Former UNC Coach Rich DeSelm Leads North Carolina Swimming Hall of Fame Class

Former UNC Coach Rich DeSelm Leads North Carolina Swimming Hall of Fame Class

Former North Carolina head coach Rich DeSelm is among the many five-member Class of 2026 for the North Carolina Swimming Hall of Fame, announced on Tuesday.

Joining him within the corridor class are Joel Black, Stephanie Peacock, Brooks Teal and Patty Huey Waldron.

“Our Class of 2026 is a very impressive class of inductees,” mentioned Jonathan Watson, Co-Chair of the North Carolina Swimming Hall of Fame Committee. “They represent a wide range of important aquatics achievements including swimming, coaching, officiating, and administrating.”

“Importantly, these inductees are distinguished by so many lifetime contributions to swimming and aquatic sports in our state,” NCSHOF Co-Chair Erika Braun mentioned. “They have been leaders in their field while constantly giving back to their sport and community.”

The Oct. 2 induction ceremony in Greensboro will function Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones as a featured speaker.

Black is a long-time official in soccer and swimming, beginning the latter in 1981. He grew to become a licensed official for NCAA, USA Swimming and North Carolina High School Swimming in 1989 in addition to serving as an officers teacher. He spent 26 years on the Officials Committee of North Carolina Swimming, 16 because the chairman. He additionally served on the Officials Committee for USA Swimming for 23 years, together with because the co-chair from 2004-06.

Black has labored a litany of prime regional and nationwide occasions. He’s been on deck as an official, starter, deck referee and meet referee at 22 YMCA National Championships, incomes the Connie Carroll Award because the YMCA’s Most Outstanding Official in 2009 and its Joseph R. Rogers Award for Service to Competitive Swimming in 2017.

He’s labored for the Atlantic Coast Conference as an official for 27 years in numerous roles and labored three NCAA Division I Men’s Championships from 2001-13. For USA Swimming, he’s labored seven nationwide championships (Juniors, Seniors and U.S. Open), three Pan Pacific Championships and 5 U.S. Olympic Trials. Black was awarded the Ken Pettigrew Award as USA Swimming’s Outstanding Official in 2005.

DeSelm swam on the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill from 1974-78. A captain as a senior, he left Chapel Hill with group data in 5 occasions, named the group’s hardest employee in 1975 and its MVP the following three years. He grew to become an assistant coach for the Tar Heels for 15 seasons from 1978-93.

DeSelm left Chapel Hill in 1993 to turn out to be the pinnacle coach at Davidson, the place he received seven Southern Conference Championships (4 ladies, three males) and 5 convention coach of the yr awards in seven seasons. He grew to become an assistant coach on the University of Florida for six seasons, a part of the Gators 12 mixed top-10 NCAA finishes and 7 top-five outcomes.

He returned to North Carolina in 2007 as the pinnacle coach, a place he held for 12 years. He mentored 58 All-Americans and 26 ACC champions, main the ladies’s group to eight top-10 finishes at NCAAs and the boys to a few top-15 outcomes. He labored as a supervisor for numerous worldwide delegations, together with because the assistant supervisor for the U.S. Olympic group on the 2000 Olympics, and because the head coach for the U.S. on the World University Games in 2011.

Peacock swam for DeSelm at UNC, the place she set the ACC document within the 500 free because the ACC freshman of the yr. The native of Florida was the ACC Swimmer of the Year and ACC Championships Most Valuable Swimmer as a sophomore, profitable the NCAA title within the 1,650 free and breaking Janet Evans’ 22-year-old NCAA document.

Peacock additionally had a distinguished worldwide profession, swimming on the World University Games on three events. She received gold two relay medals in 2011 and set a meet document in profitable the 1,500 free on the 2013 version in addition to silver within the 800 free. In 2015, she received bronze within the 10-kilometer open water.

Teal is a local of Tarboro, N.C., who walked on at NC State within the Nineteen Seventies. He started teaching membership swimmers in hometown earlier than 9 years as the pinnacle coach of the YMCA of Raleigh (now the YMCA of the Triangle). There, he coached NC Swim Hall of Famer and world document holder David Fox and received a YMCA National Men’s Team Championship.

Teal was an assistant at Indian River Community College from 1989-92, then grew to become the pinnacle coach at James Madison for seven seasons, profitable six straight Colonial Athletic Association titles and three Eastern College Athletic Conference championships. Teal moved to NC State as the pinnacle coach from 2000-11, teaching nationwide champions Cullen Jones and Kristen Davies. He spent the 2011-12 season at Clemson as an assistant earlier than returning to the YMCA of the Triangle, at Kerr Family Y and Taylor Family Y earlier than retiring in 2026.

Waldron swam at UNC from 1981-84, 3 times incomes the Hill Carrow Spirit Award. She started teaching at Mecklenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte as the pinnacle age-group coach and finally grew to become the pinnacle coach of the Masters swim program at SwimMAC. She was acknowledged in 1998 with North Carolina Swimming’s the Volunteer of the Year Award and in 2014 with U.S. Master Swimming’s Kerry O’Brien Coaching Award.

She additionally was the pinnacle coach of Charlotte Latin School, profitable 22 CISAA championships and 9 impartial highschool state championships. She at the moment serves because the volunteer director and organizer for Charlotte’s Swim Across America chapter.

The 2026 induction will probably be held on the Terrace on the Greensboro Coliseum on Oct. 6. The ceremony is offered by the 2029 World University Games, which is able to happen in North Carolina.