Brent Rutemiller had a storied career as the publisher of Swimming World magazine and CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame. But, there was more to Rutemiller, who lived in the Valley and passed away this past June.
His friend and fellow coach Will Humble explains in our latest remembrance of those we lost in 2024.
WILL HUMBLE: Brent was one of the most remarkable people that I've ever met in my 64 years on this planet. He's a, a, a, a friend of mine. I first met him about 15 or 20 years ago when, I have a kid with developmental disability, he has Down syndrome, and we heard about this group of Special Olympic swim team down on Campbell over here in Phoenix.
And I took Luke, Luke down there and, and there was this guy Brent, and I remember seeing all these athletes with different kinds of disabilities all having fun at this pool. And the thing that really struck me about Brent, over the and I so I was a friend, I was friends, I'm also a coach with that swim team now. And the thing that really struck me about Brent, he has two special needs kids himself.
He was running this special needs swim team. It was called Brophy East at the time, now we're associated with the Phoenix Swim Club. He's got two kids with disabilities. He's running Swimming World magazine. He's at all the, he goes to the Olympic Games and he's like hanging out with Rowdy Gaines. And like he's the person for the people who really know about competitive swimming. They all know Brent from the magazine.
And then he's, then on top of all that, he goes out to Fort Lauderdale and sets up the, the Swimming Hall of Fame. And I remember thinking, you know, as part of my career and my home life and stuff, sometimes I feel like, well, gosh, I got a lot of stuff on my plate. And I look at Brent and I'm like, well, I'm nothing like Brent because he's doing 10 times more than me and I just don't know how he does it. He was really a force of nature, a really great guy.
It just struck me that, you know, we have this great community on our special needs, our Special Olympics swim team, and, you know, it's about 40 of the students. I can get you a picture if you want. And none of us would know each other, none of us would have known each other without Brent. But the real take home message I think is that no matter who you are, you can make a difference in people's lives if you just think about it, you know, think about ways that you can help other people. You can really make a difference, and he made a remarkable difference in a lot of people's lives.
Most personally to me is with our special needs group, but at the competitive swimming level, like the athletic level, I mean, he was on a first-name basis with Michael Phelps and all those people.
But, but the take home message is really there's something that you can do, too. I don't, it's different for everybody. What it is that you can do for other people. And sometimes you could do things just because you wanna do them, not realizing what kind of impact you're having, you know, mentoring people. So take home messages really kind of be thoughtful, and be intentional about the way you go through this life, you know.
