In Memoriam: Remembering the People Swimming Lost in 2022

With 2022 officially in the rearview mirror, let’s take a look back at some of the figures who the swimming community lost in the past year.

Jan. 9 – Former University of Rochester coach and technique guru Bill Boomer died at 85. 

Jan. 29 – 16-time Massachusetts high school championship coach Don Lemieux died at 65 years old.

Feb. 17 – High school junior Mya Thompson died in a fire just days after swimming at Indiana’s state championships.

Feb. 20 – 1980 Olympic gold medalist Oleksandr Sydorenko, sometimes anglicized as Alexander Sidorenko, died from a COVID-19 infection at 61 years old.

March 15 – 1936 Canadian Olympic swimmer and former world record holder Joan McLagan died at 99 years old. 

March 17 – Former Ukraine water polo captain Eugine Obedinskiy was just 39 years old when he was killed in a bombing in Mariupol, Ukraine. 

March 25 – Minnesota club coach Maggie McMahon died unexpectedly from a stroke at 37. 

March 26 – Hall of Fame coach Bill Spahn died at 79 years old after suffering a heart attack during a Masters meet. 

April 5 – Saint Louis University swimmer Sean North died at 20 years old. 

April 9 – Trevor Harrop, one of the last surviving members of the 1948 British Olympic swim team, died just 10 days shy of his 95th birthday. 

April 15 – USA Swimming coach Jim Puleo passed away. 

May 7 – Renowned swim coach and NCAA champion Dick Fadgen died at 86 after a battle with cancer. 

June 25 – Olympic gold medalist Bill Woolsey, Indiana’s first NCAA champion, died at 87.

July 6 – Longtime swimming announcer Sam Kendricks died after a battle with cancer.

July 13 – 1976 U.S. Olympian Holly Renee Magee died at 63 after dealing with a brain tumor. 

July 16 – Legendary Indiana diving coach Hobie Billingsley died at 94. 

July 17 – Former Cincinnati swimmer John Miller was killed in a hit-and-run car crash at 26 years old. 

July 27 – Northern Iowa swimmer Lily Ernst died at age 20. 

Aug. 2 – Famed English Channel swimmer Brenda Fisher died at 95 years old. 

Aug. 4 – SwimSwam contributor and renowned swimming technical analyst Stefano Nurra died at 52 years old. 

Aug. 16 – International Swimming Hall of Fame coach Dick Jochums died at 81 years old. 

Aug. 24 – Former New Zealand Olympic coach David Wright died at 74 after a battle with kidney disease. 

Sept. 5 – 54-year-old Long Beach Masters swimmer Gustavo Penilla died after suffering from a heart attack during the annual Waikiki Roughwater Swim.

Sept. 8 – Queen Elizabeth II, an award-winning swimmer as a teenager, died at 96.

Oct. 1 – Controversial former Olympic coach Joe Bernal died. 

Oct. 13 – Former Brown swimmer Jameson McMullen died at 22.

Oct. 24 – Michael Phelps announced that his dad, Fred, passed away. 

Oct. 25 – Former Stanford men’s water polo coach Dante Dettamanti died in a bycicle accident at 80 years old. 

Nov. 1 – Former Australian coach John Wright died in custody at age 79 while awaiting trial for child sexual abuse charges from the 1980s. 

Nov. 7 – Israel’s first Olympic swimmer, Nachum Buch, died at 89. 

Late November – Former Stanford head coach Skip Kennney died at 79. 

Nov. 27 – Former University of Illinois head coach Don Sammons died at 90 years old. 

Dec. 16 – Duke head coach Dan Colella died as a result of complications from prostate cancer in December at 60 years old.