Dan Flannery, educator and swim coach at Ames High School, passed away this month.  In 22 years of coaching at Ames High School Dan impacted many lives.  As stories from students and his swim family come forward it is clear that our community is grieving his loss today.  He pushed kids to become the best versions of themselves in and out of the pool.  Even the slowest swimmers (I was one of them!) on Dan’s team found him at the side of the pool cheering their successes.  I can remember the meet where Dan and then head coach ‘Ma’ switched me from relay to distance swim.  I was so nervous and kept telling him I didn’t think I could be a distance swimmer.  He kept telling me I could do it and talked me through my personal successes.  When I pulled myself out of the pool, Dan was there cheering for the fact that I was a distance swimmer.  After that, it was the race I swam and he cheered me on and celebrated when I swam faster.  I may have never come in first during my seasons with Dan, but he made sure I knew he was proud of my accomplishments.  He was a huge piece of the best parts of my high school experience.  

Dan’s record in Ames speaks for itself.  Since taking over as head girls swim coach in 2002 his record was 140-11-1.  His girls have won the past 8 of the last 9 state titles.  Both boys and girls teams have broken multiple state records.  He has been named All Iowa swimming coach multiple times.  Dan will be an impossible coach to replace. He often advocated for the kids in Ames on many issues.  When adding a pool to the new high school design did not seem like it was going to happen, Dan pushed a fundraising campaign to give his kids a space to continue to succeed.  He stood in front of the school board and superintendent and made his plea to not cut the pool out of the plans.  In the end Dan’s pleas were heard and the district agreed to a plan that included a pool.  

Naming the space he fought so hard for in his memory would be a wonderful way to remember everything he brought to our community and swim program over the past twenty-two years.  Please announce plans to name the new high school pool in his honor.