HENRY F. DUNBAR

1991 INDUCTION TO THE RHODE ISLAND AQUATIC HALL OF FAME

            Hank has been the head swimming coach at Amherst College since 1953.  During that time he has won over 315 swimming meets.  Hank has received the 25 year and 40 year awards from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America, and received the “Distinguished Coach Award” in 1972 by the same organization  He has coached six national champions and thirty-five All-American.  In 1988 he was named the New England Coach of the Year in Division III swimming.

            Hank is a native Rhode Islander who was born in Providence.  He attended Moses Brown school for twelve years.  He received his B.A. from Amherst College and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.  Hank began his coaching career as the freshman swimming coach at Columbia University from 1948 to 1950.  Before he returned to Amherst in 1953, he coached the boys and girls swimming teams at Lake Worth Junior and Senior High School in Florida.  Over a span of ten years he coached at numerous clubs in Fairfield county, Connecticut.

            Among Hank’s coaching credentials at Amherst College include a New England Championship Team. He served as president of the New England Intercollegiate Association on three occasions.  From 1972 to 1976 Hank was a member of the Men’s National Olympic Swimming Committee.  In 1975 he went to Tunisia as an advisor to their government (minority youth and sport) on American swimming methods.

            Hand has a diversity of experiences that further demonstrate his love of sport for young people.  As part of his responsibilities at Amherst College he coached the men’s and women’s crew teams until 1986.  Currently he is a member of the Amherst Boys and Girls Club.  Hank spent many summers as the sailing instructor at the Saunderstown Beach Club in R.I. He will retire with his wife Jean to their home in Jamestown in 1993 after almost fifty years of service in the field of coaching and aquatics.