Bucknell University Athletics
Former Bucknell Water Polo Coach Inducted into the National Water Polo Hall of Fame
1/27/2004 7:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Jan. 27, 2004
Notre Dame, Ind. - Former Bucknell men's and women's water polo coach, and men's and women's swimming and diving coach, and current Saint Mary's College's Director of Athletics, Lynn Kachmarik, has earned yet another honor from her long association with the sport of water polo. Much to her embarrassment at being singled out, she was inducted into the National Water Polo Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Missouri Athletic Club on Saturday, January 17, 2004.
In truth, she is just one of a group of women inducted that were part of the first U.S. Women's National Water Polo Team in 1976. But when you are among the first women to enter the Hall of Fame, a twelve year national team member, a six time captain, and one of only two non-Californians on the initial team, it's hard not to single her out of a crowd.
Last April, Kachmarik became the first woman to be inducted into the Collegiate Water Polo Hall of Fame. She was a four-time A.I.A.W. (the women's "NCAA" at the time) All-American swimmer while also playing on the water polo team at Slippery Rock University (Pa.), where she later was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1991, before switching full time to water polo.
At the tail end of her playing days she began coaching, and was eventually named the Head Coach of Men's Water Polo at Bucknell University (Pa.) in 1986 - the first female in NCAA history to be named a head coach of an NCAA men's team sport. Bucknell obviously made a good decision as she earned the Eastern Water Polo Coach of the Year honor that very first season with the men. In 1998, she relinquished her coaching duties as the Men's and Women's swimming head coach to become an Assistant Athletics Director and the University's first Women's Water Polo head coach.
 Kachmarik became the first female head coach of a men's varsity program in the NCAA.  |
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After college she was a player on two national championships and was on that initial national team which grew from entering small international tournaments to making history as official qualifiers to the World Aquatic Games in 1980. She played on three World Aquatics teams for the U.S., numerous U.S. teams at the FINA World Cup Championships, was an eight-time U.S. Water Polo Association All-American Player and was named to the All-World Water Polo team during her playing days with the National Team. She moved on to coaching with the national program as the Assistant Coach for two years including the team that qualified for the 1993 World Aquatic Championships in Perth, Australia before stepping into the college coaching ranks at Bucknell.
In the midst of her fifth year as the Director of Athletics at Saint Mary's College, she continues to be part of the water polo and swimming community. Since 1996 she has been a Trustee Board member of the U.S. Water Polo Foundation, and is now the coach of a local summer swim team in South Bend as well as coaching for one of the local USA swimming clubs. Though being part of the group that got women's water polo into the Olympics is one of the accomplishments she holds dearest to her heart, she considers her family to be her greatest accomplishment and realizes that everything she learned from her national team playing days and coaching days has allowed her to be a successful mom. The ever present support of her husband Scott and three children give her constant cause for celebration and the knowledge that "this is the best team I have ever been part of."
