|
Thank you and farewell to
Coach Bob Miller
In December 2009, Coach Bob Miller retired as Head Coach for Bainbridge Island Swim Club. He was an inspirational, dedicated and committed coach for our club for the past 6 years and will be sorely missed. The following is an article written by Jack Pendleton a student at Bainbridge High School and brother of BISC alumni Julie Pendleton. Jack gives a great re-cap of Bob's remarkable history, achievements and contributions to the sport of swimming.
~~~
Bob Miller is the great coach for BISC (Bainbridge Island Swim Club); he has been coaching since he was in high school. He has done many incredible things in his life, from competing in the Olympics to being on a hijacked plane.
During Bob's great coaching career he has coached two different kids to Olympic medals (a gold and a silver) in one year. During that same year he coached a kid to the Olympic trials and won the Coach of the Year award. He considers this the achievement that he is most proud of as a coach.
During his coaching career, he has started the West Seattle high school swim team when he was a senior, so that he could go to state. He also started the Cascade Swim Club 51 years ago, the Wave Swim Club 25 years ago, as well as the Lake Oswego Swim Club and the Pine Crest Swim Club. He coached for 12 years at the Bellevue Swim Club, before retiring and then unretiring to come and coach BISC. He has coached for BISC for 5 years now, and he plans to retire in December.
Bob was a Alaska Communications Officer in the army when they sent him to the Olympics in 1956, in Melbourne, Australia. He competed in the modern pentathlon which consisted of Horse racing, Fencing (epee), Pistol shooting, a 300M swim and a 2.5 mile run. He was the first American qualifier for the modern pentathlon and he placed 4th in the Olympics and won a silver medal as a team.
Bob was great at many other sports as well. He was a great fencer, saying, "I was one touch away from making Olympic team". Bob was also an exceptional pitcher. He went to a tryout for the Pittsburgh Pirates and pitched 3 innings, striking out all 9 batters he faced. The Pirates asked him to come back for a second tryout, but he didn’t go because he had a swim meet. He was also a very good horseback rider.
Bob was on a Plane that was eventually headed to Portland. As soon as the plane took off, five men stood up with big black duffel bags and yelled "Cuba!" The plane turned around and all the passengers sunk into their chairs. After about 15 minutes, Bob looked out the window and he saw two Russian fighter planes on either side of the plane. Once the plane landed the passengers had two wait for about 2 hours while the pilot bought gas for a ridiculous amount of money. When the plane returned to Miami, the passengers were all interviewed, which Bob said was pretty cool. Bob still remembered the stare that one of the hijackers gave him, and he was able to identify him for the FBI when he came back into the U.S.
Bob plans to go down to Green Valley Arizona with his wife once he retires from his historic coaching career in December. He plans to keep swimming himself, and is excited that there are five swimming pools within a few miles of where his house is in Arizona. He hopes to come back to the Northwest during the summer for a few months each year. All of the Bainbridge Island community is very thankful of Bob and all the work he has done to bring the BISC program to new heights.
Photos from his Farewell Party
|
