SCSC ALUMNI
HISTORY

The club was founded in 1951 by George Haines. Starting with just 13 swimmers, the team initially practiced at Santa Clara High School and various other swimming holes, including the Stevens Creek Reservoir.

Swimmers recall that the distance from the face of the dam to a specific tree was 500 yards, and they had to share the water with frogs and tadpoles. In 1966, the city of Santa Clara built the spectacular Santa Clara International Swim Center, the club’s new home.

Haines coached the club for 23 years, leaving Santa Clara in 1974. During this time, SCSC rose to unparalleled prominence, and was recognized around the world as the best swim club and the best coach in history. In his honor, the center was renamed the George F. Haines International Swim Center in June 2001.

The facility has a history as prestigious as the club itself and has hosted 39 Annual International Invitational Meets, which still draw top athletes from around the world. In competitions, 23 World records, 333 American records, and 64 Foreign National records have been set, including a World record set by Michael Phelps in 2004. The Swim Center has hosted Senior Nationals, Junior Nationals, Western Zone Championships, Far Western Championships, and Masters Nationals.

Over the past fifty years, thousands of youngsters, teens, young adults and Masters swimmers have flourished at SCSC in their quest for excellence!

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Jay Fitzgerald was named head coach of SCSC in 1985. In his ten years with the club his goal to build and manage a successful swimming program to produce athletes that were competitive at all levels of swimming was realized.

The SCSC was ranked in the top five at the USA Senior Nationals from 1989 to 1992, and took first place in 1992. In addition, Jay coached several swimmers to the Olympics between 1984 and 1996. Jay has had extensive international coaching experience and has contributed as a technical assistant for the Olympic Swimming coverage for NBC news.

Jay and his wife have been married for 32, and the couple are proud parents of three sons. Jay is currently the Head Coach of a USA Club Team in Florida, where he continues to coach Olympic swimmers, and was recently been named Coach of the Year by the Miami Herald.

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Dick Jochums; SCSC Head Coach, July 1995 to 2007 is a veteran coach who has been successful at all levels of swimming, and brings a wide range of professional and educational skills to our club.

Dick has held coaching positions at University of Washington where he earned his B.A and M.S., University of California at Berkeley also his Ed.D degree earned there, and California State Hayward. During his tenure at Cal-State Hayward, he founded the Concord Swim Club (now known as the Terrapin Swim Club). Dick moved from Hayward to Long Beach State and then on to the University of Arizona in 1978. In his 20 year career in collegiate swimming, his teams had 12 top ten finishes. His club programs have won 5 national titles and were always in the top ten with 18 top five finishes.

At SCSC, he returned our club to the title of National Champion with the 1996, 1997 and 1998 Summer Long Course Men’s National Championship Titles. Dick has trained a number of Olympians and his swimmers have been awarded 12 Olympic medals, set 25 world records, 60 American records and 7 NCAA records. Equally important a great family record as well, Dick and his wife Mara of 40 years have one son, three daughters, and three grand sons. Dick acknowledges that swimmers are a unique breed and the sport provides an opportunity to learn about the value of oneself. He is proud to be a part of the swimming brotherhood, a sport that enables athletes to take a challenge of which they are never defeated.

Dick stresses that "winning is much more than taking first place…it’s a lesson that stays with a swimmer for life ~ Kids make coaches!"

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