Hall of Fame Swimmer - NCAA Champion

In 2015 I was blessed to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) joining all-time swimming greats such as Janet Evans, Mark Spitz and Hawaiian legend Duke Kahanamoku. Competition for this recognition is stiff and only 14 "Masters" swimmers have received this honor since ISHOFF’s inception in 1965. In 2007, I was also inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame, and the Hawaii Swimming Hall of Fame in 2018.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I realize that this is my life. It wasn’t alway that way…

As a teen, I was coached by two-time Olympic gold medalist Mike Troy swimming for the Coronado Navy Swim Association. At the age of 15, I won the 400-yard individual medley at the National Junior Olympics. Soon after, I was identified as an Olympic “hopeful” and invited to attend the first-ever Junior Development Camp at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

I turned the opportunity down.

Why? Because that very same year I had my first alcoholic drink. It took me years to sink below the surface, but by the age of 31 I had hit rock-bottom.

I sought help, embraced sobriety and the rest is aquatic history. The memoir, The Do-Over, My Journey from the Depths of addiction to World Champion Swimmer, is a beneath-the-surface look at an odds-defying comeback—in the pool, and more importantly, in life. Available on Amazon.

After making peace with the water, the cause of both the pleasure and pain in my life, I dove back into the pool and the results soon followed. I had been given a “DO OVER” and I wasn't about to waste it.

After losing my scholarship at age 19 due to my drinking, at the age of 35 I accepted a full athletic scholarship to California State University Bakersfield (CSUB). While competing in 200-yard backstroke at the NCAA DIV II National Championships in 1998, I became the oldest person to set an NCAA record. I also won three individual titles: 100 & 200 back and 400 IM. Of note, my time in the 400 IM at NCAA’s was eight seconds faster than when I won that same event at National Junior Olympics when I was 15.

Today I have set over 22o FINA Masters World records, have broken more than 350 U.S. Masters National records and have set both world and national records in every distance and in all four strokes. In 2012 I was voted as one of the Top-Ten masters swimmers of all-time by Swimming World Magazine. As I approach 60, I still have four world records from the 2oth century in the 35-39 age group.

While I still love to swim FAST, my true PASSION is helping others learn how to swim faster. I love to teach and inspire whether it be at a Faster Freestyle Swim Camp in Hawaii, British Columbia, Sicily, Tunisia or Mexico, at workshop near you, or during a private lesson in my Endless Pool in Kona, Hawaii. Wherever we meet, you can be sure we will enjoy our time together while we share our mutual love of the water. Lets go swim!