached the Illinois men\u2019s team from the 1971-72 through 1992-93. He was the head coach of the women\u2019s team as well from 1980 through 1993 for a total of 35 seasons. He retired in 1993, when the university discontinued its men\u2019s program<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sammons coached seven All-Americans with the Illini. Seven swimmers won Big Ten titles, and he helped 46 swimmers qualify for NCAA championships.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photo Courtesy: Richard C. Ersted\/Stanfordphoto.com<\/p><\/div>\n Passages:<\/strong> Skip Kenney<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Skip Kenney<\/strong>, Stanford University\u2019s iconic swim coach has died.<\/p>\n According to sources, Kenney died on Sunday night at age 79 after a short time in hospice care.<\/p>\n Kenney was one of the most successful college coaches of all time. He was also the head Olympic coach in 1996 in Atlanta and was an assistant coach on the 1988 and 1984 teams, coaching 18 Olympic swimmers who totaled 16 Olympic medals during his career.<\/p>\n At Stanford, he led the Cardinal to seven NCAA championships and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF<\/a>) in 2004, then in 2005, the American Swim Coaches Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Fresno Athletics and Stanford Athletics Halls of Fame.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Nachum Buch<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Nachum Buch,<\/strong> the first swimmer to represent Israel at the Olympics, died on Nov. 7 in his home in Australia<\/a>. He was 89 years of age.<\/p>\n Buch was a pioneer for Israeli swimming, representing the young nation at its first Olympics in 1952. He was the only swimmer among 25 athletes in that first delegation, and though he didn\u2019t make it out of his head in the 100 freestyle at the Helsinki Olympics, he blazed a trail for many to follow.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Bob Treffene<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Dr. Bob Treffene,<\/strong> a pioneer in the often complex world of sports science, was \u201ca one of a kind\u201d who helped transform the world of swimming.<\/p>\n Swimming in Australia, Great Britain and around the world is saddened in October with the passing of Dr Bob in Brisbane \u2013 aged 85.<\/p>\n A man who was at the very heartbeat of swimming, literally, for over five decades \u2013 the right hand man for so many elite coaches and world record holders.<\/p>\n Plotting and planning their programs alongside their coaches, as they plied their trade to give Australia\u2019s swimmers the competitive edge through eras tarnished by illegal systematic doping that threatened to destroy the sport.<\/p>\n Bob tracked the careers of world record holders like Tracey Wickham, Jon Sieben<\/strong> and Duncan Armstrong,<\/strong> standing alongside Kieren Perkins<\/strong> and his coach the late John Carew and breaststroke whiz kids Rebecca Brown<\/strong> and Samantha Riley<\/strong> \u2013 giving them the edge.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Dante Dettamanti<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The Stanford men\u2019s water polo program mourns the loss of legendary head coach Dante Dettamanti,<\/strong> who passed away on Oct. 25. Dettamanti was 80.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine any other coach having such a profound impact on their athletes, colleagues and community,\u201d said The Dunlevie Family Director of Men\u2019s Water Polo Brian Flacks<\/a><\/dfn>. \u201cUndoubtedly, Dante will go down as one of the all-time greats, but his impact was much greater than any win in the pool. He will be deeply missed.\u201d<\/p>\n In his 25 years at Stanford (1977-2001), Dettamanti led the Cardinal to eight NCAA championships, advancing to the NCAA title game 14 times. One of five head coaches in Stanford Athletics history to capture at least eight national titles, Dettamanti became only the second collegiate coach in NCAA history to record over 600 career wins and the only collegiate coach to win NCAA championships in four different decades.<\/p>\n Named national coach of the year six times and league coach of the year on 10 occasions, Dettamanti also had great success on the international stage, coaching the USA World University Games teams to gold and silver medals in 1979 and 1981, the highest finish ever for a USA national team. Over a dozen of his former players went on to achieve success at the Olympics, including Stanford greats Jody Campbell, Wolf Wigo<\/strong> and Tony Azevedo<\/strong>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Fred Phelps<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Olympic champion Michael Phelps<\/strong> announced the death of his father Fred Phelps<\/strong> on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll always be my dad\u2026 And I\u2019ll always be your son\u2026 Love you dad and I will miss you <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Allan Wood<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Australia<\/a> has lost one of its unsung heroes from the 1960 and 1964 Olympic swim teams with the passing this week of Commonwealth Games freestyle gold medallist Allan Wood.<\/p>\n Aged 79, Allan passed away peacefully at John Flynn Private Hospital on the Gold Coast after a long battle with cancer.<\/p>\n The boy born in Wollongong would go on to become one of the best swimmers in the world \u2013 racing alongside the likes of Australian Olympic champions Murray Rose, Bob Windle<\/strong> and John Konrads<\/strong> and legendary Americans Don Schollander<\/strong> and Roy Saari.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Joe Bernal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Joe Bernal,<\/strong> who coached Olympians and had a successful stint at Harvard University before being banned for life by USA Swimming in 2016<\/a>, has died.<\/p>\n Bernal\u2019s death was confirmed by his family.<\/p>\n Bernal founded Bernal\u2019s Gator Swim Club in Boston in the 1970s. Among his first notable pupils was Bobby Hackett,<\/strong> who won a silver medal in the men\u2019s 1,500 freestyle at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal to go with Pan Am Games gold (and 400 free silver) in 1975.<\/p>\n Bernal coached at Harvard for 14 seasons from 1977-91, hired after a stint at at Fordham University from 1968-77. He posted a 123-19 record in Cambridge, including 106-16 in the Ivy League. He won seven consecutive league titles and finished no lower than third. The team\u2019s best finish at the NCAA Championships in that time was 13th in 1979.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Arthur Lambert<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Arthur Lambert,<\/strong> the Hall of Fame coach of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team, died on Aug. 26<\/a>. Lambert was 86 years old. He died from complications of Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n On the international stage, he led Team USA to gold at the 1967 Pan Am Games. (As a player, he was an alternate for the Pan Am Games four years earlier.) Lambert coached the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, in which the Americans finished fifth. He earned a bronze medal at the 1972 Games in Munich as an assistant to Monte Nitzkowski.<\/strong> He also won an NCAA championship at Stanford.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Dick Jochums<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Dick Jochums,<\/strong> the revered swimming coach who mentored some of America\u2019s greatest stars over several generations, died on Aug. 19. He was 81 years old. Jochums was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jochums had a hand in developing some of the best American swimmers<\/a> from the 1960s into the 2000s. He placed a swimmer on every American delegation for a major international event from 1968 to 2006, with the lone exception of the 1996 Olympics. He coached swimmers who set 25 world records, won 12 Olympic medals (two golds) and was part of eight U.S. national teams as an assistant or head coach.<\/p>\n Among Jochums prized pupils are Tim Shaw, Steve Furniss<\/strong> and Bruce Furniss.<\/strong> Shaw, the 1975 James E. Sullivan Award winner as the nation\u2019s top amateur athlete, concurrently held world records in the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyle. Shaw, the Furniss brothers and Rex Favero<\/strong> set the world record in the 800 free relay in 1975, the last club team to set a world record. Seven of Jochums swimmers comprised the backbone of the dominant U.S. men\u2019s team at the 1976 Olympics, including five (Shaw, Bruce Furniss, Dan Harrigan, Steve Gregg<\/strong> and Jack Babashoff<\/strong>) who won medals.<\/p>\n He also coached Bob Jackson<\/strong> and Greg Jagenburg,<\/strong> medal contenders before the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics, as well as two-time 1984 Olympic medalist George DiCarlo,<\/strong> Australian breaststroke Olympic medalist Peter Evans<\/strong> and Sydney Olympic medalist Tom Wilkens.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jochums\u2019 swimmers set seven NCAA records and 60 American records.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Brenda Fisher<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Brenda Fisher,<\/strong> who gained international renown in the 1950s for crossing the English Channel, died on Aug. 2.<\/p>\n She was 95 years old<\/a>. She suffered from complications of a stroke.<\/p>\n In 1951<\/a>, the 23-year-old won the Channel Race, crossing from Cap Gris-Nez, France to Dover, England, in 12 hours and 42 minutes. That broke the women\u2019s world record by 38 minutes. She crossed again in 1954, becoming the second woman ever to make two successful crossings. She is described by the Channel Swimming Association<\/a> as \u201cwithout doubt one of the true open-water pioneer swimmers of the 20th century.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Lily Ernst<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Lily Ernst<\/strong>, a swimmer at the University of Northern Iowa, passed away on July 27, the school announced.<\/p>\n Ernst was 21 years old. No cause was disclosed.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\n A native of Iowa City, Ernst was a rising junior at UNI<\/a>. She was a first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference selection as a freshman and an MVC Scholar Athlete Team selection as a sophomore. She set the UNI record in the women\u2019s 200 butterfly at 2:02.97 at the MVC Championships in February.<\/p>\n \u201cOur team is incredibly saddened by the loss of Lily,\u201d head swimming and diving coach Nick Lakin<\/strong> said in a university statement<\/a>. \u201cLily was so filled with kindness and compassion for other people. She was a ferocious competitor in the pool and classroom, but for those that knew her best she was extremely empathetic and cared deeply about everyone in her life. We will all miss her immensely and are praying for everyone that knew her.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Bill Woolsey<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Olympic gold medalist Bill Woolsey<\/strong> died Saturday at 87. He was a legend of the sport as a swimmer and later as a coach.<\/p>\n In 1952, Helsinki Games, the Hawaiian native was part of the U.S. Olympic gold medal winning 4 x 200 meter relay team. He also competed in the 1500 freestyle that year.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was super humble, \u201d grandson Ikaika Woolsey<\/strong>, a former University of Hawaii quarterback, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser<\/a>. \u201cHe didn\u2019t really talk too much. He taught people to be humble and let your actions speak, and everything else will take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Woolsey traveled with the U.S. Swim team took him to Bermuda in 1953, Mexico in 1954 and Japan in 1955, all while dominating at home, claiming the AAU national championships in the 200 freestyle for three consecutive years, from 1954-56.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Gary Winram<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Australia has lost one of its greatest ever swim-surf stars, 1956 Olympian and 1958 Commonwealth Games medallist, Gary Winram<\/strong>, who has passed away peacefully on the Sunshine Coast. Gary was 85.<\/p>\n Winram went on to carve a successful career as one of the Australian swimming\u2019 s most respected Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Championship level coaches.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages: <\/strong>Dick Fadgen<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Richard Dennis \u201cDick\u201d Fadgen<\/strong>, an NCAA champion and American record-holder before a long coaching career, died on May 7 at age 86.<\/p>\n Born in Rhode Island, Fadgen made a long career in the South, as a distinguished swimmer at NC State, then as a coach at the University of Memphis.<\/p>\n Fadgen was a six-time All-American at NC State, graduating in 1958. He won NCAA titles in the 200 breast and 200 fly at NCAAs in 1956, just the second and third in program history<\/a>. He\u2019s also one of just 11 Wolfpack swimmers to win American championships, winning seven in total across all sanctioning bodies (NCAA, AAU, etc.).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Jim Puleo<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Jim Puleo,<\/strong> who coached swimming at all levels, and all over the world, has died. He was the Panama Olympic swimming coach in 2000. Puleo died in April at age 67 after suffering a pulmonary edema, which led to cardiac arrest, following heart surgery on Tuesday, according to a news release.<\/p>\n Jim Puleo was born in Philadelphia and had a long, distinguished coaching career, which took him around the world.\u00a0He graduated from Arizona State University before becoming the age group coach for the Glendale Gauchos. He went on to take over the Tempe Makos Swim Team from 1974-79. Meanwhile, Puleo was a teacher at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe, Arizona.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Hobie Billingsley<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Hobie Billingsley<\/strong>, a 1983 International Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Diving Coach<\/a>, and one of the most beloved diving coaches of a generation, passed away early this morning, July 16, 2022. He was 94. Hobie was the head diving coach at Indiana University for 30 years, spanning 1959 to 1989, alongside swimming coach, Dr. James \u201cDoc\u201d Counsilman.\u201d The two legends made aquatic history together, guiding a program to elite status. During Billingsley\u2019s tenure at IU, his divers won six NCAA and 23 Big Ten team championships. He coached individuals to an astounding 115 national titles, 22 Big Ten championships and six Olympic medals. His ISHOF Honorees (four) and Olympic gold and bronze medalists include Lesley Bush<\/strong>, Mark Lenzi<\/strong>, Kenny Sitzburger<\/strong>, Cynthia<\/strong> Potter<\/strong>, Win Young<\/strong>, and Jim Henry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Billingsley began his career as an outstanding diver in his own right, competing under the great ISHOF Honor Coach, Mike Peppe<\/strong>, at Ohio State University. He was an All-American on both boards in 1945, yet following his freshman year at Ohio State, Billingsley joined the Army Air-Corps, where he served his country in Japan. Upon returning, he returned to Indiana and again won All-America Honors in 1948, 1949 and 1950.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Yevhen Obedinsky<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Yevhen Obedinsky<\/strong>, a former captain of the Ukrainian men\u2019s water polo team, was killed on March 17<\/a> in the Russian-led siege of Mariupol.<\/p>\n Obedinsky was 39 years old. Per reports in Ukraine, his 12-year-old daughter Kira Obedinsky<\/strong> was taken to Russian occupied Donetsk, where she was treated for minor shrapnel wounds. An international campaign is being carried out<\/a> to return Kira to the custody of her grandfather.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Passages:<\/strong> Joan (Langdon) McLagan<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Canadian Olympic swimmer Joan (Langdon) McLagan<\/strong> died on March 15 at age 99. She was one of only two surviving Olympians from the 1936 Berlin Games.<\/p>\n The death was first reported by Olympedia via the Oldest Olympians project. McLagan is believed to be the second-to-last surviving athlete from the 1936 Games, leaving only American swimmer<\/a> Iris Cummings<\/strong>. (Coincidentally, both swam the same event<\/a> in Berlin.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"dan](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/dan-colella-duke-700x500.jpeg\")
![\"skip-kenney\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/skip-kenney-700x500.png\")
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rip dad,\u201d Michael Phelps posted on Instagram. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"passages-dick-jochums-Swimming](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Swimming-World-November-2020-Toughest-Workouts-Part-1-700x500.jpg\")
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