NORTON W. THORNTON, JR.
November 7, 1933 - April 22, 2021
Residence: Moraga, California
Nort Thorton, one of the deans of college coaching in the United States and Cal's longest-tenured coach before retiring after 33 years at the helm of the Golden Bears men's swimming & diving program in 2007, passed away Thursday, April 22, 2021. He was 87.
Thornton, who started his Cal career in 1974-75, guided the Bears to the 1979 and 1980 NCAA team championships and built the program into a consistent national contender. Thornton's teams finished ranked inside the top 10 in the national polls in 28 of the 33 years he was head coach. His Cal squads won 48 NCAA individual and relay championships and 108 Pac-10 individual, relay and diving titles, while owning a dual-meet record of 231-85 (.731) during his tenure. His 1979-80 and 1980-81 teams captured Pac-10 team championships.
Thornton was named National Coach of the Year twice and was a four-time selection as Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Nort Thornton was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as an Honor Coach in 1995, and into the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010. A past president of the American Swimming Coaches Association, Thornton served on the ASCA Board of Directors and is a past member of the NCAA Rules Committee. He was awarded the National Collegiate and Scholastic Award for his contributions to swimming as a healthful recreation activity for schools and colleges.
While at Cal's helm, Thornton produced a long list of elite Olympians, including 11-time medalist and former world record-holder Matt Biondi, four-time medalist Anthony Ervin, Swedish gold medalists Par Arvidsson and Bengt Baron, and Croatian silver medalist Duje Draganja, among others. He also recruited and coached Nathan Adrian and Milorad Cavic, both of whom went on to Olympic success after Thornton retired.
Golden Bears who swam under Thornton amassed 29 Olympic medals, including 14 gold, 10 silver and five bronze, while representing several countries at the Olympic Games.
At the international level, Thornton coached numerous United States teams in world competition. He coached the U.S. in the 1979 FINA Cup in Tokyo, Japan, before leading the U.S. at the 1981 World University Games. In the summer of 1983, Thornton was an assistant coach for the U.S. at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. He later served in the same capacity at the 1986 and 1987 World Championships, as well as the 1997 Pan Pacific Games.
Before Cal Berkeley, Nort Thornton began coaching at Los Altos High School in California where his team broke thirteen out of twenty national records. At Foothill Junior College, he built the school into the top junior college program in the nation.
Thornton graduated from San Jose State in 1956 with a degree in education and earned his master's degree from Stanford.
REMEMBERING NORT THORNTON
"I'm saddened by the loss of Nort Thornton, a legend who impacted our program, our Cal community and the sport of swimming as a whole in so many tremendous ways. Nort will be remembered as one of our sport's greatest coaches, but his legacy extends much further than the accolades he received throughout his career. He was a passionate leader who made a difference in the lives of everyone who spent time with him on the pool deck. Nort will be greatly missed, and I join all members of our Cal community in sending condolences and prayers to his family." – Cal Men's Swimming & Diving Head Coach David Durden
Thornton coached at Cal Berkeley from 1974 to his official retirement in 2007 where he won two national titles in back to back years in 1979 and 1980. He also served as a coach for the United States’ 1992 Olympic team which was littered with current and former Cal swimmers Matt Biondi, Scott Jaffe, Ron Karnaugh, Sean Killion, Roque Santos and Joel Thomas. Thornton also coached many individual Olympic medalists in his career including backstroker Peter Rocca (USA); freestylers: Pelle Holmertz, Bengt Baron, Par Arvidsson, and Thomas Lejdstrom, (Sweden); and Graham Smith of Canada. Later in his Cal career after his Hall of Fame induction, he coached Anthony Ervin to shared gold in the 50 freestyle in 2000, and nearly repeated that feat with Croatia’s Duje Draganja grabbing silver in 2004.
Thornton started his Cal career during the 1974-75 season. For 28 of the 33 years he coached the Bears, Thornton’s teams finished ranked in the top 10 in the national polls. The veteran coach was named National Coach of the Year twice and was the Pac-10 Coach of the Year four times, most recently in 1999.
Nort Thornton also helped Cal become a national powerhouse in men’s swimming as the school’s first national champion came during his tenure in 1977 with Graham Smith winning the NCAA titles in both the 100 and 200 breaststroke. A year later, the program had its first relay NCAA title with Peter Rocca, Smith, Par Arvidsson and Jim Fairbank winning the 400 medley relay in 1978.
On the international scene, the Cal men had only one Olympic medalist in program history before Thornton stepped on the deck – a silver from Ludy Langer in the 400 free in 1920. Peter Rocca won double silver in the 100 and 200 back while swimming for Thornton in 1976 as Sweden’s Bengt Baron and Par Arvidsson became Cal’s first Olympic gold medalists in men’s swimming by winning the 100 back and 100 fly respectively at the Moscow Games in 1980.
Thornton was also key in helping bring current Cal men’s coach and 2020 Olympic head coach Dave Durden to Berkeley to continue the Golden Bear tradition of excellence.
“Nort has been fantastic in helping me get up to speed with our athletes, the traditions at Cal, and the campus,” said Durden at the beginning of the 2007-08 season. “I always leave each day with a nugget of information from Nort, whether through a technical aspect of swimming or the psychological make-up of developing a team. His presence on the deck in working with the guys is tremendously appreciated.”