CHSAA Remembers Hall of Fame Coach, Dick Hewson

AURORA – CHSAA mourns the passing of legendary CHSAA Hall of Fame swimming coach Dick Hewson.

 

Hewson, whose boys and girls swimming teams compiled a combined 344-98-1 dual meet record during his 26-year tenure at Thompson Valley and Loveland High Schools, passed away peacefully Tuesday with his family near him.  

“It’s a sad day for us at Thompson Valley,” said Ken Smikahl, the school’s athletic director. “He’s known as the ‘Father of Loveland Swimming.’ He started the Loveland High School swimming program and also started the Loveland Swim Club. He became the swim coach here at Thompson Valley when it opened in 1976, because he wanted to be able to coach his kids and they lived in the Thompson Valley boundary.”  

Hewson’s boys teams were 205-45, while the girls teams went 139-53-1, with the Thompson Valley girls winning the 1991 state championship.

 

He also spent time as chairman of CHSAA’s swimming committee and among his accomplishments were the transition to a true two-class state championship.  

“How you treat people comes back to you, and I’ve never met a person who said Dick Hewson was anything other than a really fine man,” said Paul Angelico, the former CHSAA Commissioner who originally oversaw swimming for the organization. “When I got there in 1990, I didn’t know much about swimming, and he was one of the first guys I met. He really showed me the ropes.

“People were attracted to him. When he walked in, everyone went to say hello. It was out of respect, but also just because they liked him.”

Hewson started the swimming program at Loveland in 1966. At Thompson Valley, he coached his children: Sam, Bob, Tom and Liz. All four became successful swimmers and swimming coaches. Sam won three state titles as a swimmer and was an All-American at Arizona State, and later coached the Estes Park girls teams to two state championships. Tom coached the Thompson Valley boys to four state championships.  

Not a competitive swimmer himself, Dick Hewson took the coaching position at Loveland and consulted with successful coaches around the state and started building a coaching legacy.

 

Upon his retirement in 1991, the Thompson Valley swimming facility was named the Dick Hewson Aquatic Center. He was inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 1995, and he is also a member of the Colorado Swimming Hall of Fame.