A swimming birth was taking place in the balcony at the Wallace Pool on the UMaine campus in 1971. Maine’s first swim coach, Alan Switzer, was conducting the first Black Bear team meeting with a group more closely resembling a “pool round up” than a NCAA collegiate swimming team.

The Harvard graduate recalled the first Maine swim team in an article written a few years ago by Len Harlow, then UM sports information director.

“I talked with them, all Maine boys except one or two, for about an hour, on what the swim program at Maine was going to be. I outlined our goals, the workout schedules and the discipline and then walked downstairs to get a look at them in the water.

“From the time, I left the balcony until I got down to the pool deck, I had lost six of them.”

But beginning with that group, many of whom had never seen a collegiate swim race, Switzer over the next 20 years was to construct, mold and shape one of the East’s most respected men’s swimming programs.

Twenty years of swimming at Maine under Switzer reesulted in Black Bear squads winning 139 meets while losing only 63. His teams won five Yankee Conference titles until the Yankee Conference was dissolved.

In 1976, just five years after that first Maine meeting, the Black Bears won the New England crown. Maine won the New Englands, the oldest collegiate swim championship, again in 1978. The following year, Switzer moved his program to a new height when his team competed in the Eastern Seaboards, probably the fastest meet in the East.

Later, Maine extended its swimming reputation by competing in the Eastern Intercollegiates at Cleveland State, against such teams as Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh.

Whether at the Yankee Conference level, the New Englands, the Eastern Seaboards or the Eastern Intercollegiates, the Maine men gained their share of individual “gold.” Additionally, one of Switzer’s swimmers, Jim Smoragiewiez, now the swim coach at the University of Toledo, competed in the nation’s fastest and most elite meet, the NCAA Division I Championship.

Charlie Butt, longtime Bowdoin College swim coach and past NCAA committee member, spoke of Switzer’s impact: “His influence on Maine and New England swimming has been great. His own vitality and the quality of his program have stimulated swimming in Maine. I believe, his work ethic, his determination and his will were good examples for kids.”

Any swimmer who ever competed under Switzer was influenced by his intense will to win and his refusal to accept defeat.

New England championship historians recall the ’77 comeback by Switzer’s Bears after a disqualification in the 800 free relay on the first of three day racing cost Maine 32 points.

Regardless, Maine swam obsessed during the final two days to miss the New England title by only six points.

That same resolve was present this year when Switzer’s squad, following a dismal won-lost record the first semester, raced with such purpose during the second semester that the young squad finished with a winning record.

Opposing coaches, presumably, were challenged and, undoubtedly, frustrated by Switzer’s dual-meet strategy that usually cast a 400 free relay in the final event so loaded and so powerful that opponents could not match-up. If a Switzer squad were defeated, the opponent did so only after beating the very best of Maine.

A determinated will was part of Switzer’s practice philosophy, too. Peter Zeiger, a 1980 graduate, is now a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch, recalls:

“Coach Switzer is the consummate professional. He expects nothing but the best from everyone. Even when we were out of the water, he had expectations for us. I remember him putting guys off the travel bus if they were not dressed properly. I have a B.A. and a M.A., but I did all my real learning from Coach Switzer. He taught us all so much about ourselves, particularly about courage, self-discipline and determination.” , recounts an interview with Merrill Lynch which provides insight into Switzer and his program.

“It was the fourth interview with Lynch and the interviewer asked me to relate something I had done in life which required commitment and determination, I immediately thought of my swimming at Maine. I told him for four years I swam for the toughest individual I know. I swam back and forth on a black line for 2-3 hours a day, six days a week to lower my time a couple of seconds. He must have liked my answer because I got the job,” Zeiger said.

Zeiger commented,

Switzer, who coached at the Hill School in Pennsylvania and at Hebron Academy before assuming the UM position, has memories, seemingly, of every race swum by one of his boys.

However, it is not the races that give him his fondest recollections. “I have always enjoyed the relationship with the boys. To watch them enter as freshmen and then mature and develop has been satisfying. We have had so many incredible young men. Each one of them has provided me with a memory.”

One who has been closely associated with Maine men’s swimming and has many memories of the Black Bear program is Jeff Wren, Maine’s widely respected women’s swim coach, who will assume coaching responsibilities for the men.

Actually, Wren worked as Switzer’s assistant during the early years of Black Bear swimming. When discussing Switzer’s impact, Wren comments, “The most dominant recollection I have is Al’s vision of going to the top while starting at the bottom.

“He showed us what hard work on a coach’s part and hard work on a swimmer’s part could produce. Let’s remember in four years he had that program at the top of New England. There is no question that impacted the women’s development. In six years, the women were there. Because of what he started and what he achieved, we can, successfully, carry on. I have no question about that,” Wren stated.

Last weekend, Switzer wearing a Maine swim shirt, printed Maine swimming “Now and Forever,” stood on the catwalk of the Wallace Pool and gazed at an overflow crowd and viewed a quality field of swimmers racing in an Eastern regional meet. Behind him on the wall was the Maine swim record board of 20 years and in front of him were those eight lanes where in 1971 he had held his first time trials.