Bob Mattson

Robert Erwin Mattson (April 21, 1931 – June 29, 2023) was an American competitive swimmer for North Carolina State and an ASCA Hall of Fame swim coach who founded Delaware's highly successful Wilmington Aquatic Club, serving forty years as coach from 1954 to 1994.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 21, 1931, to a struggling single mother, around age six he moved to Worcester, Massachusetts where he grew up. He swam at the Worcester Boys Club, and began attending prestigious Williston Academy Preparatory School in Easthampton, on a scholarship at age 13.

North Carolina State He swam competitively for North Carolina State University from 1951 to 1955 under Coach Willis Casey, who never had a losing season, and had an exceptional NC State Swimming Dual Meet record of 189-23. Earlier, in February 1954, he set a new National collegiate record in the 120-yard individual medley of 1:11.9.

He was the first NC State swimmer to receive All-American honors in four consecutive years. In August 1954, he swam breaststroke with the team of backstroker Bill Sonner, Butterflier Dick Fadgen, and Freestyler Dave McIntyre and won the 400-meter medley relay at the National AAU Swimming meet in Indianapolis with a time of 4:34.7. In an equally rare distinction, in 1954 he captured the world record in the 400-individual medley with a time of 5:31.2, set at the Dixie American Athletic Meet in Kinston, North Carolina.

Graduation and professional work Receiving his B.S. with honors in Chemistry after graduating NC State second in his class in 1955, he took a job in the textile chemistry industry, for the Joseph Bancroft Company, where he led the team that initially developed and then produced the Ban-Lon shirt. Mattson continued coaching into the 2000s.

Bruce Gemmell, 56, a graduate of Delaware's Mount Pleasant High School believed “Bob was an innovator before being an innovator was cool.” Gemmell swam for Mattson as a kid and coached Katie Ledecky to five Olympic gold medals. Mattson was considered unique in always being willing to try new kick and stroke techniques instead of sticking exclusively with traditional methods. Gemmell, an outstanding coach himself, believed Mattson could make small changes in stroke technique that combined with masterful coaching could vastly improve a swimmer's technique and stroke mechanics. and as mentioned, the ASCA Coach's Hall of Fame.

Mattson died at the age of 93 on June 20, 2023, in Wilmington, Delaware. He married Nancy Haubein, after coaching her in the late 1950s when she was attending Newark High School. They married in 1961 when she was a student at the University of Delaware. Nancy also coached for many years. Mattson and Nancy had children Eric, and Jennifer, and Bob had a son Steve from a previous marriage. He had seven grandchildren.