Don Gambril

Donald Lee Gambril (born January 2, 1934) is an American former swimming coach who is best known for coaching the University of Alabama from 1973-90. His teams had top ten NCAA finishes sixteen times, 3 Southeastern Conference titles, and he was selected to serve as an Olympic coach in five Olympics from 1968-84.[2]

Don Gambril
Biographical details
Born(1934-01-02)January 2, 1934
Altamont, Kansas
Alma materCalifornia State at Los Angeles
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1968-1971Long Beach State
Phillips 66 Swim Club
1971-1972Harvard University
1973-1990University of Alabama
1968-1984Olympic Coach
Head coaching record
Overall237 of 269 (Alabama)
.864 Percentage [1]
300 total wins, all teams
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
3 Southeastern Conference team titles: Men-(1982, 1987)
Women –(1985)
Top Ten NCAA Finishes-16
U.S. Olympic Asst. Coach 1968-1980
Olympic Head Coach 1984
Awards
USA Swimming Award
4 time SEC Coach of the Year
1985 Scholastic Coach of the Year
International Swimming Hall of Fame

He was born on January 2, 1934 in Altamont, Kansas. In 1983, he received a BA and Master's degree while attending California State at Los Angeles. From 1955-1957, he sailed with the U.S. Navy.[2]

College coaching career

Gambril had short stints coaching the City of Commerce and Pasadena College in his early career.[3] He was head coach at Long Beach State from 1968-71, where he mentored Assistant Coach Skip Kenney, who would become a highly accomplished coach for Stanford University. Following Long Beach State, Gambril began a two-year stint from 1971 to 1973 as head coach at Harvard University, where Kenney followed him to again serve as Assistant Coach.

In 1973, Gambril became head coach at the University of Alabama, where he coached the men's team for 17 years and the women's team for 11 years, retiring from coaching in 1990. He had an overall record with Alabama of 237 wins and 32 losses. After his start in 1973, in his fourth year, he took the 1977 Alabama Swim team to the NCAA finals, finishing second.[1]

Honors

He has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame[3] and received the USA Swimming Award in 1983.[4] In 1985, he was Scholastic Coach of the Year and was SEC Coach of the Year four times.[2] In 1998, he was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.[1]

Olympic and International coaching

He was the 1984 U.S. Olympic Coach and Assistant U.S. Olympic Coach in 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980. Gambril also coached the American National 1991 World Championship team.[2]

Gambril coached many well-known Olympic swimmers, including Mark Spitz, Sharon Stouder, and Gunnar Larsson (Sweden), Matt Biondi, Nancy Hogshead, Jonty Skinner (South Africa), Hans Fassnacht (Germany)[5] and Mary T. Meagher.

Swimming community service

Gambril served on the United States Olympic Committee, and the AAU Men’s and Women’s Swim Committees. He has served on United States Swimming Board of Directors, and the Rule Committee for the NCAA.[3] Besides mentoring Skip Kenney, a long serving Olympic and Stanford Swim Coach, he mentored coaches Dick Jochums of Arizona and Ron Ballatore of UCLA.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Don Gambril, Alabama Sports Hall of Fame". ashof.org. Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  2. "Don Gambril, American Swimming Coaches Association". swimmingcoach.org. American Swimming Coaching Association. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  3. "Don Gambril". ISHOF.org. International Swimming Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 22 January 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  4. "USA Swimming Awards and Honors" (PDF). USA Swimming. 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  5. Der Spiegel August 26, 1974

Further reading
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