The racing stopped, and the Sonny Werblin Rec Center went quiet, save for a few soft splashes in the warm-down pool. This moment belonged to Jim Wood, the longtime Berkeley Aquatic Club head coach who had passed away two weeks earlier. For the many on deck that Wood had influenced in his 68 years, emotions ran high.
The Speedo Winter Invitational represents the 27th edition of Wood’s brainchild: a long course invite in January. Back in the 1990s, long before he became President of USA Swimming, Wood insisted that the meet would succeed, even as plenty of contemporaries doubted him. That was the crux of Wood, a man who always had a vision and a plan for achieving that vision.
That’s why he kept the pool frame from the 2004 Olympic Trials in storage for more than a decade, awaiting the day he could build his own world-class facility in central New Jersey. (He did, with the pool opening in February 2016.)
Longtime assistant coach Tristan Formon described Wood as “feisty,” even in a United States Aquatic Sports board meeting this past September, just one day before health complications from which he would never recover forced him to fly home. (Naturally, after landing in New Jersey, Wood’s first stop was his aquatic center because “that was his home,” Formon said.”)
Berkeley President Jack Flood called Wood “a force of nature” who was “always was spot-on about everything.” Both agreed: He made decisions with swimmers in mind.
“For the young ones coming up, he was the fun and happy coach that played cards in the stands, crinkled their hair and put these little whiskers on their faces. And for the ones that became the competitive swimmers, they were his god,” Flood said. “He was the one instructing them how to improve in their sport. And when they didn’t, he had this silent look. They knew something happened, and he doesn’t have to say a word.”
Wood never missed practice. Formon recalled a day early in his tenure with the club when Wood arrived on deck with blood all over his shirt. Formon asked if Wood was feeling alright. Turns out that his gallbladder had been removed a few hours earlier. Another time, Formon took Wood to a hospital after Tuesday morning practice to have stents put in. He was back on deck Wednesday afternoon So this time, when Wood ended up in the intensive care unit in mid-September and then in hospice in mid-October, his swimmers knew the situation must be serious.
Formon, who had previously coached all but one swimmer in Wood’s senior group, took over that group to provide stability and encouragement. And while all those on deck this weekend at Rutgers feel a strange emptiness with Wood gone, Wood’s swimmers have taken his absence the toughest. When Wood entered hospice in mid-October, one of the primary guides in their lives was gone, as tough an absence as any for a teenager to handle.
“The toughest part, not seeing him every day, for the kids and for all of us. I think that was the toughest part for him,” Formon said. “I did get the chance to see him a couple of times while he was in hospice, and all he wanted to talk about was the kids. He wanted to know if the kids were okay. He wanted to know if they were getting what they needed, not athletically but the support that they needed emotionally.”
In the weeks before Wood passed away on Jan. 4 and in the two weeks since, members of the Berkeley community have connected with Wood’s former swimmers and colleagues around the country. In each encounter, he has been pleasantly surprised to hear familiar stories—familiar because they remind him of his longtime boss and familiar because Wood had shared his perspective on those same stories.
“There were so many similarities in the way he touched everyone’s lives but very unique at the same time,” Formon said. “I’ve learned a lot more about him. I’ve heard stories that he told me from 40 years ago, 30 years ago, that I’ve heard from the other side now. They’re consistent.”
Formon believes that Wood’s legacy impacted thousands, including those who were mentored by Wood’s former swimmers. Even Chris Rattray, the producer of this weekend’s Speedo Winter Invitational live stream for Swimming World and SwimCast, traces his success as in swimming video production to Wood’s longtime support, stretching back a decade to Rattray’s days in Wood’s senior group.
“He brought the best out of everyone,” Formon said. “You felt obligated to make good choices and make the right choices. There are generations of kids out there who will never know him whose parents have been positively influenced by the guy.”
