Estes Park – For the record: Dick Hewson has swum one competitive race in his life. He was coaxed into doing so. But Hewson and his family have left their mark on the Colorado swimming community.
Hewson, who started the Loveland High School swimming program in 1965, has watched his four children – Sam, Tom, Bob, and Liz – enjoy success as swimmers and coaches. The Hewson family coaches have accounted for seven state championships. Sam won five titles in the pool during the 1970s, and now a new crop of Hewsons is making a splash.
I am so proud of everything the kids have done, said Dick Hewson, who became the only swimming coach in the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame in 1995. Its great to be able to watch the granddaughters now.
The latest wave of Hewson swimming lore will be on display this weekend in the Class 4A girls state swimming and diving championships at Fort Collins Edora Pool Ice Center. Sams twin daughters, Lauren and Kenzie, were half of the Bobcats 200-yard medley relay team to stand atop the podium last year.
Its an honor to carry this last name, Lauren said. We just want to keep it going for as many generations as we can, and I hope that my kids will someday have that drive.
Where it all began
This success story began with what Dick called an accident. When he arrived in Loveland in the mid-1960s, his athletic endeavors included football and track. He coached both at high schools in Michigan for six years before moving to Colorado.
A pool was built in Loveland and Dick was asked by school officials to become the aquatics director. A college résumé that included classes in water safety instruction and lifeguarding caught their attention.
Little did they know, all that stuff had expired, Dick said jokingly.
Hewson took the position on the condition he could start and coach a swim team. With little knowledge of the sport, Hewson spent time traveling the state picking the brains of some of the better swimming coaches. Bud Best, primarily a baseball man, at the University of Northern Colorado offered proof that you didnt need a swimming background to coach the sport, and coach it well.
I knew I could coach, because I had success in other sports and that was a big advantage, Dick said. The thing I needed to do was get into the swimming fold.
Finding kids that fit that mold was another issue in a town that lacked swimming history. By 1968 Hewson, prodding offensive linemen and gymnasts into the pool, won the first of 16 conference titles. In 1991 he won his first and only state title with the Thompson Valley girls team.
Family time at pool
As aquatics director, Hewson spent a lot of time at the pool, now named in his honor at Thompson Valley High School. That meant if his kids wanted to see their father, they, too, had to spend time at the pool.
As kids growing up, swimming was my life, said the youngest child, Liz Damasso. Because in order to see my family, thats where they all were at the pool. So now its only natural for me to be here. I couldnt imagine being anywhere else.
Neither could any of the kids. Success in the pool, including Sams three state backstroke titles two at Loveland and one at Thompson Valley were a testament to that.
My dad just had a passion, Sam Hewson said. I think good coaches make good teachers and good teachers make good coaches. Its all one in the same. Where does it all come from? It all comes from Dad.
Tom Hewson, who will be inducted into the Thompson Valley Hall of Fame this year, coached the Eagles to four state championships, more than any other coach in school history. Sam coached the Estes Park girls to back-to-back state titles in 1997 and 1998.
Sams start in coaching 21 years ago in Estes Park had a similar fateful feel to his fathers start. He still remembers his first steps into the lightless, tileless, empty Estes Park Aquatics Center.
I could just see it, I thought this is going to be the place, he said.
Future looks bright
Everywhere you turn, it seems youre hitting your head on another branch of the Hewson family tree. It is growing beyond the current success of Lauren and Kenzie.
The future begins next week when the boys swimming season starts and the Hewsons Brazilian exchange student, Marcus Ferreira, hits the pool.
Sams stepsons Hunter Sutterfield, 14, and Trapper Sutterfield, 11 also have taken to the tank.
Im still learning the whole swimming lifestyle, said their mother, Tammy Hewson. My boys love it. Since weve moved up here, Hunter has lost 30 pounds and completely toned up.
Sam lives and breathes swimming, but we also make plenty of time for family.
The final piece to the Hewson family puzzle is Kate, who also has visions of grandeur in the pool.
Its a family tradition thats been passed on, 10-year-old Kate said. Plus, its a lot of fun.
After the conclusion of an impromptu family reunion at the pool Tuesday, Dick, ever the coach, had simple words of encouragement for his son and his granddaughters heading into the state meet.
This is big, he said. But you guys have been there before.
Just have fun.
Staff writer Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
Hewsons by numbers
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Margin of victory for Estes Park’s 200-yard girls medley relay team, made up of Sarah Almond, Lauren and Kenzie Hewson and Kaley Schumaker, over second-place Ralston Valley at the 2006 state meet.
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Swimming coach in the Colorado High School Activities Association Hall of Fame: Dick Hewson.
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Individual state titles won by Sam Hewson. He broke the 100-yard backstroke state record each year from 1975-77, won the 50 freestyle as a senior and the 200 individual medley as a sophomore. The first two years were at Loveland, the third year at Thompson Valley.
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Coaching state championships won the Hewson family – Dick (one: 1991 Thompson Valley girls); Sam (two: 1997 and 1998 Estes Park girls); and Tom (four: 1994, 1997, 1998 and 2005 Thompson Valley boys).
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Conference championships won by coach Dick Hewson.
