2015 Contributor Award
More than a swimmer and a coach, Richard Wachs Jr. was a life-long devotee to the sport of swimming. Richard Wachs was the head coach at West Lafayette High School. He coached the boys team for 40 years and the girls team for 30 years. He had winning records with both teams and won 19 boys sectional titles and 9 girls sectional titles. He also won 28 boys and 18 girls Hoosier Conference titles. He had three individual state champions and two mental attitude award winners. He was also the City of West Lafayette Pool Manager/Aquatics Director for 25 years. Among the leadership positions he held were President of the Indiana High School Coaches Association; Indiana High School Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame Board member, National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association (NISCA), Girls Swimming All-American Chairman for 15 years, and Tippecanoe County American Red Cross Water Safety Chairman and Board member for 20 years. In 2000, he started the NISCA Girls All-American program. He was honored in 2004 by NISCA receiving the Outstanding Service Award and the NISCA 25-year Coaching Award. In 2013 he received the Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy Award. Wachs grew up in South Bend and was a swimmer at South Bend John Adams High School. He was a member of two state championship relay teams winning and setting new state records in the 200-yard freestyle relay at the 1963 and 1964 IHSAA state championships. His 200 freestyle relay held that record for 27 years. The IHSAA discontinued this relay in 1965 only to reinstate it again in 1991. (Richard always teased that he held the longest record for any event). He graduated from Purdue University with Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biochemistry while he served in the R.O.T.C and was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Wachs passed away in 2015 at the age of 68 and is survived by his wife Diane.