George Haines

Background

Haines was born in Huntington, Indiana, and became interested in swimming after joining the local Young Men’s Christian Association, where he won two Young Men’s Christian Association championships.

Education

Haines attended college at San Jose State University.

Career

He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977 as an Honor Coach. After moving to California, he founded the Santa Clara Swim Club in 1950. lieutenant 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, including Mark Spitz, Don Schollander and Claudia Kolb.

In the 1960s, multi-gold medalists Don Schollander and Mark Spitz joined Santa Clara to train with Haines prior to their success at the 1964, 1968, and 1972

From 1974 to 1978, Haines coached the University of California, Los Angeles men"s swimming team In 1982, Haines became the women"s swimming coach at Stanford University, coaching the team to an National Collegiate Athletic Association championship in 1983 as well as two second-places finishes and two third-place finishes.

He left Santa Clara in 1973, and retired from coaching swimming in 1988.

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 on May 1, 2006. A bronze statue of Haines now stands next to the Olympic-size pool at the Santa Clara Swim Center.

Achievements

• In 1960, Haines was selected to coach at the 1960 Summer, and seven of his swimmers from Santa Clara also qualified, including 1960 gold medalists Chris von Saltza, Lynn Burke, George Harrison, and Paul Hait. The first class also included Donna de Varona and Steve Clark, who would win gold at the 1964 In 2001, Haines was going to have a grand reunion with some of the club"s former champion swimmers.