PROVO, Utah — BYU swim and dive pioneer and former head coach Walt Cryer passed away on June 20 at age 95.
Cryer coached the BYU men’s swim and dive program in nine formative seasons from 1964 to 1972.
With the Richards Building Pool under construction, Cryer’s first two years with the program included practicing and competing off campus at the Park Ro Shé pool in Springville. Cryer designed the original Richards Building Pool scoreboard and led the Cougars into their new home upon the facility’s completion for the 1965-66 season.
Cryer led BYU to six top-3 finishes at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) swim and dive championships, two top-25 finishes nationally and sent 23 Cougar entries to the NCAA Championships. In Cryer’s last season at the helm, BYU achieved its best national finish to date with a final ranking of 20th at the 1972 NCAA meet.
Fred Baird became BYU’s first swim and dive All-American under Cryer’s tutelage in 1968. Baird earned All-America Honorable Mention status in the 100 and 200 fly during the 1968 and 1969 seasons, respectively. Cryer coached BYU’s 400 medley relay team squad of Jess Allen, Steve Schroeter, Fred Baird and Tom Fairbank to an NCAA Championship entry in 1968; the Cougars’ first and only national entry in the event until 2024.
Cryer also oversaw the development of two-time 3-meter diving All-American Stan Curnow. Curnow (1976-1991) built on Cryer’s legacy, coaching BYU women’s divers to 14 All-American honors and a pair of platform national titles.
While Cryer completed his Cougar coaching career in 1972, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in education from BYU and taught numerous undergraduate and graduate physical education courses as a BYU professor from 1975 to 1994.
Cryer made significant contributions to preserving the history of BYU athletics with his collection of sporting event and athlete photos dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. The Walter Cryer Collection on Physical Education and Sports is now housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library.
Cryer, his wife Pat and their children came to BYU in 1963 following the first 12 years of his coaching and teaching career at the junior high school and high school levels in Illinois. It was while living in Illinois in 1959 that Walt and Pat Cryer joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The couple went on to serve a full-time mission for the Church in Albania following his retirement.
A native of Illinois, Cryer earned his bachelor's and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was a two-time letterwinner in men’s gymnastics for the Fighting Illini (1950 and 1952). Cryer helped Illinois to one of its 10 men’s gymnastics national titles in 1950.
Cryer’s love of athletics continued into his later years as a 19-time golfer in the Huntsman World Senior Games.