George Frederick Haines (March 9, 1924 – May 1, 2006) was a swimmer and swimming coach who coached at the

Santa Clara Swim Club The Santa Clara Swim Club (abbreviated SCSC) is a renowned swimming club and team based in Santa Clara, California. Part of USA Swimming, it is a USA Swimming Silver Medal Club and a part of the Pacific Swimming LSC, sub-governed by Zone 1 South. ...

, Stanford University and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. He also coached for seven U.S. Olympic swim teams. He was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the s ...

in 1977 as an Honor Coach.

Early life

Haines was born in

Huntington, Indiana Huntington, known as the "Lime City", is the largest city in and the county seat of Huntington County, Indiana, United States. It is in Huntington and Union townships. It is also part of Fort Wayne, Indiana's metropolitan area. The population wa ...

, and became interested in swimming after joining the local

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

, where he won two YMCA championships. After moving to California, Haines attended college at

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

, and in 1950, founded the

. It started out as a thirteen-member swim club located in the old Santa Clara High School. This club soon became a training ground for competitive swimmers from all over the United States. He coached for twenty-three years, leaving Santa Clara in 1973. During his stay at Santa Clara, he coached 26 future Olympians

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, winning seven gold medals, each in world-record ti ...

, Don Schollander, Donna deVarona and Claudia Kolb.

Olympics

In 1960, Haines was selected to coach at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, and seven of his swimmers from Santa Clara also qualified, including 1960 gold medalists

Chris von Saltza Susan Christina von Saltza (born January 13, 1944), also known by her married name Christina Olmstead, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in four events. As an age group swimmer, von Salt ...

Lynn Burke Lynn Edythe Burke (born March 22, 1943), also known by her married name Lynn McConville, is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in two events. She competed at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome ...

, George Harrison, and

Paul Hait Paul William Hait (born May 25, 1940) is an American former competition swimmer and breaststroke specialist who is an Olympic champion and former world record-holder. Hait won a gold medal in the 4×100 m medley relay at the 1960 Summer Olymp ...

; the first class also included Donna de Varona and Steve Clark, who would win gold at the

1964 Olympics 1964 Olympics refers to both: *The 1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Ba ...

. In the 1960s, multi-gold medalists Don Schollander and

joined Santa Clara to train with Haines prior to their success at the 1964,

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

, and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Olympics.

College swimming

From 1974 to 1978, Haines coached the UCLA men's swimming team. In 1982, Haines became the women's swimming coach at Stanford University, coaching the team to an

NCAA championship The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

in 1983 as well as two second-places finishes and two third-place finishes.

Legacy

He left Santa Clara in 1973, and retired from coaching swimming in 1988. In 2001, Haines was going to have a grand reunion with some of the club's former champion swimmers. However, the reunion was postponed because he suffered a stroke, which incapacitated him for the rest of his life. He died in a nursing home in

Carmichael, California Carmichael is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County, California, United States. It is a suburb in the Sacramento metropolitan area, Greater Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 79,793 at th ...

on May 1, 2006. He was married for 60 years to June Carter Haines, and the couple had five children. A bronze statue of Haines now stands next to the Olympic-size pool at the Santa Clara Swim Center.

References

External links