As families across the country celebrate Father’s Day on June 21, many members of Washington, D.C.’s swimming community are remembering the late Rodger McCoy, a coach and mentor whose influence stretched far beyond the water.
“Rodger was a father figure to a lot of the children, he poured into and invested everything in them,” Dena Briscoe, former DC Wave Swim Team meet manager and team parent, told The Informer. “Even though he had his own son on the team, he still treated the other children as if they were his own. He left no child behind.”
Having spent decades helping young people find confidence, discipline and opportunity through swimming, McCoy, who retired from the District of Columbia Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) in 2020 after more than 35 years of service, died on April 20 at the age 76.
“Coach Rodger’s passion for coaching and devotion to the swimming community created an impact that will be felt for years to come,” the National Black Heritage Championship Swim Meet said in a statement following his death. “Many of us, and many families across our city, benefited from his generosity, patience and love for the sport of swimming.”
For Roy Fagin, who helped establish the D.C. DPR competitive aquatics program alongside McCoy in 1984, the coach’s strong influence was evident from the beginning.
“When I met Rodger and got a chance to know him, I could tell by his demeanor that he was a serious person who had serious talents to offer,” Fagin told The Informer.
Those qualities became more evident to Fagin as McCoy began shaping the foundation of the program.
“Once I gave him that assignment [of being a coach],” Fagin continued, “he took it and ran with it and did some amazing work.”
The program was founded to provide opportunities for local young people who were interested in swimming, developing their skills and potentially earning educational opportunities through the sport. It also sought to challenge long-held misconceptions about Black participation in swimming.
“There was always the perception that Black people could not swim,” Fagin said. “Our main objective was to dispel that myth.”
Over the next several decades, McCoy became one of the most recognizable figures in the District’s swimming community, mentoring generations of athletes.
“He had a remarkable ability to teach, guide, and encourage others— whether it was a new staff member learning the ropes, or a young swimmer stepping onto the pool deck for the first time,” said Robert Green, head coach of the DC Wave Swim Team. “He embodied what it [meant] to serve.”
‘He Didn’t Let You Give Up on Yourself’
Among the athletes inspired by McCoy, is Liana Castro, who met McCoy when she was about 6 years old after learning to swim at what is now the Wilson Aquatic Center.
“He was the best,” Castro, an award-winning counselor with District of Columbia Public Schools, told The Informer. “He didn’t let you give up on yourself, he pushed me to be the best swimmer I could be. There was never any judgment, there was always passion.”
Castro recalled how McCoy often challenged swimmers to exceed their own expectations.
“He signed me up for a 200 butterfly, something I’d never done before. Somehow I ended up in 3rd place in my heat, which was a feat I didn’t expect because I was going against people who swam the 200 fly as their main event,” she told The Informer.
“That win motivated me like no other and the 200 fly became one of my favorite events.”
Throughout his almost four decades within the swim program, McCoy trained, coached and mentored more than 50,000 students ranging from 3 -103 years old.
At times, McCoy had to lead his team navigating hostile environments.
“When our kids would beat other teams, especially predominantly white teams, there were times when people didn’t take it well,” Briscoe told The Informer. “Some of the kids on those teams didn’t believe they could lose to Black children. Roger would [tell] them ‘Your color is the color God gave you, but it’s not what makes you, you. You have everything you need inside of you to be the best you can be’”
According to Briscoe, this was monumental for their confidence.
“What it did for our children was show them they were just as good as anyone else.”
Further, for more than 10 years, McCoy served as head coach for the U.S. Swimming National Age Group and Select Camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“He was a very special man,” Briscoe emphasized.“He would stay at the pool with the children from sunrise to sundown and beyond. He just never gave up on any child.”
‘He Pushed Us … He Cared for Us … He Believed in Us’
For many, McCoy’s influence went far beyond the swimming pool.
“He was a father to some of the kids,” Fagin said, “but was a mentor to all of [them].”
For those that knew him, McCoy brought a sense of community to the program.
“He gave us a family,” Castro said. “I grew up with my swim team family. I had all the moms I could ask for, all the dads I could ask for, all the support that I could ask for on that swim team.”
He is being remembered as someone who made a difference for thousands across the District.
“He was really great for D.C. He may not have gotten all the honors or recognition, but he didn’t do the work for that,” Briscoe told The Informer. “He did it because he cared about the children.”
Today, his legacy lives on through the generations of lives he touched, as well as his own children and grandchildren.
“I think we’re all going to remember how much he pushed us, how much he cared and how much he believed in us,” Castro emphasized.
