Tribute to Coach Jon Urbanchek

This past weekend, Coach Mark was emcee at the Celebration of Life Ceremony honoring his former University of Michigan coach and long-time friend (40 years), Coach Jon Urbanchek. Mark has always expressed tremendous respect and spoken highly of Jon as a coach, mentor, and friend. 

Coach Urbanchek coached the University of Michigan from 1982-2004. He was the U.S. coach at the Olympics in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004. He was an assistant for the U.S. in 2008 and 2012. Coach Urbanchek was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2008, and the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.  He received the IOC inaugural Life Time Achievement Award.

Coach Urbanchek brought the Michigan teams to train at HPA on numerous occasions and came to Coach Mark's swimming camps as a guest coach. I remember being totally in awe of the university team working out and admired the comraderie between Jon and Mark.

Our senior swimmers are familiar with his "color system," which Coach Mark uses. The color system is a way of breaking down and color-coding different effort levels in order to specify training in a more focused manner and is used worldwide.

I wanted to share a couple of the remarks Coach Mark made at the ceremony.

" - - great leaders often start with defining why they are doing something - -it was clear that Jon's why was to advance people - - looking at the hundreds of you out there (over 700 came) - - thinking of how he helped each of you to advance - -  "

" - - Jon would want the next generation of great swimmers to carry the torch. To pursue excellence in performance and equally so in building the relationships with those around you - - "

PHOTOS:

• At the Don Canham Natatorium, October 19, 2024.
• Coach Urbanchek winning the 1991 ASCA Coach of the Year Award