James Herbert “Herb” McAuley, EE 47, of Twiggs County, Ga., on Nov. 26. McAuley left an enormous legacy at Georgia Tech both as a champion swimmer and a beloved swim coach. McAuley was the star of Tech’s SEC Champion swim team in 1942. During World War II, McAuley temporarily halted his education to serve in the U.S. Army and served as captain in the Army Signal Corps from 1944-46 in Europe. After returning to Georgia Tech and graduating with an engineering degree in 1947, McAuley was hired by legendary Tech swim coach Fred Lanoue to serve as assistant coach. McAuley spent the next 40 years coaching swimmers at the Institute, both competitive team members and regular students taking the infamous drown proofing class. Drownproofing, a technique developed by Lanoue, taught students how to survive for long periods of time in the water. For many years, it was a required course that all students had to take in order to graduate. In 1965, McAuley succeeded Lanoue as Tech’s head swim coach, a position he held for 23 years. According to a 2012 profile in Buzz Magazine, McAuley valued academics as highly as his swimmers’ performance in the pool. Following McAuley’s retirement in 1987, Tech’s swimming program went on a one-year hiatus and drownproofing was no longer a required course. Even after his retirement, McAuley never stopped swimming. He competed in U.S. Masters Swimming Competitions into his 90s, winning national championships in the freestyle, butterfly and individual medley events. McAuley was inducted into the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame in 1982 and inducted into the Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame in 2012.
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RIP, coach…..
A great man, motivator and powerful swimmer. My father and I had great respect for his intelligence and wisdom. RIP, Coach…
I still remember his 1 credit Drown proofing required swim
I still vividly remember a chilly September morning 44 years ago - my first quarter at GT and 8 am in the morning - when I heard “into the pool and see how long you can last…” I was neither a swimmer nor floater then, but Coach M taught us. His teaching - his legacy - has lived on in my life: in offshore survival training courses required in our industry… I taught my daughters… and now I’m passing survival on on my grandchildren while also swimming numbers of laps that I never thought possible for me. Hopefully Coach’s family and friends can take comfort in the way he has impacted so many…
While Coach Lanoue was in charge when I took “Drownproofing 101”, I do remember Coach McAuley. RIP
We all enjoyed the down proofing course except for one guy who was a senior and had been avoiding it for a four years.
Coach coached us up for the 50 meter underwater swim by having us practice the turn by going over and back on the WIDTH of the pool. He showed us how long a varsity swimmer in our class took to swim the 50 meters and all the techniques the lad used (long coasting, efficient strokes, turn and push off with our legs, etc.) He timed the varsity swimmer and then had us practice staying under water as long as we could. He would count off the seconds and we quickly knew if we had the oxygen carrying capacity. He told us to not run around before the 50 meter swim so our muscles would stay fully oxygenated. One guy ignored this advice and failed miserably.
I made the 50 meters but had gone too deep on the last leg and took my first “breath” 3 inches under water. That was embarrassing but quite spectacular!!!
The whole course was a masterful job of confidence building.
Coach McAuley was a wonderful instuctor and taught many to respect but not fear the water. Have great memories of his class.