Emmaus swimming coach Tim O'Connor is entering his 12th season with the program and has picked up state titles with four girls teams and two boys teams. In 2007, Emmaus swept both the boys and girls titles, which was the first time since 1990 that had been accomplished. That success has led O'Connor to be chosen for induction into the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame at McCoy Natatorium on the campus of Penn State.

O'Connor was nominated a few years back and was nominated again this past May. The committee finished its work of narrowing down the list of nominees and O'Connor made the grade as one of the choices for this year's induction. O'Connor joins his predecessor at Emmaus, Mike Seip, in the Hall of Fame.

"As a swimmer growing up, I always respected the heck out of Emmaus because it was a great, great program," said O'Connor. "Coach Seip, my predecessor, always stressed team titles and having a good record, which means that year-in and year-out, you're producing good athletes and kids to swim in college. I just happened to be the next coach in line, so I appreciate that."

As a high school swimmer, O'Connor attended Wyoming Valley West and swam under coach Frank Tribendus, who still coaches the Spartans team. That link has led to the two teams booking meets against each other. Tribendus not only coached O'Connor, but also coached all six of O'Connor's siblings.

"He was the most stubborn one in the family, but he worked hard," remembers Tribendus, who is proud of his former student-athlete. "He's won a couple championships and that's what it's all about. You get recognized when you win consistently. He's going in now when he should. I'm glad that he won't have to wait to go in, because I know of coaches who had to wait a long time when they should have been in years ago."

O'Connor credits both Seip and Tribendus as mentoring him as a coach and helping him to carry on the tradition of Emmaus as a power-house in high school swimming. He admits to going to Tribendus for advice at times throughout his coaching career. Now, Tribendus' respect for O'Connor is so high, that he sometimes calls O'Connor for advice.

"Having a coach like that really helped me as a young man," said O'Connor. "He really helped me a lot, disciplining me when I needed discipline and patting me on the back when I needed a pat on the back. He really taught me a lot and he really shaped who I was as a young man and as a young adult and even as a coach."

O'Connor took a year off from coaching in 2008 and credits that season away with giving him a different view of the job. In fact, he's hopeful that someday, one of his former swimmers will be on the other side of the pool as a head coach, having learned some lessons as a head coach, having learned some lessons about coaching during their time at Emmaus.

"I love it," said O'Connor. "Coach Larson [Freedom head coach Jon Larson] has one of our kids, Ryan Stahley, helping him coach, so who knows? Taking that year off for me was probably the best thing that ever happened to me in my life. I appreciate everything that I have much more than I did before that. I think that comes with wisdom and age and experience and I love my family and the time that I have with my family. I also really love coming in here and I have a great staff and we all have families and that gives a different perspective and we're having a great time this year."