Remembering McWilliams
Aug. 20—OTTUMWA — Mike McWilliams wasn't one to sugarcoat anything.
Even on a night meant to honor the longtime Ottumwa High School head swimming coach, McWilliams could be both brutally honest and exceptionally funny.
"I worry a little bit that I'm not dead yet, but I suppose time will take care of that," McWilliams chuckled when talking about having the home pool of the Ottumwa swimming program named after him back in September of 2019. "But it's been really gratifying. It's been wonderful to see the kids come back."
McWilliams, the leader of the OHS swimming program for four decades and the teacher of swimming to several young men and women for six decades, passed away on Thursday morning at Hospice House in Ottumwa at the age of 80. Well over half his life was dedicated to growing the sport of swimming, passing his knowledge on to multiple generations of athletes from his return to his alma-mater in 1965 to as recently as this past year helping returning state qualifiers like Libby Moses prepare for her upcoming senior season in the pool at OHS.
"I'd been working with Coach McWilliams recently. Unfortunately, he had to stop because of his health issues," Moses said earlier this month on the first day of Ottumwa's preseason swimming camp. "That was definitely really heartbreaking for me. I've swam with Mike since I was 7-years-old.
"Having him sit down with us and tell us about those health concerns makes me really sad. It's kind of like the end of an era. It was sad to see him give up what he loved to do."
Cherie Langland followed in the footsteps of her former coach, at one point serving as the head coach of both the Ottumwa girls and boys swimming programs at the same time. Langland will be preparing for her fourth season at the helm of the Bulldog boys swimming program.
"Basically from when I was 9 years old until I graduated, he was my coach. He's made just a huge impact here. No matter where I go, someone always asks me about him," Langland said. "Mike's legacy is synonymous with Ottumwa swimming. His impact spans multiple generations.
"I swam for 10 years for Mike. My own kids were coached by Mike. This is a familiar story for many Ottumwa families. There are swimmers of all ages living scattered across the United States who are either still swimming or coaching because of the time and energy he gave to the sport."
McWilliams returned to Ottumwa five years after graduating from the high school in 1959. From 1964 to 2006, McWilliams was one of the best coaches in the state coaching Jeff Bratten to two state championships in 2003 while keeping his team in the hunt for team titles, and had so many swimmers earn All-American honors.....
"That I had to quit counting," McWilliams said in 2020 after being inducted into the McWilliams was inducted into the Iowa High School Swim Coaches Association hall of fame.
But maybe his proudest accomplishment is what breathes life into the current Ottumwa program.
"We were really one of the first to have a lot of kids from other towns besides Ottumwa, like Pella, Oskaloosa and Fairfield, and we had All-Americans from all four of those towns," McWilliams said. "We even had some swimmers from Albia and Bloomfield. I hate to see kids left out."
Prior to being honored by the Iowa High School Swim Coaches Association, McWilliams was honored by the program by having the indoor pool at the Beach in September of 2019, where the Bulldogs compete. It is within the Mike McWilliams Pool where a record board displays so many names of young men and women that were pupils of the longtime coach.
"The kids I coached, they all were good listeners," McWilliams said. "You never know what a freshman is going to be like when he becomes a senior, but anyone can swim fast if they know enough."
Kevin Kretz, who has his name up on that same record board as the school's top 50 freestyle swimmer, worked some with McWilliams in the past.
"When Jackson (Weaton) told me about him, he said, 'When you go to work with Mike, it will never be the same,'" he said. "And he was right. Mike knows how to fix your stroke and he does it in a way that you can understand. He really is a legend here."
It was a group of swimmers from the 1970s that had an idea to name the home competition pool of Ottumwa High School's swimming program after McWilliams. Many of those same former students were on hand two years ago to watch their mentor be honored.
"Too often, they wait on these type of honors until the coach is no longer with us," Tom McGiverin, one of many former pupils that learned from McWilliams, said. "With some of the colleagues of Coach McWilliams, that's what happened. They were honored posthumously.
"I'm glad that Coach McWilliams was here to enjoy it. He was like a second father to me. When you swim for someone for 11 years, you're going to get to know him."
Multiple generations of swimmers learned from McWilliams, who started giving swimming lessons as an assistant coach on the team that swam at the Ottumwa Country Club when he was just 19-years-old.
"When you love doing what you're doing, you really don't expect anything in return," McWilliams said. "I felt like I stole the money sometimes, especially when things really go right."
Funeral services for McWilliams will be held on Tuesday at Reece Funeral Home starting at 3:30 p.m. The services will be streamed on the Reece Funeral Home's Facebook page.
— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.
