Legendary coach and pioneer in the field of swimming, Allen “Skip” Kenny unfortunately passed away in Sunday night at the age of 79 years. Skip was the head coach of the men’s swim team at Stanford University. He may have left us, but his legacy will live on.
Read on to find out more about this legendary personality, who he was, his background and career, what happened to him, how he died, cause of death, tributes and much more.
Who was Allen “Skip” Kenney?
Skip Kenney was born in February. He was born on January 24, 1943 and raised in Fresno, California. He attended Fresno High School for his elementary education, where he used to play baseball and sometimes do some scuba diving as well. After completing his graduation, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps, went through Corps Recruit Training, and served in Vietnam as a National Guard for 13 months in 1965-66.
Kenney got his first opportunity to work as a swim coach in 1968. He was a trained swimmer and trained at Long Beach State. Here he settled with Gambril at Harvard, where he stayed for one season before accepting his first head coaching job at Houston Dad’s Club in Texas.
outstanding careers
Throughout his career, he has trained a total of 18 swimmers for the Olympic Games and helped them perform better on the big stages. His students won 16 gold medals, including three silver and three bronze. The list of Olympic gold medalists includes Joe Hudopohl, Pablo Morales, Kurt Grote and Jeff Rouse. He was also the head coach at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and appeared as an assistant coach for the 1984 and 1988 teams.
Skip was also awarded the CSCAA Coach of the Year award in 1982, 1985-87, 1992 and 1998. He has been featured in the Stanford Hall of Fame, Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame, International Swimming Hall of Fame and the ASCA Hall of Fame.
How did Skip Kenney die? Stanford coach’s cause of death explained
Skip Kenney, a healthy 79-year-old man, walked out of the house into a gap between two sidewalk pavers three weeks ago, suddenly tripped, fell, and fractured his hip. He eventually received treatment, but he just couldn’t get back to his normal routine.
Perhaps, he deteriorated physically and mentally. Skip Kenney died 3 weeks later on the night of Sunday November 27, 2022. He died after a brief stay in hospice care and his loved ones did everything they could to keep him alive, but he left us.
Swimming World magazine confirmed their passing news through their social media accounts,
Tributes to Skip Kenney
The entire swimming world is showing their condolences and condolences to Carla Heaton’s family.
Matthew Brown:“Skip’s dominance at Stanford was incredible. I think he won something like 30 or 31 straight Pac-10 titles. He coached some of my favorite teams and swimmers. RIP”.
A user wrote“Good man. Wonderful leader and coach. Thanks for everything. BREAK.”
@coachgambetta:RIP A good man!
richroll mentioned in his tweet: “You were a tough SOB Skip. hardly perfect. But I am proud of the fact that I am a member of the dynasty you created. I am so thankful for bringing together an extraordinary group of people to do extraordinary things together.”
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