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Bob Thomas Named to CSCAA Century Team

Thomas Named To CSCAA Top 100 Swimmers List

Former EIU swimmer was a 14-time National Champion

11/11/2021 8:15:00 AM



A total of 627 titles. That is the number of individual NCAA and NAIA championships of the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association's (CSCAA) 100 Greatest Men's Swimmers & Divers of the past century. The selections were made as a part of the CSCAA's 100th year.

Nearly three thousand athletes were nominated, with a blue-ribbon panel of current and former college swimmers, coaches, and members of the media making selections from a list of 973 finalists. Eighty-six swimmers and fourteen divers were selected. They hail from twenty-eight states and thirteen countries. Highlights of the selections include 12 members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame and 59 Olympians.

Among the list of 100 men's swimmers recognized was former EIU All-American and National Champion swimmer Bob Thomas.   Thomas was a seven-time NCAA National Champion at the NCAA Division II level helping the Panthers place fourth at the national meet in 1973 and third at the NCAA Championships in 1974.  Thomas won NCAA Individual Championships in the 100 backstroke (1973), 200 backstroke (1973 and 1974) and 400 IM (1973 and 1974).  He swam the opening leg on the national champion 400 medley teams in 1973 and 1974.    Thomas began his swim career winning seven National Championships at the NAIA level during the 1971 and 72 seasons.   He won NAIA Individual National Championships in the 100 backstroke (1971 and 1972), 200 backstroke (1971 and 1972) and 200 IM (1972).  He added two relay national championships swimming the opening leg on the 1971 400 medley relay team and the third leg on the 1971 800 free relay team.

At one time in his career Thomas held the NCAA Division II record for the 200 backstroke and 400 individual medley.  He reached the AAU Nationals in 1971 and swam at the US Olympic Trials in 1972.   Thomas enjoyed a long coaching career following his time as a swimmer at EIU recently retiring from Ball State in 2018 after leading the program for 39 years.  He was inducted into the Eastern Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.

Founded in 1922, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), is the nation's first organization of college coaches. The mission of the CSCAA is to advance the sport of swimming and diving with coaches at the epicenter of leadership, advocacy, and professional development.

The CSCAA's 100th birthday celebration will continue with upcoming announcements recognizing Centennial MVP's for each team along with a listing of the 100 Greatest Coaches, 100 Alumni of Impact. The anniversary will culminate with the Association's convention and awards banquet, May 2-4, 2022 in Rosemont, Illinois.

The CSCAA100 list of Greatest College Swimmers and Divers is listed below in alphabetical order. For profiles on each selection visit www.cscaa.org/cscaa100
 
 
 
Nathan Adrian, California
Ernie Alix, North Central
Miller Anderson, Ohio State
Joel Ax, SCAD Savannah
Matt Biondi, California
Charles Bittick, USC
Richard Blick, North Central
Gustavo Borges, Michigan
James Born, Kenyon
Joshua Boss, Hope
Joe Bottom, USC
David Boudia, Purdue
Fred Bousquet, Auburn
Ralph Breyer, Northwestern
Skippy Browning, Texas
Ondrej Bures, Cal St. Bakersfield
Simon Burnett, Arizona
Mike Burton, UCLA
Rick Carey, Texas
Cesar Cielo, Auburn
Steve Clark, Yale
Tyler Clary, Michigan
Kevin Cordes, Arizona
Alan Corrigan, North Central
Marc Courtney-Brooks, Kenyon
Ian Crocker, Texas
Dario DiFazio, Oakland
Gary Dilley, Michigan State
Tom Dolan, Michigan
Caeleb Dressel, Florida
Andrejs Duda, Kenyon
Troy Dumais, Texas
Graham Duthie, Simon Fraser
David Edgar, Tennessee
Anthony Ervin, California
Alan Ford, Yale
Lars Frolander, SMU
Rowdy Gaines, Auburn
Brian Goodell, UCLA
Jeff Gorton, Kalamazoo
Townley Haas, Texas
Gary Hall, Indiana
Brendan Hansen, Texas
Bruce Harlan, Ohio State
Robert Hauck, St. Olaf
Tom Haynie, Michigan
Jim Henry, Indiana
Charlie Hickcox, Indiana
Richard Howell, Northwestern
Tracy Huth, Oakland
 
Steven Jackman, Minnesota
Robert Jackson, Puget Sound
Steele Johnson, Purdue
Matthew Josa, Queens (NC)
John Kinsella, Indiana
George Kojac, Rutgers
Ford Konno, Ohio State
Jeff Kostoff, Stanford
Marius Kusch, Queens (NC)
Will Licon, Texas
Ryan Lochte, Florida
Steve Lundquist, SMU
Mike Martin, UC Irvine
Nick McCrory, Duke
Jack Medica, Washington
Ben Michaelson, SCSU
Travis Miller, UC San Diego
Bill Milne, Johns Hopkins
Tim Moore, Ohio State
Pablo Morales, Stanford
Dennis Mulvihill, Kenyon
Ryan Murphy, California
John Naber, USC
Keo Nakama, Ohio State
Ryk Neethling, Arizona
Yoshi Oyakawa, Ohio State
Al Patnik, Ohio State
Daniel Ramirez, Okla  Baptist
Carl Robie, Michigan
Murray Rose, USC
Jeff Rouse, Stanford
Arthur Rule, Navy
Roy Saari, USC
Joseph Schooling, Texas
Al Schwartz, Northwestern
Bud Shields, Brigham Young
Tom Shields, California
Ken Sitzberger, Indiana
William Smiddy, JHU
Bill Smith, Ohio State
Graham Smith, California
Mark Spitz, Indiana
Bob Thomas, Eastern Illinois
Peter Vanderkaay, Michigan
Mark VanderMey, Oakland
Lou Vitucci, Ohio State
Allen Weik, Denison
David Wharton, USC
Andrew Wilson, Emory
Artur Wojdat, Iowa
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