Twenty-six state championships, a New England championship, All-American swimmers and divers and so many dual-meet wins that statisticians would question the mathematical probability, and yet these measures do not reveal the coach Phil Emery experience for former Bangor High School swimmers and coaching peers.
They took time out to reflect on Emery’s effect after his recent retirement as Bangor High’s boys swim coach after a 46-year career that included induction into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.
Sean Gallagher, a Bangor High School freestyle swimmer who graduated in 1985 and swam at Southern Connecticut University where he captained the team his senior year, wrote about the Bangor coach after hearing of Emery’s retirement.
“Swimming for Phil was my high school experience. Phil believed in me when I did not believe in myself, not just in swimming but in life,” he said.
“What Phil did was work the back channels of my life. He made it his job to know what and how I was doing week in and week out. He quietly kept me in line and focused,” he added.
“It still amazes me the impact three years of life can make,” noted Alan Darrah, a backstroke and butterfly swimmer on the Ram state championship teams in the 1970s.
“At a pivotal time in my life what was most impressive about my experience swimming for coach Emery was the expectation of doing your best and the realization of just how important every individual contribution truly was,’’ Darrah said.
John Quinn was coached by Emery from 2001-05 and went on to compete for four years at the University of Maine.
“He showed us every day what it meant to be a leader on the team and a member of the Ram swimming community that is so respected,” he said.
Emery’s belief in young people was one of the core values that guided his coaching.
“I learned from Phil that every kid deserves a chance and a second chance,” said Greely coach Bob Hale. “To this day, when I have a moment when I have a decision to make, I say to myself, ‘What would Phil do?’ Phil has coached 26 team championships, but he has had a hand in every one of Greely’s championships, too.”
Hale, a former assistant coach with Emery, said when Emery decided to do something, he was all in.
“He completely gives himself. Swimming was one of those things. You will not find anyone more passionate about his sport and the success of his swimmers,” he said. “By success, I mean a young boy becoming a young man through learning about goals, hard work, sacrifice, challenge and building pride in himself, his team and his community. He got as excited about someone’s first successful flip turn as he did a state record, and he has seen his fair share of both.”
Gallagher recalled when Emery’s belief in the senior freestyle swimmer resulted in an unexpected accomplishment.
“He had me swim a set of 6x500s at six minutes [each]. I could not believe he was asking me to do this. I thought there was no way. But, he knew I could. Phil never left the lane,” Gallagher said. “The first two were easy. The third and fourth I made at 5:58. The fifth one I thought I was going to explode. I thought Phil’s head was going to pop off! He was yelling so hard, he looked like a tomato. I finished the last one in 5:52. He went nuts! It was crazy!
“The set was the single best achievement that happened to me in my swimming career. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I did it because Phil knew I could,” he added.
Roy Warren, an All-American diver, described that a coach Emery experience taught passion and persistence.
“Phil embodies by example the genuine work ethic for which we Yankees are known. He taught me to be passionate and persistent in pursuing a goal. He lived it, preached it, and it permeated his swimmers,” he said. “My highlight was not the diving but anchoring the medley relay that won giving us a state championship. I think that event is where my understanding of persistence and commitment was galvanized.”
Ram swimmers experienced an Emery pre-practice talk or a pre-meet speech delivered with an enthusiasm and intensity that will forever remain with them.
In the five weeks preceding the state meet, often a pre-practice talk set the tone for a workout set of broken swims. Emery’s creative use of broken swims is as legendary among his swimmers as the use of lane-six swimmers is to those coaches wondering from where all those junior and senior state meet scorers appeared.
This writer, who was a coaching colleague for several years, can attest to his ability to prepare swimmers to race.
He masterfully combined a training set (broken swims) with state-meet preparation focusing on physical and mental readiness. Broken swims allow the swimmer to swim faster than his training pace. In high school, the race is broken at the 25 yard, 50 yard or 100 yard, and the swimmer is given an extended rest at each break. The swim time for each section is totaled leading to a final time. Emery would maintain records of these swims, and when an American or world record had been set in these training swims, he would stop practice and enthusiastically announce the record.
Physically, the swims built power and speed, but his approach to broken swims instilled a confidence in the swimmer that prepared him to swim faster than he had ever raced. Often at the state meet, records — state, school or personal — resulted. Emery was as talented at preparing his swimmers for the mental demands of championship competition as he was at preparing them physically.
While Emery’s passion revealed the competitive spark that burned inside him, a coach Emery experience included active mentoring.
“As an assistant, I had to work hard and earn his respect and trust. He was quick to get in your face if you were not putting forth a good effort. He was just as quick to get in your face and let you know you were doing a great job,” Hale said. “I worked with the infamous lane six swimmers. The distant swimmers were in lane five, and one day near state-meet time, he had me coach them. I strayed from his instructions. A young swimmer was losing his confidence, so I tried something different with him. After practice, Phil took me aside and let me have it. Some of the boys heard it. It turned out the boy had a great state meet. Later, in front of the team, he gave me credit. That was a turning point in my coaching confidence.”
Gallagher also recalled a powerful mentoring interaction.
“My very tight group of friends was falling apart. Phil brought me aside and gave me a speech about how important true friendship is. I was floored. Floored because he took the time to talk to me about friendship. This had nothing to do with swimming. It had to do with life.”