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Dick Hannula Editor


Dick Hannula is one of the winningest high school and club coaches in the history of swimming. While serving as the boys' swimming coach at Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington, from 1959 to 1983, Hannula racked up the longest high school undefeated streak on record, winning 323 consecutive meets without a loss including 24 consecutive boys' Washington state high school swimming championships.

Hannula is a former multiple-term president of the American Swimming Coaches Association and is on the World Swimming Coaches Association board of directors. He is in the American swim coaches' hall of fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. Hannula also authored the Human Kinetics book Coaching Swimming Successfully. He resides in Tacoma, Washington.

Nort Thornton is the head men's swimming coach at the University of California at Berkeley. Thornton's Cal teams have consistently finished in the top 10 in the nation over the past 30 years. Thornton has coached Cal to two NCAA Championships and was named the NCAA Coach of the Year in 1979 and 1980. An inductee into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, he has coached the U.S. national team at the Olympics and Pan American Games. He has also served the swimming community as the president of the American Swimming Coaches Association.