Andrew “Lanny” Landtroop, the winningest coach in Texas high school swimming history, died on August 7. He was 80 years old.
Landtroop has an unparalleled resume in the sport in Texas high school history. Coaching at 5 high schools, primarily Clear Lake and Kingwood High Schools in the suburban Houston area, his career dual meet record was 543-15-2.
His teams won 67 district championships in swimming, 16 state championships in swimming, and 2 state championships in water polo. He has been named the TISCA Coach of the Year 18 times, NFHS Coach of the Year, Texas High School Swimming Coach of the 20th Century, is a member of the NISCA and Texas Swimming & Diving Halls of Fame.
The 67 district championships come out of a 71 possible and have included over 200 high school All-Americans.
He has thrice been the president of the TISCA organization, a trade group for Texas high school swim coaches, and has twice been a president of NISCA, the national equivalent.
Landtroop’s trademark was the long acronym read to the unindoctrinated as “EDIEWWGBAB,” which to his athletes translates to “Every day in every way we get better and better.”
Tributes to Landtroop began to pour out as news spread – his death was on the same day as Kingwood’s annual alumni meet, which meant that word spread very quickly.
One particularly-poignant post came the day after from former Kingwood High School swimmer William Steel:
With a heavy heart, my sincerest condolences go out to the Landtroop family and all the KHS and Texas swimmers and their families he impacted over his life time.
We alumni tried to do him proud in the pool yesterday, before learning of his passing, as well as raise a glass afterward to properly memorialize him and a life well lived during our reunion turned wake yesterday evening.
I guess all that I can say is that when our personal guardian angels confront any of us with our time to leave this existence, we would be hard pressed to be offered a more meaningful send off, to depart on the very same day so many of our friends and family we have impacted over our lifetimes came together.
Goggles off and a tip of the swim cap to you Lanny Landtroop. Rest in peace.
On the back of T-shirt once had made back in the 70’s –
The impossible
is never out of reach;
Simply out of focus.
It is, you might say,
a figment of our un-imagination.
TRY TRYING!
My high school coach, then my swim coaching mentor, then my colleague. I will miss Coach Landtroop. He had a huge influence on my life.
Wonderful man. Made a huge impact on my life.
Unbelievable to coach over 550 meets.
For sure. To contextualize: Texas has, as far as I can tell, the longest HS season in the country, so teams do tend to have more meets than, say, places like South Carolina.
Swam and played polo against his teams back in the day. RIP to a legend.
A great coach and even better man. A cornerstone of NISCA.Terrific role model for younger coaches to emulate.
Houston suburbs, Dallas suburbs and counties around Houston like Fort Bend or Collin near Dallas were pretty fast growing in population and coaches had a choice of al a lot of swimmers, so I’m sure he will be missed.
Class act. We’re all better for knowing him.