Williams College and the Williams athletics department remembers legendary swim coach Carl Samuelson, who passed away on February 24. "Coach Sam," as he was known to legions of Williams students over the years, coached at Williams for 33 years and made a profound impact on so many in our community.
A number of remembrances of Coach Samuelson were posted over the last month, and the full text of an obituary written by Dennis O'Shea '77 is below. Many thanks to the Williams alums who compiled and contributed to these memorials, and to Dennis O'Shea for sending the message below and helping our Athletic Communications team with these stories about Coach Sam.
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Dear Williams Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Friends,
We want to make sure you are aware of some of what has been written – on campus, in the Berkshires and in the aquatics community – to remember and honor Sam.Â
 Here are links you can follow to read these tributes:
--A memorial message from President Maud Mandel to Williams faculty, staff and retirees.
--A column in the Berkshire Eagle. Â
--An obituary in the Williams Record.
--A story published by Swimming World Magazine.Â
--A story published by SwimSwam.
Of course, many of you have remembered Sam in touching comments in the Williams Swimming, Diving and Water Polo Alumni group on Facebook and in response to the college's posts on social media. Thank you for your thoughts about Sam; we know his children have appreciated seeing them.
We will be in touch when we know more, particularly about the celebration of life that Sam's family is organizing.
Sadly,
Jim Cornell '72
Steve DeLano '86
Chris Giglio '89
Liz Jex '83
Tom McEvoy '76
Peter Orphanos '85
Dennis O'Shea '77
Kim Eckrich Oster '85
Kate Boyle Ramsdell '97
Mike Stevens '73
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Carl Samuelson, Hall of Fame swimming coach at Williams, dies at 94
Carl R. Samuelson, who coached at Williams College for 33 years and in 2021 was voted one of the nation's top 100 collegiate swimming and diving coaches of the previous century, has died.
Samuelson, 94, a resident of the Sweetwood retirement community in Williamstown, Massachusetts, died on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington. The cause of death was complications related to kidney disease, a family spokesman said.
The College Swimming and Diving Coaches of America named Samuelson one of the top 100 coaches in its first 100 years, a list that included swimming legends such as James "Doc" Counsilman of Indiana University.
Samuelson was CSCAA Division III national coach of the year three times, including 1982 and 1983 when his teams won the first two NCAA Division III women's national swimming championships ever contested. The third national coach of the year award came in 1995, when he was also recognized in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" feature.Â
In 2024, he was voted into the inaugural class of the CSCAA Division III Hall of Fame.
"Sam was the last and best coach most of us ever had," said Liz Jex, a 1983 Williams graduate who led the Ephs to the two NCAA team titles and won 12 individual NCAA events in her career. "He is loved decades after our last days together at Williams. … Our connections with him and to each other are a living testament to Sam, his ethos and kindness, loyalty and love."
"He was a wonderful, caring and loving teacher, mentor and friend who prepared us for adulthood and for living a meaningful life of integrity," said Mike Stevens, a team captain in 1973. "He was Williams at its best."
Samuelson coached Williams men's teams beginning in 1966 and launched the women's program after the college went coeducational in the early 1970s. The women were first recognized as a varsity squad in the 1975-76 season, just six years before their first national title. Samuelson coached both the men's and women's squads until his retirement in 1999 – for much of that time crowding both teams into an antiquated four-lane pool without a separate diving well.
In his Williams career, Samuelson's athletes were named All-Americans 340 times and won 39 individual and 23 relay NCAA titles. His teams won New England championships 27 times. For 11 straight years, they won both the men's and women's New England crowns.
"Sammer inspired us to be tough and give it our all when it counted, knowing that it was about something bigger than ourselves," said Kim Eckrich Oster '85, who won five events in 1982, the most individual wins at a single NCAA championship by a Williams swimmer. "And when we weren't training or racing our hearts out, he made sure we were all having a heck of a lot of fun together … and making a little mischief too."
Known for pre-meet jokes and other inventive ways of keeping the pressure off his athletes, Samuelson wanted swimmers who thought about what they were doing, discussed their athletic goals and personal ambitions with him and weren't coach-driven automatons, team alumni recalled. He was known for dispensing free-spirited advice like "Be cerebral," "Don't brainstem it," "Keep your perspective," "Enjoy the moment," "Just be yourself" and "Bring it home on the end."
"Listening to and working with a swimmer not only builds trust and confidence between the two, it always leads to better results," he said in an interview about coaching for the Williams athletics website at the time of the top 100 selection.
"Be fast but be relaxed" was his message to his athletes, he said. "You can't perform at your best if you are too tense and worried about your technique or have other distractions."
The Williams natatorium that replaced the four-lane pool in 1988 was later named for Samuelson and his predecessor, Robert B. Muir, who was also the coach of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team. When the new pool opened, Samuelson donned a tuxedo and dove in from the 3-meter springboard.
Samuelson was the third of only four head swimming coaches at Williams since the first was appointed in 1923. His successor, Steve Kuster, remains coach of both the men's and women's teams, each of which regularly wins New England Small College Athletic Conference titles. Both took conference crowns again this year and are preparing for Division III nationals.
"The success we have experienced over the past 25 years is, in large part, a reflection of what Coach Sam built and nurtured during his time at Williams," Kuster said. "He created a culture rooted in excellence, character and care for one another.
"He had the rare ability to bring out the very best in others, to help people see potential in themselves they may not have recognized and to lead with both strength and heart," Kuster said.
Samuelson grew up in Middletown, Connecticut, and helped start a swimming team at Middletown High School. He graduated from Springfield College and stayed there to coach the freshman team and earn a master's degree before taking the Williams job.
In 1958, Samuelson married the former Nancy Blake of Middletown, who was beloved by Williams swimmers and known universally as Mrs. Sam or Mama Sam. She died in 2020.
Survivors include his sister Linda Samuelson of Cromwell, Connecticut; daughter Lynn Samuelson of Meriden, Connecticut; daughter Susan Samuelson, her sons Jake and Zack McMahen, and her husband Henry Zarate (whose family includes Justin and Sarah Zarate and Carissa, Fred, Maribella, Sonrisa, and Cinco Diaz) of Hallettsville, Texas; and son Matthew Samuelson and wife Jennifer Deck Samuelson and daughters Emily, Hannah and Paige Samuelson of Manchester, Vermont.
A celebration of life will be held later this year. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a gift to the Carl R. and Nancy B. Samuelson Scholarship Fund at Williams College, 75 Park St., Williamstown, Massachusetts 01267.
