Six years ago from today, Eric Namesnik tragically passed away in a tragic car accident in Michigan. Namesnik was twice an Olympic silver medalist in the 400 IM (in 1992 and 1996), and now is remembered by an annual Grand Prix meet in Ann Arbor that bears his name, as well as a statue outside of the Butler County YMCA in Pennsylvania .
There were many memories of ‘Snik thrown out around the Twitter world today, but my favorite came via a quote from former Michigan coach Jon Urbancek, under whom Namesnik swam for 4 seasons, and served as an assistant for 7.
“He was 2nd at the Olympics, 2nd at NCAA’s, and never won anything, but he set the bar of excellence so high that nobody can touch it”.
Today also served as the celebration of life for Jessica Joy Rees, the Mission Viejo swimmer who lost a battle with cancer last week. Perhaps it’s poetically appropriate that on the same day, we celebrate the life of two of the great spirits to ever grace the lanes who were taken far too young.
Snik was one of the all-time best people. He was coaching with Jon when I was being recruited by Michigan. Even though I chose not to go to school there (in fact I went to another Big Ten school), he was always exceedingly nice to me when we crossed paths at meets.
My favorite memory though was at Trials in ’04. I had just unexpectedly finaled with the swim of my life. As I was leaving the pool with my parents to brave the dreaded uphill walk to the hotel, Snik walked by. Instead of a passing remark or congrats, he went out of his way to walk all the way back with us, chatting the whole way. What an… Read more »