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Chance encounter: Alum Caron meets Owl swim team members
KEENE, N.H. 3/29/11 – You never know who you're going to meet at the airport. Returning to Keene after competing at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., several members of the Keene State swim team, along with Coach Jack Fabian, had a chance meeting with Dan Caron, a 1979 KSC grad, at the airport in Detroit.
"Dan saw the Keene State sweatshirts, and I overheard him talking to the team," said Fabian. "I went over and asked him if he was an alum."
Not only was Caron a former member of the Owl swim team, but a record-holder and one of the last All-America men's swimmers at the school, until freshman Drew Ledwith accomplished the feat this past weekend.
Caron, a native of Nashua, swam four seasons for the Owls (1974-78). He was a one-time member of Keene State's record-setting 400 freestyle relay team and earned All-America honors in the event as a sophomore.
A lot has changed since Caron was doing laps at Spaulding Gym pool.
High school swimming was almost nonexistent in the mid-70s, so Caron swam at his local Y in Nashua. Debating between Keene State and UNH for college, Caron decided on KSC because it had the stronger swim team.
However, the Owl swim program was in transition when he arrived. Jim Quirk, a former physics professor, was stepping down as coach, and a replacement hadn't been named. Caron met up with teammates Dave Hague and Carl Arlig, and the trio began to train for the upcoming season.
Caron still recalls the team's training trip to Florida that year. "Dave had an old, beat-up van and we threw a mattress in the back," he said. "We stayed at a campground and drove to Rollins College for workouts every day."
Although Bill Papajohn, who worked in the KSC athletics department, joined the students, Hague and Arlig devised the teams' workouts.
How did they manage to qualify for nationals the following year? "When it came to workouts, we were really serious," said Caron. "We pushed each other."
That season, several Owls qualified for individual events, while Newell Roberts, Arlig, Hague, and Caron made the standard in the 400 free relay.
Because the team didn't have a coach, the Keene State swimmers almost didn't have the opportunity to compete at the NCAA championships at Washington and Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. Fortunately, the coach from Bridgewater State stood in, allowing the Owls to swim.
And swim they did. Ron Demers earned All-America in the breaststroke, and the relay foursome also returned to Keene with the honor. "It was a real cool feeling," said Caron, who still has his certificate hanging in his playroom.
Although Caron qualified for the nationals in the 50 free as a senior, he decided not to attend the meet. After graduating with a degree in technology education, Caron taught in several schools around New Hampshire as well as in Maryland. When it comes to swimming, Caron coached for a time at the YMCA in Nashua, but the thought of his body enduring more chlorine has kept him out of the pool.
At his recent chance encounter with the current Keene State team, Caron told Fabian how much he enjoyed swimming for Keene State and how proud he was of the team's recent success. "Dan also told me he was a little envious seeing the team at the airport," Fabian said. "He and his teammates wished they'd had a chance to fly when they went to the NCAA championships. It would beat driving in an old van."
