Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame Announces 2024 Class
The Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame has announced the Class of 2024, which includes Nate Dusing, Jean Henry, Vicki Loock Veris and Jim Stillson. The Lifetime Achievement Award will go to Emmett Hines and the Distinguished Team goes to the Aggie Swim Club.
2024 Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame Honorees
Nate Dusing came to Texas as an outstanding age group and high school swimmer, setting multiple age group national records as a butterflier and was named the 1997 USA High School Swimmer of the Year. He went on to become one of the University of Texas’s most versatile and outstanding swimmers. Nate was a member of two NCAA Championship teams (2000, 2001), an individual NCAA Champion in the 200 IM and 200 Back (2001), and a member of nine NCAA Championship relay teams while at Texas. Dusing represented the United States at two consecutive Summer Olympics. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, he earned a silver medal by swimming for the second-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Four years later, at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, he received a bronze medal by swimming for the third-place U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay. He was also a member of gold medal-winning U.S. relay teams in the 4×100-meter freestyle at the 2005 World Aquatics Championships and the 2004 World Short Course Championships. Dusing currently works in the Medical Device industry and resides in Dripping Springs, Texas, with his wife of 18 years and Texas Soccer letter winner Michelle (Wickwire) Dusing. They have two daughters, Lyla (14) and Eva (12).
Jean Henry launched her pioneering swimming journey at Morris Swim Club in Pasadena, Texas. She swam her first meet at age five and set her first national record at nine. Henry, a backstroke specialist, was TAGS champion for seven straight years and was named to All-State Age Group Honor Rolls multiple years. She was a two-time member of Texas All-Star teams competing against Mexico, setting Federacion de Mexico records in her backstroke events. She qualified for her first Senior AAU Nationals at age 11 and competed in her first Nationals at 12. Under Don Atwood, she was a member of the first girls water polo team representing Texas at the National Junior Olympics. She earned High School All-American her junior and senior years, achieving a national ranking of second in backstroke. She received the 1968 Lilian Kneip Award as Texas’s Outstanding Female Swimmer and qualified for the 1968 Olympic Trials. In 1970, Coach Pat Patterson recruited Henry to Texas A&M to plant the seed for a women’s swim team. Arriving at A&M, she recruited and coached other former AAU standouts and training cross-pool behind a bulkhead in a 20-yard pool. She became the first female All-American in A&M history, earning honors both her junior and senior years, coached those years by Steve Montgomery. Under coach Dennis Fosdick, she competed on the A&M “men’s” Water Polo B team. In 1974, she received the first Texas A&M Outstanding Female Athlete award. Though based mostly on swimming performance, she also captained A&M’s first volleyball team, earning All-Region honors, and competed on the first women’s track and field team, qualifying for Regionals in 4 events.
Jean’s record exemplifies her pioneering contributions to aquatics. Starting at age 11, she taught swimming at Bayshore Swim Club, launching competitive journeys for many young swimmers. She served over 25 years as ARC Lifeguard, Water Safety Instructor, and Kayak/Canoe Instructor, earning an ARC Community Heroes award. She was the first women’s swim coach for Southwest Texas State University, coaching several national qualifiers and an All-American in her three-year tenure. She served as Natatorium Director at North Lake Community College in Irving, Texas, managing a unique, multi-agency aquatic facility for the Community College, Irving School District, and Irving Dept. of Recreation, That facility advanced aquatics by hosting numerous swimming meets, water polo tournaments, triathlons, and recreational swim and SCUBA events. She has served 37 years with the YMCA, NAUI, and Scuba Educators as SCUBA Instructor, Instructor Trainer, and Course Director, among the first women to serve in these capacities, and is listed in Who’s Who in SCUBA. Jean is very proud that through the years she has taught countless people to swim, kayak, or SCUBA dive, endowing them with skills that enable a life-long healthy lifestyle.
Vicki Loock Veris is a Texas trailblazer as a champion diver, SMU women’s head swimming and diving coach, and a lifelong career as a multi-sport athlete and coach. Coached by her father, TSDHOF legend Carl Loock, she began swimming in 1948. In her formative years, she performed in numerous diving events alongside her TSDHOF honoree brother and sister Cal and Christine. In 1963 she was awarded the Lillie Kneip Trophy by the Southwest AAU as the most outstanding girl swimmer and the only diver to ever win the award. She won every TAGS diving title from age 10 to Open and was an eight-time Southwest AAU Diving Champion. She taught and coached swimming and diving at Fort Worth Country Clubs, Panther Boy’s Club, Burfurd Swim Club, Dr. Pepper Diving, and the summer diving program at SMU. As a Master’s diver she won both the one- and three-meter Texas Masters age group diving titles in 1976 and 1977 and the US Masters title in three-meter in 1977.
Veris was the head Swimming and Diving coach at SMU from 1977-1982 and the first woman to coach a Southwest Conference swimming team, having 21 athletes earn 80 All-American awards. Her 1982 team finished seventh in the final AIAW National Championship. She served as Texas AIAW sports director for swimming, President-Elect of the National Collegiate Women’s Swim Coaches Association, and assisted with the transition from the AIAW to the NCAA as a governing body. Since her days at SMU, Vicki has spent a lifetime as an advocate for physical fitness as a Level 3 US Masters coach, champion triathlete, swimmer, mentor, mother, and grandmother. She lives in Lake Tahoe alongside her husband of 42 years, former World Class swimmer Andy Veris.
Jim Stillson was born in Aberdeen, Maryland, and attended Campbell High (Calif.) where he was a high school All-American diver. A 1974 graduate of Ohio State, Stillson earned NCAA All-American honors his senior year in the three-meter competition. He arrived in Texas as soon as he could to follow TSDHOF Honoree Bryan Robbins at SMU. In his three years as head coach of the men’s and women’s diving teams, his athletes earned 88 All-America honors, and the men’s and women’s teams have won 32 combined conference championships. He also coached 10 U.S. National Champions, four NCAA Champions, and four Olympians, including 1992 silver medalist and TSDHOF Inductee Scott Donie. In 1989, Stillson was named the NCAA Men’s Diving Coach of the Year, and in 1990 and 1995 he was the NCAA Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. On the conference level, he has earned 15 conference diving coach of the year honors while at SMU. Stillson served as one of the U.S. Diving National Team coaches from 1987-91 and again in 1997. His successful coaching ability in 1999 earned him that year’s United States Olympic Committee Diving Coach of the Year award.
In 1992, Stillson received the Mike Malone Memorial Award, given for outstanding contributions to diving by the national governing body of the sport, U.S. Diving. Stillson has coached the U.S. National Diving Team in competition in Europe, Australia, China, and the Soviet Union. In addition, he was selected as a team leader for the USA Diving team at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Emmett Hines (Posthumously): A pioneer in Masters Swimming in the Houston area, Emmett served for over 23 years on five different USMS committees and was a major figure in the development of masters swimming at the regional level. In 1980, Emmett founded a Masters swim team which grew into the largest in Houston, at times having over two hundred members. He was named USMS Coach of the Year in 1993. The success of his team was due to Emmett’s personality, his expertise in coaching, and his superior knowledge of swim training and technique as well as his emphasis on social activities. One of the early Gulf LMSC meet directors (assuring meets were professionally managed and fun), he also promoted open water swimming in the area by holding open water workouts and events which were immensely popular within the entire region. The open water swims brought new members into the Gulf LMSC.
Emmett served as Gulf LMSC Registrar and Top Ten Chair, for which he was awarded the Dorothy Donnelly Service Award in 2014. He promoted Masters Swimming on the National and International level through his writing and speaking; two of his books on Masters Swimming have been translated into four foreign languages.
Emmett’s life passion was promoting the sport, coaching, teaching technique, speaking at clinics, publishing inspirational articles, and volunteering. He truly impacted USMS at all levels. Emmett brought the joy of swimming back to many burned out age group and college swimmers. His team members were extraordinarily devoted to him and credit him for kindling (or re-kindling) a love for swimming.
Wally Pryor Distinguished Team: Aggie Swim Club
The Bryan/College Station community has a rich history in developing young swimmers. TSDHOF inductee and former A&M Coach Art Adamson taught swim lessons and club swimmers for many years. Texas A&M and the City of College Station Recreation Department hosted the first TAGS State Championship Meet, with Adamson as meet director. In the late 1960s, Pat Patterson was hired as Texas A&M’s head coach and volunteered for the College Station Swim Club. He was followed by Steve Montgomery, who coached the team until Mel Nash was hired as A&M’s head coach in 1980.
As the A&M college team began summer practices under Nash, four local high school swimmers asked if they could train with the team. After welcoming them and their four younger siblings, a wave of new kids joined, and the team took off. Under the guidance of Carol and Mel Nash, Aggie Swim Club was born as a new Gulf Swimming and USA Swimming Club. Over the next few years, AGS grew to over 100 swimmers under coaches Mike Shrader, now the head coach at San Diego State, followed by Rick Walker and Patrick Henry, Tracy Johnston, and Bill Miller. Current A&M men’s head Coach Jay Holmes helped coached the club while also serving as Mel’s assistant. Jay continues to be the club’s President today, and current A&M women’s head Coach Steve Bultman is the club’s current Director.
Because of the incredible growth under the previously mentioned coaches, AGS hired Bob Leland as a full-time coach in the late ‘80s. Leland was a former A&M swimmer who had been on the US National team in the 70s. In the 90s, Leland started College Station/Bryan Aquatics (CSBA), which operated out of the College Station community pools, while AGS continued to operate out of the A&M pools. In 1996, Leland hired Ryan Goodwyn, a former A&M swimmer to help grow the age group side of the program. Goodwyn, along with the AGS club president Bud Allen, facilitated a merger between AGS and CSBA in 2000, and the club doubled in size overnight. Goodwyn stayed on as the Age Group coach for AGS until 2017 while also coaching many AGS kids on the A&M Consolidated High School team until 2019.
When the new A&M Natatorium opened in 1995, Mel Nash continued to coach the Aggie Swim Club in the summers as well as the A&M men’s team and was an advisor to the year-round club until his departure in 2004. In 2004 the AGS men finished third at the USA Senior Nationals and combined with the women to finish second overall.
Over the years there have been many notable parents, volunteers and club Presidents such as Bob Randall, John Crompton, Debbie Bravenec, Linda Jones and Bud Allen. One of the most notable volunteers for the club was Bob Stallings, who was a USA Swimming official for the club as well as the club’s treasurer. Bob passed away after officiating at the Speedo Junior National Championships in Indianapolis in 2007.
In 2000 the club brought on Dr. Henry Clark, a research scientist in physics at A&M who was an Olympic Trials finalist in the 80’s. Henry became the head coach of the program as well as the club’s meet director, hosting large national level meets at the A&M Natatorium such as USA Sectionals for 20 years, Winter Junior Nationals and Futures. Henry has served on the Board of Gulf Swimming for nearly 20 years in various positions such as General Chair, Administrative Vice Chair, Senior Chair, Finance Vice Chair and Technical Planning Chair. Henry’s wife, Shannon, joined the club in 2002 as the club’s administrator and head age group coach and the pair together have grown the club to over 275 swimmers at two locations.
A few Aggie Swim Club swimmers of note:
Steve Bultman – Olympic Coach – 2008 Estonia, 2012 USA, 2016 Mexico
Chris O’Neil – Goodwill Games Gold Medalist 100 Fly
Devin Howard – Pan-American Games Bronze Medalist 200 Fly
Jarrod Kappler – Pan-American Games 5th place 50 Free
David Kohel – local College Station swimmer and Olympic Trials qualifier
Bryan Jones – local College Station swimmer and high school state champion in 50 and 100 Free
Diego Perdomo – 1996 Olympian (Columbia)
Alfredo Jacobo – 2000 Olympian (Mexico)
Riley Janes – 2004 Olympian (Canada)
Matt Rose – 2004 Olympian (Canada)
Francisco Picasso – 2008 Olympian (Uruguay)
Maria Sommer – local College Station swimmer and Olympic Trials qualifier
Christine Marshall – Olympic medalist, 800 Free Relay
Breeja Larson – Olympic gold medalist, 400 Medley Relay
Cammile Adams – 2-time Olympian, 200 Fly
Amini Fonua – 2012, 2016, 2021 Olympian (Tonga)
Hayden Duplechain – local College Station swimmer and Olympic Trials qualifier
Haley Clark – local College Station swimmer and high school state champion in 100 Fly
Julia Cook – local College Station swimmer, member of USA Swimming National Junior Team, high school state champion in 50 Free and 100 back and Olympic Trials qualifier
Harrison Jones – local College Station swimmer and high school state champion in 100 Fly, LSU school record holder in 200 Fly
Peter Simmons – local College Station swimmer and high school state champion in 100 Fly and 100 Back
Jonathan Tybur – 2018 USA Swimming National Team Member
AJ Robinson – local College Station swimmer and USA Swimming Futures champion in 400 Free and 200 Fly
Angel Martinez – 2021 Olympian (Mexico)
Shaine Casas – USA Swimming National Team Member, 2021 Olympic Trials Finalist, 2021 Men’s NCAA Swimmer of the year
Baylor Nelson – 2023 USA Swimming National Team Member
Beryl Gastaldello 2x French Olympian
Triin Aljand 2x Estonian Olympian
Erica Dittmer Mexican Olympian
Lili Ibanez 2x Mexican Olympian
Julia Wilkinson 2x Canadian Olympian & NCAA Champion
Sarah Henry NCAA Champion & US Nationals high point scorer & USA National team
Claire Rasmus USA National team
Kristen Heiss USA National team
Sarah Gibson USA National team
Lisa Bratton USA National team & Short Course World Champion
Sydney Pickrem 2x Canadian Olympian & medalist, World Champ medalist & Short Course World Champion
Aviv Barzelay Israeli Olympian
Rita Medrano Mexican Olympian
Bethany Galat USA National team World Champs & Pan Am Medalist
Alia Atkinson Jamaican Olympian & NCAA Champion
McKenna DeBever Peruvian Olympia
— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.