The Dalhousie Tigers - Dalhousie University

David Fry dedicated his life to the sport of swimming and the athletes that competed for him.

He began his career with the Tigers in 1981, spending two seasons as an interim head coach while Nigel Kemp was on sabbatical (1981 and 1993) and assisting with the Tigers until 1998 when he was named Kemp’s successor. In his 16 years as head coach, he amassed 30 conference titles leading his teams to a nearly unblemished Atlantic University Sport championship record, earning titles every year with just two exceptions (men’s 1992-93, women’s 2000-01). David was named Dalhousie’s coach of the year four times, an AUS coach of the year 20 times and was named CIS coach of the year for the women in 2003 and for the men in 2007.

Originally from Halifax, Fry and his family moved to Wolfville when he was 12. He went to Acadia and swam for the Axemen while earning an arts degree. A team captain and MVP in his final year, it was at Acadia he decided he wanted to coach, which prompted his work with young swimmers during the summer while attending school.

After receiving a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University in 1973, David began his professional coaching career with the Dartmouth Crusaders while teaching fulltime. He received a Master of Arts in coaching science from Lakehead University in 1977 and acted as an assistant coach with the Thunder Bay Swim Club.

After leaving the Crusaders club in 1985, he earned a law degree from Dalhousie in 1998 while coaching the Tigers and Nova Scotia provincial teams. A previous chair of the Nova Scotia Swim Coaches Association, David was a level 1 and 2 coaching certification instructor for over 15 years. In 1981 and 1997, he was the head coach for the Nova Scotia Canada Games teams and in 1984 he led the Canadian national junior team to the world championships in Scotland. He was also the Bermudian national swim team coach for three years that included a trip to the 2004 Olympics in Athens with former Tigers swimmer Kiera Aitken. Aside from coaching, David was a teacher for 35 years.

His knowledge of the sport and coaching talent was essential in the Tigers success in the pool. He led Dalhousie athletes to over 20 CIS championship podium finishes including multi-year medallists David Sharpe (three gold, three silver, one bronze) and Kiera Aitken (two silver, one bronze).

David’s easy-going, but direct rapport struck a chord with Tigers swimmers, including Katherine Dunn.

“David had many talents,” she says. “He was tough but rarely angry; confident but always humble; passionate, but self-composed under pressure; exacting but easy going; learned but not didactic. What stands out to me, above all, was the way in which could he read and understand people and respond to them as individuals. He was a champion of any swimmer in his orbit who was willing to work hard, listen, and give their best, regardless of their skill, talent or speed.”

When he retired in 2012, David was asked what he was proudest of during his time at Dalhousie.

“Certainly, the run we’ve had at the AUS level has been great,” he said. “And coaching several athletes to the top of the podium, individually, at the CIS level was very rewarding.”

“But it’s also about those athletes who aren’t the ‘stars,’ but who take a lot of pride in how far they’ve come from where they started. It’s so great to be part of that, and to know how well-balanced swimmers are as people: they have some time for fun, and most of them are solid students – which our high number of Academic All-Canadians reflects.”