Upper Arlington swimming community mourns death of assistant coach Gary Grant
Having known Gary Grant for two decades and coaching with him for the past several years, Upper Arlington High School girls swimming coach John Sands wanted to make one aspect of their friendship abundantly clear.
“Everybody who came in contact with Gary left having enjoyed their time with him,” Sands said Monday.
Grant, a former Ohio State swimmer and one of New Jersey’s top high school competitors of this century, died in a one-vehicle crash Friday night on the West Side.
Grant, 38, was an assistant coach for both UA’s boys and girls teams and the Upper Arlington Swim Club.
The girls team won its first Division I state championship since 2017 on Feb. 24 at Branin Natatorium in Canton. Clad in a black dress shirt and gold-colored tie, reflecting the school’s colors, Grant stood in the front row wearing a wide smile as the Golden Bears were awarded the 13th first-place trophy in program history.
“The more people who knew what a truly special person Gary was, I feel like that does some good,” Sands said of Grant, whom he had known since Grant's days at OSU (2003-06). “He always had incredible energy. Even beyond swimming, Gary was the type of person who made things fun, more enjoyable, brought a spark with him. He would do something to lighten the mood. He was incredibly fun and talented as a coach.”
Sands and boys coach Mike de Bear said Grant rarely, if ever, missed a morning training session, which usually begin at 5:30 a.m. He attended those four days per week in addition to meets.
The UA boys were state runners-up this season, finishing second for the fourth time in five years.
“(Grant) was always there working with our top-end kids on developing speed, power and confidence,” de Bear said. “It’s just unspeakable. We can’t stop thinking about his family and his two little boys who he loved more than everything in the world.”
Grant and his wife, Megan, have two sons, L.J., 9, and Anderson, 7.
According to de Bear, both boys swim in the UA Swim Club.
A GoFundMe set up for the family by Sands surpassed its original goal of $30,000 by midday Monday. The goal then was increased to $40,000, and as of 4:20 p.m. Monday, $39,095 had been donated.
A native of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City, Grant was a five-time state champion and All-American swimmer at Bergen Catholic. He won two 50- and 100-yard freestyle championships and one in the 100 backstroke and was named state Swimmer of the Year as a senior in 2003.
He also won six YMCA national titles before signing with Ohio State, where he was a three-year letterwinner from 2004-06.
A candlelight vigil is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the Upper Arlington High School pool. It will take place near a sculpture dedicated in honor of former UA swimmer Emily Reardon, who died of pneumonia in 2020 at age 19.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Upper Arlington mourns death of assistant swim coach Gary Grant
