Bill Reichle

Abstract

Guided Boys’ Swimming Team to Numerous Championships

One Pingry swimmer said that Coach Bill Reichle “made us love to swim and love to be part of the team.” He spent 25 years at the helm of the Boys” Swimming Team (16 as Head Coach), five years as Softball Assistant Coach, and four years as Water Polo Head Coach. During his tenure with Boys’ Swimming, the team won eight prep, three conference, three county, and six state championships, and several swimmers achieved individual milestones. Coach Reichle also initiated the Big Blue Invitational so that Pingry swimmers had the opportunity to compete in an early season championship caliber meet. He retired in 2012 at the top of his game: 299-80-6 with the Swimming Team; undefeated in the 2011-12 season (13-0); the team's third consecutive sweep of all three Meet of Champions relays (the second school in the meet’s history to accomplish that feat); five consecutive state titles, three consecutive Prep A titles, and the 2012 Somerset County championship. His honors include induction into the NJSCA Hall of Fame (2009), The Star-Ledger State Coach of the Year (2008) and Somerset County Coach of the Year (2011), Courier News Coach of the Year (2012), NFHS Coaches Association’s New Jersey and National Coach of the Year for Boys Swimming & Diving (2009), and NISCA’s David H. Robertson Excellence in Coaching Award (2010). Coach Reichle, a Pingry math teacher for 23 years, swam in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (28.5 miles) and Swim Around Key West (12.5 miles) in 1997. He competes in United States Masters Swimming and serves on the board of New Jersey Masters Swimming.