Mobile’s Casey Converse was a member of the 1976 U.S. Olympic team and later a successful swimming coach at the Air Force Academy. (Photo courtesy of Swimming World Magazine)
By ARTHUR L. MACK
Native Mobilian Casey Converse, a member of the 1976 U.S Olympic team and a successful college coach, died on Aug. 8 after a long battle with cancer.
Converse, 66, attended UMS-Wright and moved to California after his junior year to further his swimming career. He made the 1976 U.S. Olympic team and swam in the 400-meter freestyle event. Although he didn’t win a medal, he was well on his way to becoming a renowned swimmer, as he gained even more fame as an All-American long-distance swimmer at Alabama.
While at UA, Converse set a pair of NCAA records in the 1,650-yard free and became the first man to break the 15-minute barrier in that event. During the 1977 NCAA Championships, he won in 14:57.30 and shattered the American record in the 1,000-yard free.
After college, Converse went on to a long coaching career, most notably at the Air Force Academy from 1988-2017. From 1988-1996, he was the head coach for the men’s and women’s teams. The AFA won two NCAA Division II championships in a row in 1995 and 1996.
Converse was also the author of “Munich to Montreal: Olympic Swimming in a Tarnished Golden Era,” a book that explored the East German doping scandal in 1970 women’s swimming and the American women who fought against it.
Converse was inducted into the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Air Force Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.
Casey was more than just my brother. He was a man of faith, a amazing father and grandfather, a Olympic swimmer in 1976, a record breaking swimmer at the University of Alabama, a national champion coach at The Air Force Academy for 29 years and a great man with integrity and a huge heart. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers.