Bob Chen, who was the Rio Salado Swim Club coach and Chandler High School swimming coach, has died.
“This news has left a massive hole in our hearts as we try to process how and why this happened. Bob was an important member of our community for over 10 years now and will be missed immensely,” Rio Salado coach David Tait wrote in an email to the team.
Chen was head coach at Rio Salado since 2015 and just recently took over as head coach at Chandler High School, in Arizona, following the death of the team’s previous coach, Kerry Croswhite, who died last year because of COVID-19 complications.
“It’s really obvious that he touched and made an impact on everyone’s lives that had any sort of association with Chandler High School, regardless of if they were a good swimmer or not,” Bob Chen told the Arizona Republic when he took over at Chandler.
Medical officials have not given a cause of death for Chen.
Before to joining Rio Salado, Chen was a nationally ranked high school swimmer swimmer for Missiona San Jose Aquatics in Fremont, California, then attended San Jose State.
Chen then started coaching high school swimming, first at Hamilton High School, then at Basha High School. He was selected as the Arizona High School Swimming Coach of the Year for the Division 1 girls in 2020 at Chandler High School.
Bob Chen was apart of a sex trafficking ring, with 17 other men who were caught. He committed suicide so he didn’t have to face intense backlash from the community and family. Why isn’t that news in this article?
This piece was posted as soon as that information came to light.
https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/arizona-coach-bob-chen-committed-suicide-days-after-arrest-in-child-prostitution-sting/