Bob Winslow was hired as the Belfast Area High School varsity boys swim coach in 1973. Back then, how meets were timed was far less sophisticated.
“Stopwatches,” said the 75-year-old Winslow. “You recorded the time with the three watches. If two times were the same out of the three, that was the official time. If there were three different times, it was the middle time. And they weren’t digital stopwatches. There were two or three hands on it. One would give you the seconds, one the tenth of a second and one the hundredth of a second.”
He has been hands-on with the program since stopwatches had hands. Suffice to say, it has been a long, storied and successful coaching career for the Belfast resident.
Last winter, Winslow wrapped up his 52nd season as the school’s boys swim coach. It would prove to be his last in that capacity after informing Belfast Athletic Director Susan Robbins recently of his plans to retire from coaching.
Robbins said Winslow, who was inducted into the Maine Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in 2021, is “a legend in Maine swimming.”
“We have a very successful swim program due to his dedication and expertise,” she said. “We are very fortunate to have had Bob coaching at BAHS for all these years. We wish Bob our very best in his retirement from coaching.”
She added a ceremony will be held for the longtime coach closer to the start of the winter sports season.
Winslow’s resume includes a dual meet record of 462-163-6, five state Class B runner-up finishes (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2012) and three state titles (2000, 2001, 2022).
He coached 33 individual state champions, 17 state relay champions, dozens upon dozens of state runners-up and one New England champion.
He was named state Class B swim coach of the year five times and twice Class B diving coach of the year.
He also led the Lions to 18 Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class B titles and is a 15-time KVAC coach of the year. In total, he coached 83 individual conference champions, 17 division champions and 41 separate relay champs.
He said health issues contributed to his decision to step away.
“Both my wife and I are healthy now,” he said. “We want to do a little bit more traveling and things while we still have our health.”
Robbins said she has yet to find Winslow’s replacement. Betsy Bradley will remain the school’s girls swim coach.
While retiring, Winslow will coach the team’s divers for one more season to help ease the transition. And hopefully to mentor a new diving coach.
“I’ve got a couple former divers in the area,” he said. “I’ll stay around for a year to get things settled on that.”
Shortly after graduating from Deering High School in Portland in 1968 — and later with a degree in math and business administration from Nichols College in 1972 — Winslow was looking for a job.
He had never even been to Belfast before his interview.
“It was just a job opportunity,” he said. “And they were in dire need of a football coach more than swimming. I said ‘I can do that.’”
While he took a position as an assistant football coach, his primary coaching job was the boys swim team. And it did not come without a certain amount of pressure.
“When I interviewed for the job, they had just built the pool,” he recalled. “And not many people came out for swimming. And the superintendent at that time, Dick Marx, said ‘We’ve got to get this program up and running or we’re going to have to cut it.’”
It took a few seasons. But, the program remained. The boys swim team has not had a losing dual-meet season since 1987.
Winslow’s college swim coach stepped down prior to the start of his senior year. Thus, the team’s new coach, along with Winslow and teammate — the latter two co-captains — all took a more proactive role in the team’s direction.
Winslow said that may have been where he began to see his potential as a coach.
“The new swim coach didn’t have a lot of experience. And the other co-captain and I helped with workouts, setting up and running a practice and figuring out who was going to be in what event for meets.”
He met his wife in Belfast in 1974. Originally, Belfast was going to be a short-term stop. Instead, the two built a life here, with two children and six grandkids, the latter of whom range in age from 2 to 28.
While he has had many career highlights, he noted the school’s 24-hour Swim-A-Thon to raise money for the pool’s new timing system two years ago as one of his proudest moments.
“Parents were staying, kids were taking turns swimming laps (and) we had alumni coming in,” he said. “We had some parents participating and providing food and snacks and stuff. It was a fun fundraiser. And the money we raised provided us with the new timing system, Colorado (Time Systems) electric scoreboard (and) new lane lines. We got digital pace clocks on the wall. The pool is in pretty good shape.”
The old adage is to leave things in better shape them they were found in. In terms of the swim program, Winslow has done that. And then some.
He is also a certified Level 2 YMCA and high school swim official. He has also helped out at various collegiate meets on diving panels. He said: “I may be doing a few more of those.”
“I’m stepping away from the coaching aspect,” he said. “But I’m not stepping away from swimming.”
