{"id":595657,"date":"2024-08-26T10:48:31","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T17:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=595657"},"modified":"2024-08-26T10:48:31","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T17:48:31","slug":"passages-scottsdale-coach-bob-platt-a-selfless-force-who-lived-and-loved-loudly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/passages-scottsdale-coach-bob-platt-a-selfless-force-who-lived-and-loved-loudly\/","title":{"rendered":"Passages: Scottsdale Coach Bob Platt ‘A Selfless Force Who Lived and Loved Loudly’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scottsdale Aquatic Club coach Bob Platt<\/strong> died on Saturday at age 58.<\/p>\n

Platt has been an inspiration in the swim community through his coaching and also his advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and any other people he felt were marginalized.<\/p>\n

No cause of death has been released.<\/p>\n

He has coached several elite swimmers, including Amy Bilquist,<\/strong> who has known Platt since she was just 6 years old, and who helped coached her all the way through her professional career.<\/p>\n

“The first thing I did when I heard was go jump in a pool, to go underwater for a bit to connect in the place that brought us together,” Bilquist told Swimming World.<\/em> “In a turbulent 20 years of swimming and life there was always one constant, and that was him. Since I was 6, he was a constant confidant, a constant motivator, a constant source of wisdom and a constant source of laughter.”<\/p>\n

Bilquist, a former U.S. National Team member, struggled to put Pratt’s legacy into words.<\/p>\n

“How do you begin to speak of a legacy that was larger than life itself, one that seemed to stretch beyond the sky?” Amy Bilquist said. “I\u2019ve known Bob since I was just 6 years old, and from the very beginning, he wasn\u2019t just a presence\u2014he was a force. He lived loudly, coached loudly, and laughed even louder. But most of all, Bob loved loudly.”<\/p>\n

That extra layer created a larger bond with everyone he came in contact with, but especially his swimmers – who always knew where they stood with him.<\/p>\n

“He never missed a moment to express how proud he was of those around him. Every conversation was filled with his joy and admiration for his former swimmers, friends, and his beloved husband, Rich,” Bilquist said. “Bob was selfless, always lifting others up, never taking the spotlight for himself. He was a true servant to those he cared about, always giving, always supporting.”<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Amy Bilquist (@amybilquist)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n