Ray Bussard (August 12, 1928[1] – September 22, 2010)[2] was a Hall of Fame collegiate and Olympic swimming coach from the United States, best known for coaching the University of Tennessee Swimming team from 1968-1989. A specialist in developing sprinters, his overall career winning percentage in dual meets was .926, an unprecedented achievement. Earlier, he had been a gifted collegiate athlete at Bridgewater College and had coached field sports in Tennessee and Virginia High Schools.[3]
Education and collegiate athletics
At age six, Bussard started swimming in a creek bed near his home in rural Virginia, but he showed a far greater interest in field sports. At Virginia's Bridgewater College, he was a track and field National AAU All-Around Champion in 1952, and was All-State playing football. In basketball, he was an all-tourney selection.[3][4]
Early coaching
After College graduation, he coached track and field, football, baseball, track and basketball for both boys and girls at five high schools in Virginia and football and track at two high schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee creating a number of state champions.[3][5] A formidable high school coach, he won district, regional and high school state titles. His overall record for high school coaching was 43-24-12 in football, 241-99 in basketball, 128-52 in baseball and 172-7 in track where his teams most excelled.[6]
In the summers, Ray began teaching swimming and life-saving courses for the Red Cross, where he started his career as a swim coach. He founded the Chattanooga Swim League in 1960 and coached it through 1966.[3] He met his wife Ruth Cauley while teaching and coaching in Craigsville, Virginia, the first of five Virginia high schools where he would coach.[5]
University of Tennessee swimming coach
In the winter of 1966, the University of Tennessee invited him to interview for the position as Head Swim Coach. He took the position as Coach and administrator for recreational swimming on Feb. 1, 1967.[6] Bussard coached the men's swimming team at the University of Tennessee for 21 seasons, from 1968-1989.[2]
When he began at the school, Tennessee had not competed in swimming at the NCAA level since 1959.[1] Showing immediate results, after only one year of coaching, in 1969 Tennessee's Swim team won the Southeastern Conference Championship, edging out the University of Florida who had won the conference thirteen straight times. Bussard won the 1969 SEC Championship with a team composed entirely of Freshmen, but he may have preferred younger minds to teach his innovative approach. From 1973-1978, his Diving Coach was Vince Panzano, a former diver and future diving coach for Ohio State, who claims he learned a great deal from observing Bussard, who would have nine undefeated seasons coaching the Vols.[7][4] Bussard gained support for the team by adding tradition and ritual to meets, having team members wear coonskin caps, emptying a bottle of Tennessee swim water into an opponent's pool, and adding spirit by featuring the swim team's cheerleaders, the Vol Timettes.[5]
Coaching focus
Ray's specialty as a swim coach was in developing sprinters. He defined sprinting as controlled quickness, stressing fast turns and starts, which made his swimmers difficult to beat in short distance events, and short course pools. His flip-turns were such a unique and precise innovation, they became known as "Tennessee turns". Though he believed in thorough practices, he focused more on technique than overdistance training alone which was becoming more popular in the 1970s. Team building was a focus, and he cared greatly about details, encouraging his swimmers to shave their heads before important meets.[3]
While at Tennessee, he was twice named the NCAA's Swimming Coach of the Year (1972 and 1978), and his Volunteers won the NCAA Swimming Championships in 1978.[2] His University of Tennessee teams completed a 178-20 record during his Coaching years. When including his High School coaching, his overall career record was a 252-30 in dual meets with a particularly noteworthy winning percentage of .926.[3] His most accomplished swimmers included two-time 1976 gold medalist Matt Vogel, and 1975 two-time World Championship gold medalist Andy Coan. He also coached 1972 gold medalist David Edgar and his successor as Tennessee Coach, All American John Trembley, who were both exceptional sprinters.[3][8]
Bussard served as a coach for the USA at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where he was a sprint coach, and 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games as well as the 1979 Pan Pacific Games.[3]
According to a leading Knoxville newspaper, by 1985, Bussard had coached more than 35 coaches and athletic directors.[14]
In 1989, the year of his retirement as coach, the University of Tennessee Indoor Aquatic Pool was named for Bussard to honor his legacy.[5]
Bussard died on September 22, 2010, at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville. He had suffered from Diabetes, which had worsened in the six months before his death.[12]
^ abcLegendary swim coach Bussard dies, published by the University of Tennessee Men's Athletics website (www.utsorts.com) on 2010-09-23; retrieved 2020-09-23.
