Fabian Leaves Behind a Pool Full of Memories
Swimmers can’t switch lanes in the middle of a race, but that didn’t stop Dr. Jack Fabian from making a mid-life flip turn and heading in a career direction that took him from the world of science and math to the pool deck at Keene State College—and ultimately to the position of resident coach of the United State Paralympic Swimming team at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“It’s pretty unusual,” concedes Fabian of his move from the lab to the pool. “As time went on and I got more involved in the sport, I just thought maybe this is what I’m meant to do.”
In some ways, Fabian didn’t totally abandon his initial career pursuit of science and teaching. Once told by a colleague in the Keene State athletic department that coaching is the most extreme form of teaching, Fabian was able to intellectualize and embrace his new career. “When I went to the pool it was like being an upper-level professor,” he said. “You have athletes who are there with goals and purpose and swimming was the course they wanted to take.”
After building Keene State swimming into a recognized regional and national program during his nine-year tenure, Fabian is ready for his next challenge with the US Paralympics team. However, Fabian’s work at Keene State will not be soon forgotten. Still wet behind the ears in terms of coaching experience when he arrived at the college, Fabian drew from his chemistry background and not only stocked the Keene State pool with talented swimmers, but breathed new life into the program with his affinity for research and ability to devise innovative and unorthodox training methods. Challenging his swimmers and himself at every practice, Fabian was able to instill in his athletes a sense of pride and dedication that would lead to unprecedented success.
“I look back with a lot of pride and satisfaction,” said Fabian, reflecting on his coaching career at KSC. “I’m really happy that Keene State gave me the opportunity to do what I’m doing now.”
While growing up in Weston, Conn., Fabian had no idea that he was destined for a career in coaching. And who could blame him? Infatuated with science, he majored in biology and minored in both chemistry and math at Hobart College in Geneva, NY. Swimming didn’t resurface as a sport in Fabian’s life until he earned a PhD in molecular biology from the State University of New York in Buffalo in 1992.
Fabian, who describes himself as an obsessive person with a competitive streak, began training with some high-level tri-athletes and soon found himself designing workouts for the group to bolster their swimming performances. It wasn’t long before he stuck his toe into the coaching waters, working with master’s and age-group swimmers.
Following a path that enabled his wife, Claire, to pursue a career in medicine, Fabian made stops at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Md., and the Penn State Medical Center in Hershey before coming to Keene in 1998.
Working as an adjunct professor at KSC while helping to raise and home school his two children, Eva, a world-class open water swimmer currently attending Yale, and Max, a top distance swimmer and recent Brandeis grad, Fabian couldn’t resist the lure of the water. Stepping up his involvement with age-group and master’s coaching, he began his association with the Keene State swim program, taking over as head coach in 2006.
In his early years at KSC, Fabian referred to the pool as his sandbox. “That’s when I really learned to coach,” he said. “I was an older person going into coaching, so I had a lot of catching up to do.”
Fabian dove right in. Netting a strong initial recruiting class that included future All-Americans Krissy Trutor and Cody Larrimore, Fabian is the first to admit the program’s accomplishments far surpassed his wildest dreams. Known for setting high standards, he wasn’t about to splash water on those dreams.
“That first year, I brought the entire team over to the All-American plaques just outside my office and told them I wanted this program to be nationally ranked in five years and ‘In order to do that we have to get your names up here,’” he said.
While many looked on with a sense of bewilderment, Fabian ended by telling the team, “I hope by the time you graduate you share that dream with me. Because if you do, we’ll get some names up here—I guarantee it.”
He wasn’t kidding. Following a systematic plan that included a lot of trial and error and a large dose of drive and determination, Fabian and the Owls began to see results in the pool. The flood gates were about to open. Little East Conference women’s championships and New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) titles soon followed. The Owls were not only claiming crowns, but doing it in record-setting fashion. This past season, the KSC women claimed their ninth consecutive conference championship while Owl men’s and women’s teams took home their fifth and eighth NEISDA titles respectively under Fabian.
It was only a matter of time before Fabian would have his first All-American swimmers. That milestone was accomplished in 2010 when Trutor became the first women at KSC to earn the honor, taking fourth in the 100 backstroke and helping the Owls reach the podium in the 200 medley relay. The following year, the KSC women, led by sensational sophomore Kaila Umbarger, finished 17th at the NCAA Championship and freshman phenom and Keene native Drew Ledwith earned his first of 10 All-American awards with a third-place finish in the 1,650 race.
The emergence of the program coupled with Fabian’s work with his daughter Eva began to pay dividends. Fabian began an affiliation with the US National Open Water team, being named to several prominent positions, working on the staff for the Federation of International Swimming (FINA) World Championships, and more recently serving as the head coach of the US Open Water team that competed at the Pan American Games this summer. He was suddenly traveling to competitions around the world, meeting and picking the brains of high-level coaches and learning new and innovative training techniques that he brought back to Keene.
Keene State practices, which included an emphasis on dry land and weight training, were modified. It wasn’t about how much work, but doing the right work. Depending on their event, team members were organized into groups with season goals, and segments of races were broken down so swimmers could better understand concepts. “They didn’t just feel like they were going back and forth, but doing something really specific to what they were trying to do in their races,” Fabian explained. “They became more engaged in practices and the conditioning level really improved.”
Swimmers like Ledwith, who graduated in 2014, and current senior Abby Bartlett were just a few of a long list of athletes who thrived under Fabian’s tutelage. “When I starting swimming for him I was nothing special, but he saw my work ethic and began working with me sometimes twice in the same day,” said Ledwith, who is serving as an assistant at RPI and working on a master’s degree. “We’d bounce ideas off each other and became a good team.”
Speed wasn’t always the main criteria in choosing athletes for the team. Fabian was always willing to work with swimmers who wanted to work hard and were good teammates. No one epitomized those characteristics more than Bartlett, who went from a walk-on to an All-America. “It’s hard to explain, but in a way, Jack built me up from absolutely nothing,” said Bartlett a nursing major from Exeter, N.H., who placed third in the highly competitive 50 freestyle at this year’s NCAA meet. “It’s impossible to say how much of an impact he made on my swimming career. I owe a lot to him.”
The high water mark for the program came in 2014, when the Keene State men’s team earned All-American in seven events and placed ninth at the national meet. The dream had become a reality. “We finally made it,” said Fabian, reflecting on the accomplishment. “When I first went to the NCAAs, nobody knew about us. They didn’t even know what part of the country we were from.”
Looking for the next challenge in his coaching career, he has headed cross-country to Colorado. “It was a really difficult decision to leave Keene State. I feel very connected to the program and to the athletes,” said Fabian, who developed a combined 17 All-Americans at the school. “However, I might not get an opportunity like this again and felt it was time to try something new.
“I got my education at Keene State and now I have this chance to work with national level athletes and go to international meets on a regular basis,” he added. “I will always be indebted to Keene State for giving me a chance.”
One of Fabian’s last tasks at Keene State was updating the record board—a hefty but pleasurable chore, considering that all the swimming records and most of the diving marks were set during his tenure. Standing alongside Chris Woolridge, a former Owl swimmer who will take over the program, Fabian told him, “I hope you destroy this record book.”
But that will be easier said than done.
Fabian watched as the final entries were put up on the board. “It was an awesome tribute to my years at Keene State and what we accomplished,” he said. “It was my own little legacy.”
Fabian reports that he’s already busy at work the US Paralympic team. For now, the science stuff will have to wait.
