Quick Take
Legendary Bay Area swim coach and U.S. Olympian Richard Thornton died Thursday while preparing to surf at The Hook in Santa Cruz. In a Facebook post, his younger brother said Thornton, 65, died “doing what he loved.”
Richard Thornton, a legendary Bay Area swim coach and U.S. Olympian, died while preparing to surf at The Hook in Santa Cruz near Pleasure Point on Thursday. He was 65.
Thornton’s younger brother, Marc, announced his passing on Facebook. The swimming website SwimSwam was the first to break the news. While early reports said that Thornton died while surfing, The Mercury News reported that his family said that was inaccurate. Rather, he died while entering the water, and his cause of death is still unknown. Nigel Miller, the division chief for the Central Fire Department said crews responded to a medical emergency at The Hook on Thursday and attempted CPR and live-saving measures.
A KTVU report said Richard Thornton had recently been receiving treatment for blood cancer. In his Facebook post, Marc Thornton said that his brother died “doing what he loved.”
Richard Thornton enjoyed an illustrious career. He was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team that boycotted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He had been the head coach of San Ramon Valley Aquatics since 1984. His prolific coaching career includes working with both American and international Olympians, as well as NCAA All-Americans.
“He was doing what he loved this morning in Santa Cruz getting ready to surf. It happened quickly,” David Santos, a fellow competitive swimmer and Thornton’s former teammate, wrote in a tribute on Facebook. “He said goodbye to this earth with sand between his toes, and a surfboard by his side.”
Thornton’s father, Nort, who died in 2021, was the longtime swim coach at UC Berkeley. Those who knew Richard remembered him fondly in the comment section of Marc Thornton’s Facebook post.
“Rich had one of the biggest impacts on my life. He was an outstanding person and someone I truly loved and respected,” wrote Sarah Anderson Cramer. “By the end of my swimming career, I considered him a member of the family.”
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FOR THE RECORD: This story was updated to add comment from Central Fire District.
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