the morning shakeout | issue 535

Remembering a legendary coach, mentor, and human, the incomparable Don Swartz.

Good morning,

It’s been a hard few days in our household and community at large. Don Swartz, my wife Christine’s swimming coach the past 10 years and one of my closest mentors the last three, passed away unexpectedly last week in Costa Rica while on vacation with his wife, Madeline. Like everyone else whose lives he touched, which is likely somewhere well into the thousands at this point, we are devastated and at a literal and figurative loss.

I first heard about Don in 2016 after Christine joined the Masters swimming program at North Bay Aquatics. The impact he had on her was immediate. From the get-go, she raved about his workouts, the team and environment he helped cultivate, and the excellent instruction and enthusiastic encouragement he provided from the deck. I knew I had to meet the guy. Eventually, at one of the annual team gatherings, I did. I liked Don right away. His kindness, curiosity, and interest were genuine. He had a lifelong affinity for the water, he loved his family, and cherished his community. And everyone in his orbit clearly had a lot of reverence and respect for him in return.

In the months that followed, we got to know each other better, and my admiration for him only grew. I came to find out that Don was something of a legend in the swimming world. He was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013 (you can watch his acceptance speech here and here), and is widely credited with revolutionizing modern-day swim training with the introduction and implementation of cycle training (i.e. alternating hard days with easy days) in the early 1970s. He also coached several swimmers to Olympic, World Championship and Pan-American teams, a number of global medals, and a handful of world records (including Rick DeMont in the 400m freestyle, when he became the first person in history to break 4 minutes in the event). (n.b. I only learned about any of this through my own research, by the way. Don was an incredibly modest and humble man.)

“You should interview him for your podcast,” Christine suggested a few years ago. “You think he’d do it?” I replied.

I sheepishly floated the idea to him in one of our regular email exchanges. He enthusiastically agreed, replying to me in less than five minutes. A few weeks later, we sat down at his kitchen table (on two separate occasions—my SD card filled up 45 minutes into our initial exchange) and recorded for over two hours in total. I published that episode on September 25, 2023 and it was an instant all-timer, full of amazing stories, interesting anecdotes, and practical takeways for anyone who wants to explore their potential, impact others, and live a more fulfilling life.

It was after that conversation that Don became my mentor, inviting me to join him on the pool deck to observe practice, answering whatever silly/stupid questions I might have, and regularly peppering me with his wisdom, humor, and encouragement.

I’m going to miss him in a million little ways: The near-weekly responses to this newsletter and his fondness for exclamation points!!! The weekly workout emails he sent to his North Bay team (after years of Christine forwarding them to me, he eventually just added me to the list), not for the details of the next morning’s set, but for the pearls of wisdom and nuggets of inspiration he always managed to slide in there. His standing invitation for me to join him on deck at swim practice, a privilege I didn’t take advantage of enough. Christine returning home from practice on Tuesday mornings, glowing because “Don said…” The out-of-the-blue phone calls asking for my advice on how to share his insights, ideas, and observations with a wider audience. Inviting Christine and I to come down to the pool and speak with his high school kids about love of sport and how to be a lifelong athlete. Attending the annual summer party he and Madeline hosted in their backyard, where he was the common thread tying together everyone in attendance.

I’ve spent the past few days reading through the dozens and dozens of email exchanges he and I have had since 2019, going through the observations I scribbled into my notebook, and relistening to the podcast we recorded a few years ago. It’s hard to believe that he’s no longer here. I’m simultaneously filled with both incredible sadness and profound gratitude. What a gift for our paths to have crossed.

On Saturday morning, I asked Christine if I could play her a clip from the podcast. Just a few seconds later, Don’s voice and presence filled the room. We immediately started bawling our eyes out, his words carrying the weight of the mark he left on us and so many others.

“At the end of the day,” he said, pausing to reflect for a split second, “when they throw dirt on ya, you wanna have a smile on your face and go, ‘I had a good run. I did what I wanted to do more often than not. I made a mark.’”

Thanks for reading,

Mario

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The bottom line. 

“I think the words we use to choose how we describe ourselves and what we’re doing, I think those words are important. There’s the positive, ‘what might happen that would be really good’ outlook, as opposed to the ‘man, oh man, I don’t know’ [outlook]...Lean into success instead of waiting for failure.”

— Don Swartz in Episode 229 of the morning shakeout podcast

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