George Bole, 1916-2012

This is sad news for me. George Bole was my first coach in Birmingham, England in the 1960s. He later left us to became the head coach of St Petersburg Masters Club in Florida. He once told me how much he loved coaching in Florida. He said, "When I walk down the street, people pass in their cars, sound their horn and shout, Hi Coach!" He said, "That alone makes coaching worthwhile." When coaching at the Lucas club in Birmingham, his best swimmer was Geoff Nicholls, I remember George being annoyed with him for missing training. Geoff was also keen on music. He played in a group in a room over the local pub and one night George went along. He opened the door and shouted over to Geoff, who was on the stage. "You'll never make any money doing that. Get back to the pool!" Geoff Nicholls later became a member of Black Sabbath and toured the world. On another occasion, one of his swimmers told him he wouldn't be training on Saturday - he was going to have his hair cut instead. On Saturday morning, George left the pool to go to the barbers across the road. His swimmer was sitting, waiting to have his hair cut. George rushed up to the barber and menacingly threatened him, and shouted, "I want all my son's hair cut off. It's too long!" The barber shaved the boys head despite protests from the young lad. He kept saying, "Your dad said I've got to cut it all off." I remember it as though it was yesterday. A lovely man and a great coach. I feel honoured to have been coached by George.

Sad news here as well. I was privileged while serving as President of MACA (Masters Aquatic Coaches Association) to present George with our Lifetime Achievement Award at the ASCA convention in Orlando FL. I'm a little foggy on the year, might have been '98 or '99. I got to spend a little time with George that weekend and he certainly had a lasting impression. I read some of his articles when I first started coaching Masters, and I bought his "Mastering Masters Swimming" around the same time. I know how much the swimmers at St. Pete loved him and benefited from his coaching. I'm thankful that his gift was widely distributed through clinics and articles, and appreciated by those who got to meet him. Thanks George.

Sad news here as well. I was privileged while serving as President of MACA (Masters Aquatic Coaches Association) to present George with our Lifetime Achievement Award at the ASCA convention in Orlando FL. I'm a little foggy on the year, might have been '98 or '99. I got to spend a little time with George that weekend and he certainly had a lasting impression. I read some of his articles when I first started coaching Masters, and I bought his "Mastering Masters Swimming" around the same time. I know how much the swimmers at St. Pete loved him and benefited from his coaching. I'm thankful that his gift was widely distributed through clinics and articles, and appreciated by those who got to meet him. Thanks George. I echo these same feelings as well. I came in contact with George at the Y Nationals in 1992 in Fort Lauderdale and bought that same book "Mastering Masters Swimming" and another book that he sold called "Precision Drills For Better Skills" and I refer to these two books a lot today some 20 years later. He knew one of my first age group coaches, John Hussey, and did a clinic with him and Howard Firby and came over from England for the clinic. He was a real nice guy and a great coach. His St Pete teams always swam very well at Nationals. I used to swim against one of swimmers named Art Halttunen, who was a great IM and *** swimmer. I remember one of his great swimmers was Jane Lambke, who died suddenly at the age of 61. You can read her story here www.usms.org/.../index.php and here www.usms.org/.../str39q2.htm I know Bill Specht was very thankful when he moved to Florida to train and swim for Geroge Bole in St Pete and credited him with success in his swimming career as well as countless others on St. Pete Masters.

Well, I've managed to track down the Black Sabbath man himself - 50 years after training with him! We're both going along to Coach's funeral on Wednesday in the north of England. I'd like to report that the kind words and messages coming from members of St Pete's Masters in Florida have been a comfort to George's family and also to his swimming friends over here in the UK.

George Boles was the coach at a swim camp that I attended in Tuscaloosa (U of Alabama) in the early 80's. While living in Atlanta and swimming for GAJA, I attended the St.Pete meets during my spring break and summer. I made many good friends who were members of the St. Pete team. I visited my parents often in Sarasota and drove to St. Pete to practice with George and my friends. He often wrote individual workouts for his swimmers and gave me encouragement at meets. I miss you George. He was a wonderful and caring coach.

I first met George at one of the LCNats at The Woodlands in the mid-80's; my then coach (David Fletcher) had swum under him in England and had asked me to say hi to him. I had just swum my first 100m LC *** of my life and totally blown my pacing; after I introduced myself, he said he had seen me swim and instructed me to see him after the day ended where he worked with me for about 45 minutes. This after a long day in the hot sun and humidity (and he was no spring chicken even then!). What a gentleman and a true giver.

I attended George's funeral last week and had a long talk with his family. They couldn't stress strongly enough how grateful they are to the St Pete's Masters Club in Florida for the kindness they showed towards him during the years he was with them. George always told us that this was the happiest time of his swimming life.

Graham, Thank you for sharing the recent comments from George's family. I started swimming for George and the St. Pete Masters in Feb. 1985. I think of him everytime I get in the pool. He was my surrogate grandfather, a great teacher and psychological motivator. I have achieved far more from my swimming as a result of my time with him. We are remembering him this weekend at our 42nd annual SPM SCY Meet in St. Pete.

We are remembering him this weekend at our 42nd annual SPM SCY Meet in St. Pete. Christine, hope you all swim well, because you can be sure George will be watching and cheering you on!