LYNNWOOD – Wally Nagel wants to go skiing on his Christmas vacation, or maybe visit someplace warm.
“I’ve not had a Christmas vacation in 35 years,” Nagel said.
The reason Nagel hasn’t been able to go skiing on his Christmas vacation is that for the past 35 years he has been the boys swimming coach at Meadowdale High School and has held practices through the break. In fact, he has been the only coach the program has ever had.
But that all comes to an end after next week’s state meet. Nagel is retiring from coaching at the end of the season.
“I want to go skiing, play golf, travel,” Nagel said.
He already has a part-time job at Harbour Pointe Golf Course as a marshall.
Nagel’s career in the Edmonds School District began in 1970 when he was hired to run the district’s aquatics program. A swimmer in high school and college (Pacific Lutheran), Nagel joined the district just when it was deciding to begin two high school swimming programs, one at Woodway High School and one at Meadowdale. He volunteered to coach one of the teams and ended up at Meadowdale.
“We shared the Mountlake Terrace pool and I had about 15 to 20 kids,” Nagel said.
Both programs had swimmers who were also involved in the area AAU team, the Dolphins, and Nagel was able to build upon that base.
The first eight years, while a district employee, he was not on the staff at Meadowdale. In 1978 he began teaching special ed at the high school. He retired from his teaching position in August, but was hired back for one year when the district could not find a replacement. He may be called upon to do the same this fall.
“All I know right now is I don’t have a job for next year,” Nagel said, “but I’m sure the coaching side is over.”
In 1973 the district’s other three high schools (Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace) added boys swimming. Later, girls teams were created.
Because of the limited pool time and travel costs, coaching swimming in the district was, and remains, a challenge.
“I’ve had to battle through the years to keep the program,” Nagel said, “but I’ve always had a strong following of parents.”
At one time the district’s five teams shared two pools. Meadowdale was one of three teams at the Lynnwood City Pool.
“They each had two lanes and maybe an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half a day,” former district athletic director Kim Wilson said.
“Wally was very concerned about the program,” Wilson said. “He did a lot of different things to be sure it happened.”
And the team was successful. It produced a future University of Washington team captain (Greg Brewer) and finished as high as fifth in the state.
But in the 1970s and ’80s no one beat Wilson at state. The Tacoma school won 25 straight state titles.
And in the Western Conference no one beat Mariner.
In the beginning Meadowdale was one of the few swimming programs in the area. Now 17 of the 19 Wesco schools have teams.
But Meadowdale is still churning out champions. This season, Jonathan Keane has broken school records that stood for 20 years or longer.
“He’s good enough to swim in college, but he’s looking for a golf scholarship,” Nagel said.
“Wally always had good kids and they’ve been well-coached,” Wilson said. “He’s easy going and the kids respond well to that.
“Some coaches take a really good swimmers and screw them up, but Wally’s the kind of coach who’ll make them even better.”
Two years ago the district dropped the diving programs from all four of its swim teams. And this season the turnouts at Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace were so small their teams were combined with Edmonds-Woodway and Meadowdale under one coach. But Nagel said swimming will survive in the district
“There’s enough parental and student support,” he said.
He’s even willing to stay on as an assistant if that’s what it takes.
There goes Christmas break.
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