Robert Horn

Robert Martin Horn (November 3, 1931 – January 11, 2019) was a collegiate swimmer and Water Polo Player for Fullerton College and Long Beach State, who as the first full-time UCLA swimming and Water Polo Coach from around 1964–1991 led the Bruins to 3 NCAA Water Polo Championships in 1969, 1970–72, and 7 Water Polo PAC-8 league championships from 1964 to 1971. Horn coached the UCLA Men's swimming team from 1963-74, and then coached the Water Polo team exclusively. He competed with the Whittier Swim Club water polo team when they won the 1950 National AAU Water Polo Championships. During his High School years, Horn played Water Polo from 1947 to 1949.

Collegiate era athletics Horn went to Fullerton College from 1950 to 1952 where he participated on both the swim and Water Polo Teams, and helped lead the team to a Southern California Championship in the 1951 school year. At Fullerton, he was coached by International Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Smith, who was an Officer in the Naval Reserves, coached at the Naval Air Station at Los Alamitos where Horn played Water Polo, and coached the U.S. Water Polo teams at the Pan American Games in 1955 where Horn would play and medal. Playing for the Fullerton-Whittier Swim Club water polo team, Horn attended the Water Polo Olympic trials at New York's Astoria Park Pool in July 1952.

After attending Fullerton College, Horn served in the Naval Air Force during the Korean War in the early 1950s. He trained with and played water polo during his Naval service with the U.S. Olympic team, preparing for the 1956 Olympics. Completing his naval service, he then attended California State University, Long Beach for the 1957–58 year where he played water polo, was named an All-American, and won the student athlete of the year award. In 1957–58, while Horn was playing Water Polo at CSU Long Beach, the team won the PAC Conference Championship. He played Water Polo at the Naval Air Station at Los Alamitos, California, where he was also stationed for a period during his Naval service.

Swimming and Water Polo Coach After completing his career as a college athlete, Horn first coached at Cerritos Jr. College, a community college in Norwalk, California, for two years from 1959 to 1961, where he led the team to both Metropolitan and Western State Conference Championships. During his coaching career, he mentored 36 first team All Americans, and 26 Olympians in swimming and water polo. Improving opportunities for women's swimming, he allowed diver Susie Kinkade to join UCLA's men's swim team around 1973 when the school had yet to develop a separate women's program.

Horn was a part of the coaching staff for the 1968 and 1972 U.S. Olympic Water Polo teams. The 1972 Olympic team he helped coach in Munich won a team bronze medal. He also helped coach the U.S. team for two Pan American games and later 2 World University Games. In 1965, he was recognized as the “NCAA Water Polo Coach of the Year” and in 1972 as the “NCAA Swimming Coach of the Year”. He was also a Hall of Fame member of the University of California at Los Angeles, Long Beach State College, and Fullerton Community College. Horn served as President of the Southern California Water Polo & Swimming Association.