Sherm Chavoor
Sherm Chavoor (April 10, 1919 – September 3, 1992) was a swimming coach from the United States. He coached Olympic swimmers Mark Spitz, Debbie Meyer, Mike Burton, Jeff Float, Susan Pedersen, John Ferris, Dave Fairbank, John Nelson and Ellie Daniel at Arden Hills Swimming and Tennis Club in Sacramento, California, which he founded in 1954. Chavoor began coaching at the Sacramento YMCA prior to starting Arden Hills.

He was head coach of the 1967 Women's Pan American team, and he was head coach of the USA's Women's Olympic Swimming teams in 1968 and 1972. He was named Coach of the Year by the American Swimming Coaches Association in 1968. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977. He has been called one of the "three greatest coaches the United States has ever had." His life is chronicled in the book Victory in the Pool by Bill George.  Chavoor published a book co-authored with Bill Davidson titled The 50-Meter Jungle, which told part of his life story.

Early life and career 
He was born near Hilo, Hawaii the son of a sugar cane worker, and his birth name was IIzikiel Correa. He would later change his name to Sherm Chavoor while serving in the U.S. Army. He was raised in the East Bay and worked on the docks. Just prior to World War II he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. His first stint as a swim instructor was at the air base in Tonopah, Nevada. After his honorable discharge he married and moved to Sacramento where he was a school teacher and part-time swim instructor at the YMCA in 1946. In an era when minority swimmers were not allowed in most swim clubs, his first YMCA swim teams contained Black, White and Japanese American teenagers. His swimmers were immediately successful in AAU swimming. After coaching stints with two other swim teams, Chavoor founded the Arden Hills Swim and Tennis Club in 1955.

Arden Hills' rise to a U.S. national power

Arden Hills quickly became one of the top swim clubs in the country. Mike Burton and Joan Ferris qualified for the 1964 Olympic Trials, but neither made the team. By 1967 swimmers Debbie Meyer, Sue Pedersen, Mike Burton and John Ferris were setting U.S. and world records. In 1967 Chavoor was named head coach of the U.S. Pan American women's swim team, then tapped to be head women's coach for the 1968 Summer Olympics.

1968 Olympics

Arden Hills' Debbie Meyer won three gold medals, Sue Pedersen won two gold and two silver, Mike Button won two gold, John Nelson one gold and a bronze, and John Ferris two bronze medals as Arden Hills won 13 total medals. Chavoor's women's team won ten of a possible fifteen gold medals, eight silver out of twelve possible, and eight bronze out of twelve, a total of twenty-six medals out of a possible thirty-nine. The U.S. women won all three relays and scored sweeps in the 100-meter butterfly and 200-meter individual medley.

1972 Olympics

Arden Hills' Mark Spitz won seven Gold Medals and Mike Burton one gold. Chavoor was once again head coach of the women's team. It won eight gold medals of a possible fourteen, five silver medals of a possible twelve, and four bronze medals of a possible twelve. Combining the 1968 and 1972 records, Chavoor’s women won nineteen of twenty-eight possible gold medals, twelve of twenty- four silver medals, and twelve of a possible twenty-four bronze medals. It was the last Olympic team Chavoor coached, and he went out on top. His two Olympic swimming teams had dominated the world competition and helped establish the U.S. women’s program as the finest on earth.

Last Olympian and retirement

Chavoor's final Olympian was Jeff Float who won gold in the 1984 Olympics. Chavoor sold Arden Hills in 1985 but continued training swimmers until his 1990 retirement. In early 1992 he was diagnosed with liver cancer. He died at home September 3, 1992. His swimmers won 31 Olympic medals, set 81 world and 131 U.S. records. He is the only swim coach to produce two James E. Sullivan Award (Mark Spitz and Debbie Meyer) winners.

References

American swimming coaches
1992 deaths
1919 births