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(5) Dave Durden
Dave Durden is now eligible for our Hall of Fame tournament, and not a moment too soon. Durden has quickly established Cal as one of the top men's swimming programs in the nation. CalBears.com highlights his accomplishments:
David Durden, beginning his sixth year at the helm of the California men's swimming and diving program, has led the Golden Bears to back-to-back national team titles in 2011 and 2012, and has been named NCAA Coach of the Meet and Pac-12 Coach of the Year three seasons in a row.
In just five years Durden has brought the Cal program to the pinnacle of college swimming as he coached the Golden Bears to their first NCAA team title since 1980 in 2011, and then guided his squad to another national crown this past March in Federal Way, Wash.
In his spectacular fifth year at Cal, Durden led his 2011-12 team to the program's fourth NCAA title with a dominating 535.5 to 491 point victory over second place Texas at the national meet. Before his pair of national crowns, Durden led the Bears to an NCAA runner-up finish in 2010 and fourth-place finishes in 2008 and 2009. He now owns an overall dual meet record of 24-9 (.727).
...
Since his arrival to Berkeley in 2007, Durden's (along with head coach emeritus Nort Thornton) swimmers have established school records in 18 of 19 swimming events, including all the relays. He has guided Cal to 23 NCAA titles, including nine relay crowns and 33 Pac-12 individual and relay titles, in five seasons.
That article is woefully out of date, however, as Durden and the Bears won another National Championship two weeks ago. This is how he celebrated:
This is how a swimming and diving coach celebrates a national title ... pic.twitter.com/R0oilxymN3
— NCAA (@NCAA) March 31, 2014
(12) Joy Biefeld Fawcett
Great profile on Fawcett thanks to California Pete.
In the 1990s, Joy Fawcett became the world's most famous soccer mom. One of the mainstays of the pioneering U.S. women's national team (239 caps over 18 years), Joy played on the World Cup-winning sides of 1991 and 1999, and she also twice won Olympic gold in 1996 and 2004. While attacking players such as Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy attracted a bit more of the spotlight on those teams, Fawcett's role was no less integral to their success. Indeed, Joy was a true fixture on the back line; she played every minute of every game in the 1995, 1999, and 2003 World Cups, as well as the ‘96 and 2000 Olympics. She did all of this while being mother to a growing family of three girls. A National Soccer Hall of Famer, Fawcett is arguably the greatest outside back the women's game has ever seen. U.S. attacks often began with Fawcett's accurate distribution from the flank, and she pushed forward enough herself to score 27 goals during her career on the WNT, most ever by a defender.I first remember seeing the not-yet-married Joy Biefeld on the back page of the Daily Cal in the mid-to-late 1980s. This was a pretty dismal time for Cal sports, so any news of national-level success grabbed my attention. In 1986, the soccer stories were all about a young Brandi Chastain, who was national Freshman of the Year at Cal before transferring to Santa Clara. But ably stepping into her shoes in 1987 was Biefeld, whose offensive skills would be on full display. A three-time All-American, Biefeld amassed 55 goals and 23 assists during her Cal career, leading the Bears to the national semi-finals two years in a row. Joy was national player of the year in 1987, when she scored a school-record 23 goals.
Joy and her husband Walter now run Saddleback United Soccer Club in Mission Viejo.
profile at Cal website
2004 interview with USA Today
story about her life today in OC, and living with rheumatoid arthritis