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George Haines
Famed
coach of the Santa Clara Swim Club and the 7 American Olympic Teams
Arranged by Igor Rasula
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George
Haines Statue in Santa Clara
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SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 01. George Haines, famed coach of
the Santa Clara Swim Club and seven U.S.
Olympic teams, died on
May 01 at a convalescent home in Sacramento, where
he had been living ever since he suffered a massive stroke in the course of 2000.
Arguably the most
successful swimming coach in the
American as well as in the world history, George Haines
worked with and developed such swim
legends as Chris von Saltza, Lynn Burke, Donna De
Varona, Claudia Kolb, Don Schollander, Dick Roth and Mark Spitz, among
many, many others.
Haines passed away less
than two months before a weekend party celebrating his achievements and
55 years of SCSC history is to take place.
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Mr.
George Haines founded the Santa Clara Swim Club
in 1951 and, during his 24-year tenure, club swimmers won an unprecedented
43 AAU national championships and set numerous world records. He also
served as the swimming coach at Santa Clara High School, and his team there
also established a phenomenal record including 19 league championships, 13
CCS titles, and winning 213 consecutive dual meets. As a college coach, his
NCAA teams at UCLA and Stanford also achieved impressive records and he was
named NCAA coach of the year in 1975.
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On June 29, 2000,
during the famous Santa Clara International Invitational Swim Meet, a
beautiful bronze bust of George Haines, sculpted by artist Jack Finney,
was unveiled at the Santa Clara/George Haines International Swim Center
in Santa Clara, California. The bust is located in a central location
overlooking the pool.
Since 2000, unfortunately Coach Haines suffered a stroke from which he
has not recovered until his death on May 01, 2006.
Haines trained more
than 50 Olympians of the United States, and his swimmers won 35 Olympic
Gold, 11 Silver, and 7 Bronze medals. His celebrated swimmers read like a
roll call of America's greatest - Don Schollander, Donna de Varona, Chris
Van Saltza, Mark Spitz, Karen Moe Thornton, Steve Clark, Dick Roth, and
Claudia Kolb Thomas, among others. He served as a United States Olympic
Coach at seven Olympiads.
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George
Haines
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The
famous Cecil M. Colwin, in the article originally appeared in
"Swim Canada" magazine, May 1996, and also published in his
marvelous book "Swimming Dynamics" (1999) said:
“George
Haines is one of history's great swimming coaches. He is also one of the
most popular coaches who ever trod a pool deck. Haines likes people, and
it's easy to see that people like him too. It's not surprising that he
attracted swimmers from every point of the compass. Not only did he draw
them in, but he made many of them great. In fact, he has had more swimmers
inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame than any other
coach”.
Haines
took the pressures of top-level coaching in his stride. Throughout a long
career, he remained relaxed, outgoing, good-natured, and free of hang-ups.
While Haines kept firm discipline in his teams, he never lost his sense of
humour. His swimmers were relaxed and confident, just like their
charismatic coach. They sported one of the cleverest 'T' shirt slogans that
I ever saw. It said a lot in two words : "By George!" It also
meant 'best in the world.'
Some
of the Haines’s words do not have to be forgotten. He said that he had always been an
advocate of aerobic training, over distance training. "The reason that
Spitz, Clarke, Schollander, and all these guys were able to do what they
did, was because they had a background in overdistance training. And, if
you go through the history of swimming, and you look at the great 100
metres champions, you'll learn that practically all of them were great 200
and 400 swimmers."
To become a valuable swimming coach it is not enough to have
the personal swim experience or to be graduated in the physical education,
etc... Almost all Haines’s ideas previously have to be deeply understood
and accepted as postulates !!! (Igor Rasula)
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