Kenney wins CSCAA Lifetime Achievement Award

April 23, 2013, 10:05 a.m.
Stanford men's swimming head coach Skip Kenney led Stanford to seven NCAA titles and 31 straight conference championships, and earned the CSCAA Lifetime Achievement Award this week. (Courtesy of Dani Vernon)
Stanford men’s swimming head coach Skip Kenney (above) led Stanford to seven NCAA titles and 31 straight conference championships, and earned the CSCAA Lifetime Achievement Award this week. (Courtesy of Dani Vernon)

Skip Kenney, who retired last May after 33 years at the helm of the Stanford men’s swimming program, won the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Speedo Lifetime Achievement Award this week.

The award is conferred to “the individual whose efforts exemplify the integrity and ideals of collegiate swimming and who has achieved significant success in the sport while still imparting the educational and character building qualities of the collegiate swimming experience.”

With the Cardinal, Kenney coached 31 consecutive Pac-10/12 championship teams and won seven NCAA team titles, becoming known as one of the top swimming coaches in the country. Kenney, 20-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year and 6-time NCAA Coach of the Year, also coached the US Olympic Team three times over the course of his prestigious career. Despite the fact that he never swam competitively, Kenney is currently in both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the American Swim Coaches Hall of Fame.

Kenney also served in the Vietnam War as a sniper.

Here is a full account of Kenney’s legacy from last May, in which Daily sports editor George Chen spoke to the acclaimed skipper about his coaching career.

Joseph Beyda is the editor in chief of The Stanford Daily. Previously he has worked as the executive editor, webmaster, football editor, a sports desk editor, the paper's summer managing editor and a beat reporter for football, baseball and women's soccer. He co-authored The Daily's recent football book, "Rags to Roses," and covered the soccer team's national title run for the New York Times. Joseph is a senior from Cupertino, Calif. majoring in Electrical Engineering. To contact him, please email jbeyda "at" stanford.edu.

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