Courtesy: Cal Athletics
BERKELEY – Nort Thornton, one of the deans of college coaching in the United States and Cal’s longest-tenured coach before retiring after 33 years at the helm of the Golden Bears men’s swimming & diving program in 2007, passed away Thursday. He was 87.
Thornton, who started his Cal career in 1974-75, guided the Bears to the 1979 and 1980 NCAA team championships and built the program into a consistent national contender. Thornton’s teams finished ranked inside the top 10 in the national polls in 28 of the 33 years he was head coach. His Cal squads won 48 NCAA individual and relay championships and 108 Pac-10 individual, relay and diving titles, while owning a dual-meet record of 231-85 (.731) during his tenure. His 1979-80 and 1980-81 teams captured Pac-10 team championships.
Thornton was named National Coach of the Year twice and was a four-time selection as Pac-10 Coach of the Year. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1995 and into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. A past president of the American Swimming Coaches Association, Thornton served on the ASCA Board of Directors and is a past member of the NCAA Rules Committee. He was awarded the National Collegiate and Scholastic Award for his contributions to swimming as a healthful recreation activity for schools and colleges.
While at Cal’s helm, Thornton produced a long list of elite Olympians, including 11-time medalist and former world record-holder Matt Biondi, four-time medalist Anthony Ervin, Swedish gold medalists Par Arvidsson and Bengt Baron, and Croatian silver medalist Duje Draganja, among others. He also recruited and coached Nathan Adrian and Milorad Cavic, both of whom went on to Olympic success after Thornton retired.
Golden Bears who swam under Thornton amassed 29 Olympic medals, including 14 gold, 10 silver and five bronze, while representing several countries at the Olympic Games.
At the international level, Thornton coached numerous United States teams in world competition. He coached the U.S. in the 1979 FINA Cup in Tokyo, Japan, before leading the U.S. at the 1981 World University Games. In the summer of 1983, Thornton was an assistant coach for the U.S. at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. He later served in the same capacity at the 1986 and 1987 World Championships, as well as the 1997 Pan Pacific Games.
Thornton graduated from San Jose State in 1956 with a degree in education and earned his master’s degree from Stanford.
REMEMBERING NORT THORNTON
“I’m saddened by the loss of Nort Thornton, a legend who impacted our program, our Cal community and the sport of swimming as a whole in so many tremendous ways. Nort will be remembered as one of our sport’s greatest coaches, but his legacy extends much further than the accolades he received throughout his career. He was a passionate leader who made a difference in the lives of everyone who spent time with him on the pool deck. Nort will be greatly missed, and I join all members of our Cal community in sending condolences and prayers to his family.” – Cal Men’s Swimming & Diving Head Coach David Durden
Nort’s career actually started at Los Altos High School right out of San Jose State. He coached us to a #1 national ranking and we were undefeated for several years. His high school team set an American record in the 400 freestyle relay and at one time we held all of the national high school records. He then went to Foothill Junior College and our whole team except one guy ( who had a full ride to Yale) went with him. He led Foothill to several state titles in both swimming and water polo. Had a huge impact on my life. We lost a great one.
The great Thornton, Ballatore, Kenney, Daland deck conversations over the years were classic collegiate swimming. What a great contributor to the sport and the coaching ranks that admired him. One of the greats.
Great coach and man.
Pure class. RIP Good Sir.
Prior to Nort’s tenure at Cal he produced champions at the junior college level. A few of these went on to swim
for Indiana. Nort was a true gentleman of the sport of swimming.
Oh no. He was an icon. A great great person. He coached youth level after all those years coaching Cal. A mentor all the way.
Rest in peace Coach. You are missed.
Nort was the Golden Bear and is remembered for his always present dry humor, interest in learning or making the science and sharing anything to help swimmers and coaches. RIP dear friend.