Jon Urbanchek

Jon Urbanchek (born János Urbancsok; August 23, 1936 – May 9, 2024) was a Hungarian-born American swimming coach, best known for his 22-year tenure as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team of the University of Michigan from 1982 to 2004. During his coaching tenure, he led his Michigan teams to an NCAA team Championship in 1995, and a total of 13 Big Ten Championships. He has served as a coach on multiple United States national swim teams, including the U.S. Olympic swim teams in 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004, and as a special assistant in 2008 and 2012. In five Olympics, Urbanchek coached a total of 44 Olympians to 20 Olympic medals, consisting of 11 gold, six silver, and four bronze.

University of Michigan student Graduating around 1962, he attended the University of Michigan on scholarship. At Michigan, Urbanchek was a member of the Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving team from 1959 to 1961, where he competed and trained under Hall of Fame Head Coach Gus Stager, a U.S. Olympic Coach and former competitive swimmer for Michigan.

Olympians coached Listed sequentially by Olympic year, top Olympic performers coached by Urbanchek include Brent Lang (1988), Mike Barrowman (1992), Eric Namesnik (1992 and 1996), and Tom Dolan (1992 and 1996). Those that participated in the Olympics in 2000 and 2004 included Tom Malchow (1996 and 2000), Gustavo Borges (1992 and 2000), Marcel Wouda (2000), Dan Ketchum (2004), Chris Thompson (2000), Peter Vanderkaay (2004). In five Olympics, Urbanchek helped train and mentor 44 Olympians, of which 26 were from the University of Michigan, to a total of 20 Olympic medals, consisting of 11 gold medals, six silver, and four bronze. His own University of Michigan swimmers combined for a total of 17 of the 20 medals his swimmers earned.

Honors Urbanchek was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004, and became a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in 2008.

In December 2019, the newly rebuilt pool at Anaheim High School was officially opened in his honor as the Jon Urbanchek Aquatics Complex.