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Thursday, January 28, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Former high school basketball star McCool has found a home on KU swimming team
By Tom Stinson
Kansan sports writer
Glancing through the Kansas swimming media guide, one might notice Pat McCool's outstanding high school credentials.
Dale Fulkerson/KANSAN
What's a high school basketball star doing on a college swim team?
The Huntsville, Ala., sophomore was All-City during his junior and senior year and second team All-State his senior year. He was also named to the Alabama Sports Festival and region teams in basketball
"I was plagued with injuries my senior year, causing my basketball scholarship opportunities to fall through," the 6-foot-5 McCool said.
"So my brother Chris, who swam here last year, called and said, 'Come to Kansas and give swimming a try.' I bought the idea right away."
Chris McCool was a four-year letterman for the Jayhawks and was a member of the Bronx Jets.
Coach Gary Kempf said Kansas was interested in McCool but did not recruit him because of his lack of swimming background.
"We wanted him because of his athletic ability," Kemp said. "If you have a really good athlete with some swimming ability, they'll probably develop into a fine swimmer over their career."
Along with his basketball honors, McCool was a letterman in baseball and swam sparingly in a recreational summer league.
Athletes run in McCool's family. His brothers Mike and Brian were college athletes along with Chris. Mike was a swimmer at Columbia and Brian was a baseball player at Vanderbilt.
Before McCool's senior year, he
was asked to be on the swim team but
Pat McCool
declined because he wanted to con- centrate on basketball.
However, after dislocating both ankles, having knee surgery and breaking his nose, all within a year, his final season of basketball didn't end up as he had planned.
"When I broke my nose, I had to switch to the outside," said McCool, whose strong point was his inside game. "My averages went down and the college coaches started paying less attention to me."
McCool was being recruited by Alabama, Miami of Florida and Auburn before the streak of injuries occurred. McCool said he was averaging about 18 points and 10 rebounds a game his senior year.
So, following the advice of his brother, McCool decided to come to Kansas and began taking swimming seriously for the first time.
"After my first workout, my brother practically had to carry me back to the lockerroom." McCool said. "My first year was a time of transition. It took a great deal of time getting into swimming shape. I became really frustrated because I wanted to contribute to the team but I just wasn't ready yet."
Last year McCool's best time in the 100-yard breast stroke was 58.76. This year he has improved to 57.2 in that event.
With his recent success in the pool, McCool doesn't have to fight frustration any longer. He is one of the Jayhawks top breaststokers and is looking forward to competing in the Big Eight Championships in March.
"At the Alabama meet I started to do well." McCool said.
Among his goals this season,
McCool hopes to qualify for the finals
in both the 100-yard and 200-yard
breaststroke at the conference
championships and he also wants to
qualify for the NCAA Championships
in April.
Starting a new sport on the collegiate level isn't everyone's idea of fun, but McCool wouldn't have it any other way.
"I don't regret not playing basketball. This is a lot better than I thought. The people in this program are like brothers, and that's the kind of program I wanted to come into. No matter what sport it was."
UP IN SPACE
We remember the Challenger disaster today. Even the journey of an astronaut has an end.
What lives on?
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lana, February 27, 1988
Something's Developing!
exp. February 27, 1988
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