Inductees

Dick Zarek (1998)

Swimming Coach,Builder/Administrator

If builders are remembered for the legacy they leave behind, Dick Zarek will never be forgotten. His legacy continues to bear fruit, not only in Prince George but around the world.

Founder of the Prince George Barracudas swim club in 1966, Zarek's athletes would go on to win enough medals and team championships over the next dozen years to fill a small book. Beginning with 25 swimmers that first year, the club had quadrupled in size in just three seasons and placed a very respectable sixth at the 1969 provincial championships.

In November of 1970, Zarek's building continued. The Four Seasons Pool was opened and he was one of the driving forces behind the new indoor facility. It was not, however, the 50-metre Olympic-sized pool he wanted – budget constraints prohibited a larger pool.

In the same year, Zarek founded a diving club and a synchronized swimming club and his Barracuda team finished second in the provincial meet in August.

Zarek’s athletes continued to shine right up to his 1978 retirement from the club he founded. Six swimmers went on to represent Canada abroad. His reach stretches far beyond this country’s borders.

One of Zarek's charges, Jim Fowlie, is now a senior swim coach with the Australian Institute of Sport and was inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame in 1997. Fowlie, some of whose athletes helped Australia win 199 medals at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, credits Zarek for his own success.

“He was a big, strong, impressive role model who always had a smile and a laugh for everyone,” recalls Fowlie. “He made us want to hang around the pool all day.”

Fowlie says Zarek’s work lives on.

“The best recommendation I can give is that after 25 years I still use Dick’s references, strategies, tactics, jokes and bad nicknames when working with swimmers.”

The new aquatic centre is the latest step in a journey that began with the formation of a swim club at the old outdoor pool on Watrous Street. It brings to fruition Zarek’s wish for a 50-metre pool.

This journey is ample reason to induct Zarek into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame. "If there was no coach, there never would have been a swim club or swimmers,” he said.