PALMETTO BAY, Florida, September 20. BELOVED Husband, Father, Coach and friend passed away on Sept. 18 at his home in Palmetto Bay, Florida; he was 89 years old. Bill Diaz was born 8/1/25 in New York City, NY. to Pilar Domena and Fulgencio Diaz.
The last time Bill Diaz stood poolside and coached a University of Miami swimming team was in 1985. It was a job he did for 15 years, building the school’s program into a powerhouse before he retired. “I miss the competition,” he said in a recent interview. “The competition was great. It was exciting. And all the years I was in swimming, I’ll never forget it.”
Diaz, a 1995 UM Hall of Fame inductee, came to Miami in 1950 on the trail of his girlfriend’s parents, who had migrated from New York. Diaz, a World War II veteran and war hero flew over 20 combat missions over Japan as a gunner in a B-29 and went on to graduate from New York University with an education degree. To his dismay, he found nothing open in the Dade County School System. As Diaz recalls, he was able to “get his foot in the door” of the county school system by coaching at the new Redlands summer camp later that year and then land a physical education teaching position at Fairlawn Elementary.
In 1953, he was assigned to Miami Jackson High School as physical education teacher, where Athletic Director Roy French, a legend in Dade high school athletics, convinced him to take over the school’s swimming team. From there, Diaz started the first Allapattah YMCA age group swimming program whereby he perfected the craft of stroke and training young prodigies into junior, national and top world class swimmers.
“Four years later, we won the state championship,” he recalled. “And, then we won it four years in a row and I don’t think anybody has done that since.”
Miami Springs Senior High School opened in 1963 and Diaz jumped at the opportunity to go to the new school in that booming area of town and build a swimming dynasty from the ground up. He added four more state titles to his growing legend while coaching at Miami Springs.
Diaz, a five-time Dade County High School Coach of the Year, fondly recalled the names of some of the swimmers on his teams, names like Bubba Tongay; Wendy Fordyce; Louis Janos, who held the high school world record in the 50-yard freestyle, and Penny Estes, who at age 14 won the national AAU championship in the 200-meter freestyle.
In 1970, UM Athletic Director Charlie Tate called and asked Diaz to come and resuscitate a struggling swimming program at the University of Miami.
At first, Diaz couldn’t convince blue-chip swimmers in the United States to come to the UM, so he recruited overseas and from unrecognized swimming clubs. He went to South Africa and found several quality national swimming champions, including Tyrone Tozer & Robert Vandermerwe as well as others at the Philadelphia Aquatic Club and then landed David Wilkie, the Scottish silver medal winner from Great Britain’s Olympic team.
In 1971, Diaz chalked up another honor by initiating a women’s swim team at the University of Miami and making the UM the first college in the United States to award a swimming scholarship to a woman. He then won successive national collegiate women’s championships in 1976 and 1977.
Deciding that the UM needed a diving program, Diaz brought in former Olympic diver Tom Gump to set it up and coach diving greats such as Olympic Greg Louganis, Lenny Leyland, Greg Garland and others.
As the University of Miami began to gain recognition, Diaz began attracting top U.S. talent, swimmers like Matt Gribble and Jesse Vassallo, both NCAA champions, world record holders and members of the 1982 and 1986 Olympic teams.
As the University of Miami Head Swimming Coach, Bill Diaz has meant more to the Hurricane Athletic Department than just the three National Independent Championships,
his teams have won during his tenure. He even has meant more to the program then the four ninth place finishes at Nationals.
As the Canes head swim coach from 1970-1985, Bill was responsible for all but two of Miami’s totaling 36 All Americans at Miami with 23 members of the men’s team and 13 members of the women’s receiving the honor. He is widely credited with establishing the University of Miami Swimming and diving program as one of the nations elite.
During that time, his squads posted 11 top-20 NCAA Championship finishes and five top ten finishes with three consecutive finishes from 1974-1976. Miami was able to achieve three National Independent titles, taking the men’s top honor in 1974, 1977 and 1982. Diaz let the women’s team to an AIAW National Championship in 1975 and also let the Hurricanes to 14 individual national championships.
Diaz retired from coaching at the UM in 1985 after 15 years on the job. But in that span, he built the school’s swimming program into a powerhouse, coaching 55 collegiate All Americans during his tenure and managing five USA national swimming teams.
In 2007, the University of Miami and City of Coral Gables officials honored Coach Bill Diaz with the installation of a giant-size UM electronic scoreboard, named in his honor. for his contribution to the UM including his 45-year career and impact affecting so many former athletes and business people today.
Coach Bill Diaz, Army Veteran, Father and Friend is survived by his wife of 66 years, Martha, son’s Bill, John and Rick, their wives Rosana, Tracey & Chrissy Diaz, (5) grand children and (5) great grand children and Sister Alice Elmore nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting contributions in Coach Diaz’ honor be directed to the UM Sports Hall of Fame, in care of Executive Director John Routh. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 16th 1:00pm at Oak Lawn Memorial North located at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn 3344 SW 8TH ST, MIAMI, FL 33135.
Miami ought to really Honor a Coach Diaz’s memory by reinstating its men’s swim program — but that of course would be in violation of title IX and al the bleeding-heart women’s llibbers would scream “Gender Equity!” In protest!
I swam for Bill between 1981 and 1985, in those years I came to understand what a good guy Coach Diaz was, he consistently displayed an enthusiasm for swimming and a genuine care for others around him that I think of when someone says “Bill Diaz”. The world was a better place because of him.
is there any discussion at the university at any level for to reinstate the men’s swim team?