George Haines

George Frederick Haines (March 9, 1924 – May 1, 2006) was a swimmer and swimming coach who coached at the Santa Clara Swim Club, Stanford University and UCLA. He also coached for seven U.S. Olympic swim teams. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977 as an Honor Coach.

Haines was born in Huntington, Indiana, and became interested in swimming after joining the local YMCA, where he won two YMCA championships. After moving to California, he founded the Santa Clara Swim Club in 1950. Haines attended college at San Jose State University. It started out as a thirteen-member swim club located in the old Santa Clara High School. This club soon became a training ground for competitive swimmers from all over the United States. He coached for twenty-three years, leaving Santa Clara in 1973. During his stay at Santa Clara, he coached 26 future Olympians, including Mark Spitz, Don Schollander and Claudia Kolb.

In 1960, Haines was selected to coach at the 1960 Summer Olympics, and seven of his swimmers from Santa Clara also qualified, including 1960 gold medalists Chris von Saltza, Lynn Burke, George Harrison, and Paul Hait; the first class also included Donna de Varona and Steve Clark, who would win gold at the 1964 Olympics. In the 1960s, multi-gold medalists Don Schollander and Mark Spitz joined Santa Clara to train with Haines prior to their success at the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympics.

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