Jim Stillson, Vicki Loock Veris join Texas Swimming HOF

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU’s Jim Stillson and Vicki Loock Veris Inducted Into Texas Swimming Hall of Fame

AUSTIN, Texas (SMU) — The Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2024, which included former SMU swimming and diving head coaches Jim Stillson and Vicki Loock Veris.

A three-time NCAA Coach of the Year and 16-time conference Coach of the Year, Stillson coached four individuals to eight NCAA Championships and 20 student-athletes to 71 All-America honors. He has mentored three NCAA Divers of the Year and 10 U.S. National Champions. Overall, SMU saw 21 of Stillson's divers win 89 conference championships.

On the International level, Stillson has coached three Olympians to four appearances, including Scott Donie (USA), who competed at the 1992 and 1996 Games, winning silver in 1992. Stillson also mentored 1996 Olympians Ali Al-Hasan (Kuwait) and Tony Inglesias (Bolivia).

In 1989, Stillson was named the NCAA Men's Diving Coach of the Year and, in 1990 and 1995, the NCAA Women's Diving Coach of the Year. Stillson served as one of the U.S. Diving National Team coaches from 1987-91 and again in 1997, leading the team at events in countries such as 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.

His successful coaching 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. In 2015, Stillson was honored by the International Swimming Hall of Fame with the Paragon Award, which is presented annually to individuals or organizations for outstanding contributions to aquatics.

Stillson came to SMU following a coaching stint at Columbia University. He was a high school All-American at Campbell High (California), and went on to compete at Ohio State where he earned NCAA All-America honors on 3 meter his senior year.

Eight-time Southwest AAU Diving Champion and Lillie Kneip Trophy recipient, Loock Veris was the head Swimming and Diving coach at SMU from 1977-1982. She was the first woman in history to coach a Southwest Conference swimming team.

Loock Veris coached 21 athletes to 80 All-American awards. In her final year in 1982, her team finished seventh at the AIAW National Championship.

She served as Texas AIAW sports director for swimming, President-Elect of the National Collegiate Women's Swim Coaches Association and also assisted with the transition from the AIAW to the NCAA as a governing body.

As a Master's diver, she won both the one- and three-meter Texas Masters age group diving titles in consecutive years in 1976 and 1977. She also captured the US Masters title in three-meter in 1977. Loock Veris began swimming in 1948, and in 1963 she won the Lillie Kneip Trophy as the state's Most Outstanding Female Swimmer. She is the only diver in history to have ever won the award.

The pair will be honored at the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame banquet and ceremony on April 26, 2024.

[Water Pony]

Thanks for sharing.

JIm and Vicki are part of our rich diving tradition for the last 60 years. Great coaches and leaders for SMU.