Ray Bussard, a man for all seasons and most all sports, died Wednesday at age 83
The former University of Tennessee swimming coach, who led the Vols to a national championship in 1978 and SEC titles in 1969 and 1972-78, suffered from heart problems and diabetes since the fall of 2000.
His 22 consecutive seasons as a head coach at UT were surpassed only by Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt. He also had the highest winning percentage of any head coach at UT (.926).
Although he had a distinguished career in track and football at Bridgewater (Va.) College his fame came in swimming - a sport in which he never swam a race.
But he knew how to coach. His record as UT's swim coach of the Vols was 252-20. His high school track teams were 172-7. He was 43-24-12 as a high school football coach, 241-99 in basketball and 128-52 in baseball.
In three years at Elkton (Va.) High, Bussard's teams won state outdoor track titles in 1953 and 1956, finished third in '54 and missed winning by one-fifth of a point in 1954. At Andrew Lewis in Salem, Va., he produced two state indoor championships, one outdoor title, two state AAU cross-country championships and lost only one dual meet in three years.
Growing up in Highland County, Va., he would run five miles cross-country - racing the school bus to his home, and winning. On Saturdays, he biked 19 miles to the Homestead, where he caddied two days, then biked home on Sunday evenings.
It helped prepare him for a runnerup finish to Bridgewater teammate Bob Richards (Olympic pole vault champ in 1952 and 1956) in the 1951 National All-Around championship, an event similar to the decathlon. Bussard won it the next year.
After college, Bussard began coaching at schools in Southwest Virginia - Craigsville, North River, Spotswood and Elkton. At each of those schools, he built tracks and baseball diamonds. Then he coached football, boys and girls basketball, track and baseball.
He found time to play AAU basketball with the likes of Charles "Lefty" Driesell and Scotty Hamilton. After moving to Tennessee, he played in a semi-pro league made up of teams from Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.
From Andrew Lewis, Bussard went to Chattanooga City High as an assistant to Rudy Rohrdanz. He coached the Dynamos track team, too. Bussard moved to Red Bank High School as head football coach and track coach.
During his summers in Chattanooga, he coached the Warner Park age-group swim team. It became one of the most-powerful programs in Tennessee.
When Tennessee built its Student Aquatic Center indoor-outdoor complex in 1966-67, Bussard was hired by athletic director Bob Woodruff to coach. He transplanted his knowledge of track to swimming, and it paid off. Coaches from all over took note of his training methods. His impact on the SEC was noticeable immediately as his Vols were runner-up to Florida in 1968 in Knoxville.
Along the NCAA championship, the Vols finished second in 1973 and '76.
Bussard was a perfectionist when it came to coaching. He analyzed everything that dealt with strength, speed and aerobics. He was considered one of the world's best at coaching starts and turns, and because of it he coached U.S. sprinters who dominated the 1984 Olympics at Los Angeles.
Two of his Vols won Olympic gold medals - Dave Edgar in 1972 and Matt Vogel in 1976.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
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Comments » 22
FatherVol writes:
He was a great man in my book and I thank him for giving me a shot at the team in 1969-1970. although I left teh team after a single season for various reasons he still allowed me two swim laps with Dave Edgar and now Coach Trembley.
bspurlingcac#225603 writes:
Coach Bussard did a great job with the swimming program at Tennessee. My thoughts a prayers are with his family.
djonesdnd#279615 writes:
Coach Bussard influenced my life more than anyone else back in the early sixties. Doing your best wasn't acceptable, because your best efforts were not possible until a price had been paid through
training and hard work of almost unimaginable physical pain through daily training. He taught me what it took to become a champion, to be dedicated, total concentration, and that desire had to
be accompanied with herculean effort to be the best. A professional at all times, Coach Bussard knew his stuff. His knowledge was immense and we benefited greatly from it. Our runners stood
out because we had the best form, best starting technique, best hand-offs in the relays, best hurtling form which helped us win races. He taught us by example, demonstrating how to pole vault,
hurdle, put the shot and throw a discus. While at City High in the early sixties, he captured a state track title and produced a number of state champions in track and field. He also handed Oak
Ridge it's first ever dual track meet loss. He was hugely responsible for the advancement of the sport of swimming and track in the greater Chattanooga area producing a number of scholarship
athletes, kids who would have never been able to attend college otherwise, namely me. There is much for me to be thankful for in Coach Bussard. He was simply the best coach I ever knew.
Don Jones
Wayfarer writes:
Great coach. He spoke at my high school once and I was impressed with him.
WaltGoVols writes:
I had just started at UT when they won the NCAA Championship in 1978. They had a big celebration at the acquatic center. The swimmers threw each other in the pool, and they threw coach Bussard in the pool as well. Seems like he had shaved his head - a promise he made if they won.
Great times.
Walt
UT '81
volahoma writes:
I was not good enough to swim for "Ray-man", but I worked for him 4 years at the SAC. Intense, driven, hater of losing are my memories.
I still remember the sign over the locker room door - "Practice does not make perfect! Practice makes consistent. Perfect practice makes perfect!"
Volahoma, UTK 1969-74
knoxswim890 writes:
Ray was a great man. We will miss his dedication and enthusiasm for the sport.
hcjournals#206623 writes:
A true Vol legend. He set the standard. Much like Pat Head Summit is doing as we speak. These people are why we, as fans, should celebrate excellence and doing it the right way. We don't have to do it like Alabama or Florida. That is what should set us apart. We have the money. We have the facilities. We have the tradition. We have the orange. We have Rocky Top. We have us. That's enough. Always has been. Always will be. We are lucky indeed. Go Vols. Go Big Orange....Go Big....Or go home.....Thanks for coming out....
FWBVol writes:
I was the swimming contact for a student assistant for the Sports Information Department and Coach Bussard was as tough on me as he was his swimmers. But at the end of the day he was always fair and had a good word to say about the job I had done. He autographed a story I did about him for the old Volunteer Magazine and called me a champion. I'm proud to have, in a small way, made the Ray Bussard team.
RockyTopVolFan writes:
A sad day in Rocky Top for former students, athletes, coaches, and co-workers who knew him and whose lives he touched. We will miss you.
polymer writes:
I played basketball at City High in Chattanooga while Coach Bussard coached football and track there. Though I never got to play under his coaching, everyone at our school knew that Coach Bussard was something special. He also lived close to my house on Signal Mountain. I don't remember his swim teams on Signal ever losing a meet.
You will be missed, Coach Bussard. There will never be another like you. City High and U.T. were privileged to have had you in our midst.
David Bryan
BillsBrother writes:
I learned one my favorite cheers from Coach Bussard.
"Around the bowl and down the hole, roll tide roll!"
67ralley writes:
I worked at the SAC in the 80's and always respected that man. Ironically, I moved to Virginia and am in the same area that he was from, which is Central Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley and not SW Va. like the article mentions. I am familiar with all of these schools here and get to visit them while my children compete against them and see his accomplishments decorating the walls. Pretty cool to see. What a great coach in every aspect.
CharlieJr writes:
In 1964, when I was 10, Ray was my summer age group coach for the Signal Mountain Swim Team. We were thrilled and simultaneously somewhat terrified to have him as our leader. He was tough, but the poster above is right -- we won and became the powerhouse of the Chattanooga Swim League during that time. In later summers he sent several of his UT swimmers and managers to coach Signal Mtn. and the team continued to win.
Ray was hired to coach UT's revived team in no small part based on his summer age group experience. As he sometimes said, winking, the Athletic Department maybe didn't quite realize what they were getting. Not satisfied just to compete in the SEC, he was out to win. I wound up managing for the UT men's team during my four undergraduate years and saw first-hand that Ray was still coaching the same way he had before, now fortunately with UT's world-class resources at his disposal ("once a winner, always a winner").
After team workouts, Knoxville-area kids had swim classes, and my final year at UT I coached his youngest daughter, kind of bringing my relationship with him full circle. The UT swimming family has told many Bussard stories at reunions over the years and I look forward to more of that as we will surely gather again in tribute to this remarkable man. -- Charlie Carson
tvol writes:
The Big Orange Wheel has lost one of its strongest members and will turn a little slower today. I swam for coach in 1978 and was in fear everytime I saw him. However,those days prepared me for anything life has thrown my way. He has influenced thousnds.
Rest well Coach, you have earned it.
Tim
calvolfromkingsport writes:
Coach Bussard was one of the great 60's to mid 80's coaches who commanded respect in cali from the likes of N Thorton(Cal),Ballesteri(UCLA), Skip Kinney(Stanford), just to name a few. I was an ASCA certified age group coach who had a wonderful conversation with him in 1985 on one of his last recruiting trips at a big meet in Mission Viejo. He took a liking to me since I was from Kingsport.He will be missed and certainly made and left his mark on many.
jovols writes:
Once upon a time, the athletic director at the University of Tennessee, hired a man from Chattanooga Tennessee, Ray Bussard to coach the fledgling swimming program. He never knew what hit him. I was not there the first year, as I was a student at Bridgewater College where he was an alumnus. I came to Tennessee Swimming in the fall of 1968 still wet behind the ears, in a new location of the world and not sure of anything. Coach Bussard made me a manager the first year there and told me I would get my degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation and learn to coach football (at the time my first love). We spent countless hours watching film in the old team room for swimming (I could say more but it would be wasted). As I grew to work with him, he recognized in something in me that I am not sure I ever saw in myself – I had the ability to coach. We watched film of all the great swimmers (especially our own Dave Edger) and he developed the “Tennessee Turn.”
I could go on and on but most of it is in his book “Spizzerinctum:The Ray Bussard Story.” What I know about Ray Bussard was his commitment to EXCELLENCE. We never left ‘a stone unturned’ in all our dealings with both in and out of the pool. He always searched for something better in each of us and himself in all he did. He and my father Sam Gentry were like brothers. He treated me like a son and always looked out for me in all ways. He challenged me to be better that I was and strive to be great in situations where I thought greatness was not possible. We are dedicating our season on the team that I coach here in Virginia Beach, VA to him (we decided this last spring) by putting one of his favorite sayings on the back of our t-shirts this year –“The only way to swim fast is to swim fast.”
Coach you will be missed in all ways. Every time one of ‘your boys’ does anything in life worthwhile you will be there – present in your own way, on our shoulder telling us to strive for more than we think we can do. To your family, you are in our prayers and supported in all ways.
Thanks Coach B
Joe Gentry
Swimming Coach and Biology Teacher
Frank W. Cox High School
Virginia Beach, VA
taylorsvolfan writes:
My wife was the first female to be senior supervior over the pool. Her "fondest" memory of this man was when he spit tobacco juice on her. She never cared much for him sfter that.
AtLeastMyTeamHasPerfectSeasons writes:
This man is a legend here in Chattanooga.
Too many UT greats have left us in the last 15 months.
tnsportsman writes:
RIP Coach Bussard. He was a great Volunteer and Man! God bless the Bussard Family!
Go Vols To You Sir
thereturnoftriumph writes:
see what you are like at 83, if you make it that far.
sounds like someone who gave his all for UT.
rest in peace
RichmondKyVol writes:
Coach Bussard and his legacy are yet another reason why it's great to be a Tennessee Vol.
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