Man who coached Spitz, de Varona dies at 82
George F. Haines, who coached three U.S. Olympic swim teams and guided such 1960s and ‘70s stars as Mark Spitz, Don Schollander and Donna de Varona, died at 82.
Haines died in his sleep Monday at a nursing home in Carmichael, Calif., where he had stayed since suffering a severe stroke a few years ago, according to the Santa Clara Swim Club’s Web site.
He founded the club in 1950 that became home to many of the 53 Olympic swimmers produced by Haines from 1960 to 1988. They won 44 Olympic gold medals, 14 silver and 10 bronze.
It was considered one of the nation’s first large “super clubs,” with Haines taking as many as 40 swimmers to national meets.
Spitz won a record seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics; Schollander became the first person to win four swimming golds at a single Olympics at the 1964 Toyko Games; and de Varona won two golds in Toyko.
The nine-lane pool at the Santa Clara complex is named after him.
Haines served on the support staff of four other Olympic teams and is a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Basketball
Army picks Magarity
With the blessings of Maggie Dixon’s family, Dave Magarity was hired as the women’s coach at Army on Tuesday, succeeding a woman whose death at 28 this season shook all of college basketball.
Magarity coached the Marist men’s team in nearby Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for 18 years and was hired last fall by Dixon to help steady an Army program in flux. He was associate head coach during Army’s run to its first Patriot League championship and the academy’s first berth in the NCAA tournament.
The 56-year-old Magarity spoke with Dixon’s mother and sister before accepting the job. The move came a month after Dixon collapsed and died from a heart problem.
Tennis
Teen shocks Myskina
Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska beat former French Open champion Anastasia Myskina of Russia 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Warsaw, Poland, in her debut on the main WTA Tour to advance to the second round of the J&S Cup.
A wild-card entry, the 312th-ranked Radwanska squandered a 4-1 lead in the final set, allowing the 12th-ranked Myskina to even the match at 4-4, but then won the final two games for her first victory over anyone in the top 100.
Miscellany
Skier Mendes retiring
Two-time Olympian Jonna Mendes is retiring after 10 years on the U.S. Ski Team. The 27-year-old Mendes won four national championships and placed third in the super-G at the 2003 World Championships.
•The former owner of a Long Island golf club was ordered to pay $34,000 to a caddie for publicly ridiculing him after he lost two matches to a woman. The compensation was ordered Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed a “sexual stereotyping” suit.