A Grace College graduate has been recognized for his tenure in California high school athletics. Dan Swagerty, a native of southern California, has been awarded the Distinguished Service Award for the Central Section by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state office. Currently serving as athletic director at Farmersville, Calif., he’s held similar positions throughout the state for more than 40 years. A portion of a report from the Foothills Sun-Gazette appears below. Click here to read the complete story.
Farmersville’s Dan Swagerty adds CIF Distinguished Service Award to already impressive career in high school athletics
FARMERSVILLE – There are those around, even in these ever-changing times, who still find purpose in the same careers they started long ago. Farmersville’s athletic director Dan Swagerty is one such person. For the past 41 years, he has been involved in high school athletics in one fashion or another. Last week the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) state office took notice awarding him the male winner of the 2018 Distinguished Service Award for the Central Section.
“This award caught me a little by surprise, but it is a great honor to be recognized by the state and local section,” Swagerty said.
Every year the CIF awards two athletic directors from all 10 sections with this distinction. It is designed to give special recognition to those who have remained in the CIF the longest. Swagerty was joined by Dos Palos’ Nikki Pigg.
Swagerty’s tenure has taken him all over the state. He has worked at high schools in the Southern, Sac-Joaquin, and Northern sections, and his longest tenure of 11 years and counting, in the Central Section.
He is not just well-traveled but is also versatile in his field, holding a variety of positions over the years. As a coach, he has headed up seven different sports teams. He coached basketball, one of two sports (the other being baseball) he played as a student, for more than 35 years and coached baseball for seven years. Swagerty spent 19 years as a volleyball coach and four years coaching golf. He also had stints as a coach for track, soccer, and tennis teams.
Swagerty also took his knowledge to section committees. A current member of the Board of Managers for the Central Section, he has also served on the North Section’s board and as president of the California Coaches Association.
Being a high school athlete, coaching may have seemed like a natural fit for Swagerty, but surprisingly he stumbled into the career.
After graduating from Brethren Christian High School in Huntington Beach, Calif., Swagerty enrolled at Grace College in Indiana where he graduated with an associate’s degree in business before switching his major to physical education.
Swagerty was then lured back to California by Chet Kammerer, the Hall of Fame basketball coach for Westmont University in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Click here to read the complete story.