The Drury swimming/diving program began in the fall of the 1968-69 school year with a young, ambitious coach at the helm. At that time Panther head swimming coach, Jack Steck, sold a program to his athletes that was based on a dream...and a lot of hard work. Since that first season in “tiny” Atha Pool the Drury men’s swimming/diving program has become a powerhouse in the NCAA-II after being the dominant force in the NAIA in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. But before team titles, once at the NAIA level and now at the NCAA-II level became commonplace, it took an occasional individual title...then more...and more...that laid the foundation for this program.
Mike Wagnon transferred to Drury in the fall of 1977. Two years later, as a senior, the native of Santa Cruz, California, along with sophomore standout Jim Yount, became the first Drury swimmers to win individual national titles. The program’s first national title came in 1977 in Marshall, Minnesota when Drury won the 400 free relay event with a team of Tom Schaper, Chris Wunderlich, Mike Scott and Vic Arnold. In 1978 Drury won its second national title by successfully defending its 400 free relay title, this time in Portland, Oregon. Wagnon and Yount joined Schaper and Scott that year. Wagnon was named the Panthers team MVP, an honor that is annually given to the individual who scored the most points for Drury at the NAIA National Championships.
But it was not until 1979, in Huntsville, Alabama, that any Drury swimmer could make the claim that he was the “best in the nation.” Yount made that claim once that year by winning the 200 freestyle. However, Wagnon twice won national titles. He was the first Panther to win an individual national title by taking the 200 individual medley on Day #1. He was later crowned the national champion in the 100 backstroke. For good measure he, Yount, Schaper and Bruce Rogers won a third straight national championship in the 400 free relay, setting a new national record in the process. For his efforts Wagnon was again named his team’s MVP and Drury, as a team, finished third at the 1979 national meet. A new power was emerging in NAIA swimming/diving.
In 1980 Jack Steck’s Panthers finished a close second to the perennial NAIA national champion, Simon Fraser University. One year later, in Liberty, Missouri, Drury swimming/diving claimed its first NAIA national team title. From 1981 to 1994 the Drury men’s program won nine of the next 14 NAIA National Championships and in the last 18 years (1995-2012), as members of the NCAA-II, the Panthers and head coach Brian Reynolds have 10 team titles, including the last eight in a row.
Today we look back at who laid the foundation for this program. Mike Wagnon was the first individual national champion in Drury swimming/diving history and he, along with his teammates, can be credited with setting the cornerstone in the foundation of this phenomenal success story.
Mike is accompanied today by friends and family. Teammate Steve Flato and his head coach, Drury Hall of Fame Member, Jack Steck, and others are joined by Mike’s mother and his three sons: Kyle (19); Hunter (18); and, Ryder (13). Mike currently resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia where he is a partner in a real estate company (Title365), which operates in 32 states.
Wagnon graduated from Drury on May 25, 1980. Today marks the first time he has been on the Drury campus since that day. Though he has been gone, he has never been forgotten and on this day, November 24, 2012, Mike Wagnon, one of the all-time greats in Panther swimming history, is forever enshrined as a member of the Drury Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2012.
