Don Easterling

Last updated
Don Easterling
EasterlingDonSwimCoach.png
Easterling in his office, 1970's
Biographical details
Born1932
DiedJanuary 14, 2023
Virginia
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1952-1970Fort Worth Panthers Boy's Club
Burford Aquatic Club
1966-1970 University of Texas, Arlington
1971-1995 North Carolina State University
Head coaching record
Overall329-128 .720 Winning Percentage
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1969 NCAA Runner-up
(UT Arlington)
17 ACC Titles
(North Carolina State)
Awards
4 x ACC Coach of the Year
1993 National College Coach of Year
Texas Swimming Hall of Fame
NC State Hall of Fame
ASCA Hall of Fame
CSCAA 100 greatest coaches of the century

Don Easterling was a collegiate swim coach for North Carolina State University from 1971 through 1995 where he led the team to 17 Atlantic Coast Conference Titles, including twelve straight from 1971 through 1982. He was honored as the Atlantic Conference Coach of the year four times, and was named the National College Coach of the Year in 1993. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Easterling was born in 1932. [1] [4] Beginning his coaching career in Texas, he coached the Fort Worth Panthers Boy's Club and the Burford Aquatic Club from 1952 through 1970. In the summer of 1954, he married Marcia Boone in Fort Worth, Texas. [5] [1]

While coaching at the University of Texas Arlington from 1966 to 1970, he led the team to national prominence, capturing a second-place finish among teams at the NCAA nationals in 1969. [3]

North Carolina State

At North Carolina State, he inherited an exceptionally strong team from outstanding coach Willis Casey, who had mentored national, ACC, and Olympic champions during his twenty-five year tenure. In Easterling's twenty-four years with the team from 1971 through 1995, he would continue Casey's winning legacy, and build on it, creating a lasting legacy of his own.

His North Carolina teams captured 12 continuous ACC championships from 1971 through 1982. Demonstrating remarkable dominance, North Carolina had a perfect ACC conference championship win in 1972, where his team won each of 17 events, an accomplishment that has never been managed by another team. He was the first coach of the NC State Women's Swimming program in 1976, leading the team to ACC titles in 1979 and 1980. He earned an overall record of 329 wins and 128 losses in dual meets, accumulating an winning percentage of .720. Easterling mentored a total of 40 All Americans and seven Olympicans during his time with North Carolina. [6]  

Outstanding swimmers

In 1968, while coaching U.T. Arlington, he had four swimmers make the finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials, where two of them, Doug Russell and Ronnie Mills, made the U.S. team. Easterling had four of his swimmers qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials, where they made it to the finals in 1968. Ronnie Mills, and Douglas Russell performed well in the finals, and made the U.S. Olympic team. Russell won two gold medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, with one in the 100-meter butterfly, and one in the 4x100-meter medley. [7]

He coached a total of five Olympians, who captured seven medals, including three gold. [8] Another exceptional swimmer was David Fox, who was both an Olympic and NCAA champion. Fox, who enjoyed the personal attention given to him and other swimmers, noted that Easterling, “constantly wrote and spoke to his athletes. He wrote small notes to each swimmer on their weekly practice logs". [6] Two other Olympians coached at North Carolina State included Olympic Silver medalist and NCAA 200-yard butterfly champion Steve Gregg, and Dan Harrigan. [6] One of his most outstanding North Carolina State swimmers was two-time Canadian Olympian Duncan Goodhew, who later participated on Canada's bobsled team.

He retired in 1994 in mid-season, complaining of being “tired and worn out”. He had recently had his 5th knee operation and suffered from back problems. In his retirement, he coached the Brooks Piedmont YMCA Masters where his team members scored 14 first-place finishes at the 2017 Virginia Commonwealth Games Short Course Swimming Meet at Liberty University. [9] He continued as a YMCA and Masters Swim Coach through 2022. [10]

Easterling died early Saturday, April 23, at his home in Virginia at the age of 90 years. He had been suffering from pneumonia and COVID-19 for several weeks. [1]

Honors

Easterling was a four-time Athletic Coast Conference Coach of the Year, a 1993 National College Coach of Year, was inducted into both the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame and the North Carolina State University Sports Hall of Fame. He was an American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee and was selected as one of the College Swimming Coaches Association's (CSCAA) 100 greatest coaches of the century. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Seventeen Time ACC Title Winning North Carolina State Coach Don Easterling Dies at 90". SwimSwam. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  2. ↑ "Swimming WolfPack Mourns the Loss of Hall of Fame Coach Bob Steele". North Carolina State Swimming. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Alexander, Chip, Don Easterling, who coached NC State to ACC swimming dominance, dies at age 90". The News and Observer. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "Colorful Banquet is Big Success", The Wagoner Tribune, Wagoner, Oklahoma, 11 May 1954, pg. 1
  5. ↑ "Spinster Dinner Given in Honor of Miss Boone", The Fort-Worth Star Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas, 25 August 1954, pg. 9
  6. 1 2 3 "Easterling Remembered As a Master Motivator". North Carolina State University News. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  7. ↑ "Texas Diving and Swimming Hall of Fame, Don Easterling". Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "NC Swim Coach Steps Down, Don Easterling Compiled 329-128 Record". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  9. ↑ The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, 13 December 2017, pg. 14
  10. ↑ "Making a Splash", The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Virginia, 8 July 2022, pg. B2
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