Kara B's letter to her former coach

 One of the best letters I ever got from one of the best swimmers I ever coached. It meant plenty to me then -- and it still does 30+ years later.

Front page:

Back page:

Notes from 2018:

The PAWW team was my "Dream Team." I had three great years in Peoria. Departing was hard. I went from $16,000 a year to a job that paid $22,000 for only nine months. 

I was the first full-time coach at New Trier Swim Club, NTSC. I stepped into a weird situation there and had one or more people on the seven person coaching staff who was a complete snake. 

As I was departing PAWW, I went far out of my way to recruit applications for my eventual successor. I put calls to Washington and strongly encouraged Mike Smithers to interview and take the position. Some months later he took the job and arrived in Peoria and developed his style and the team in ways that were different than what I was doing.

Reunion photo

Coach D. Amerman, Mark Rauterkus, Mike Herrin, Kara B, Erik Rauterkus
on the pool deck at Central Park Pool in Peoria, Illinois.