Legendary Cottage Grove swim coach Bud Taylor was honored Saturday, as the 8-lane lap pool at the aquatic center was named after him.
COTTAGE GROVE – To hear Bud Taylor tell it, you’d think he was just happy to be part of the crew. He didn’t see himself as the star of the show.
“I’m the luckiest person in the world … luckiest person in Lane County, anyway. One day, we’re working here at the pool, and Sue asked me for a ride home. Next thing you know, we’ve been married 61 years.
“I’m just telling you it’s a wonderful thing that happened to me.”
Bud and Sue did wonderful things for the Cottage Grove swimming and water polo programs, as Bud coached from 1966-96, and also in 2012. He was named National Coach of the Year once and Oregon Coach of the Year six times.
For all his efforts, Taylor was honored Saturday as the Warren Daugherty Aquatic Center’s eight-lane lap pool was named the Coach Bud Taylor Competition Pool, after approval on June 1 by the South Lane School District, which hosted the event along with Friends of the WDAC and the Cottage Grove Swimming Alumni group.
“Friends of the WDAC is very pleased to support this effort. Many of our nearly 350 members are also alumni,” said Joyce Settelmeyer, one of Bud’s student-athletes and a Friends leadership committee member. “We benefitted greatly from Bud’s values and encouragement, and many of us remain lifelong swimmers to this day.”
A good portion of the day’s program – and much of Bud’s attention – was directed toward Sue. She was the Homecoming queen, way out of Bud’s league. Or so he thought. Until that day when she asked for a ride home.
“No one has had a better life than I’ve had,” Bud said. “There’s always a few glitches and stuff, but somehow Sue always helped me climb out of things.”
The organizing committee even put together a special poem that was read out loud during the ceremony.
Ode to Sue
So happy to be with you all here today, we’re naming the pool after Bud, hooray!
That wouldn’t if not for Sue, she’s a big part of this special day
She got the timers for all our home meets, and that was just one of her many feats
Her outreach was warm, helped relationships form
She filled every one of the timers meets
She ran the trapshoots for the team to make money
And gave a stern look when the men called her honey
Raised a penny per bird and helped get out the word
For trips to Hawaii, where it’s always sunny
For our competition Sue kept the score,
Even water polo, and so much more
And for overnight meets, she managed the eats
With Sue in charge, success was in store
Right here at the pool is where Sue and Bud met,
She used to teach lessons, so the kids would be set
So they’d be safe in the water, just as they otter
Bud and Sue are the best, and they’re not done yet!
Bud recalled an incident back in the day when he was summoned to the principal’s office.
“I go down there, he says, ‘Bud, I got a call from these two ladies who said they thought you were being a little too rough on their kids.’ Then he says, ‘That’s it.’
“I said, ‘Do you mean I can go?’”
“I told them I would talk to you, so that’s it,” he said. “You’re free to go.”
“It was an absolutely different good world,” Bud said.
Patrick Russell, who swam at Cottage Grove from 1974-77, was running a 200-mile ultramarathon in Washington in 2019 when he started noticing that something wasn’t right.
“My back was hurting, I was having a hard time running, and my kids said, ‘Dad, you really suck this year,’” Russell told the gathering of more than 100 people at the aquatic center.
“I was diagnosed with terminal cancer. My oncologist indicated that, due to my overall health of running and swimming, we could be aggressive with my treatments and we could extend my life expectancy. And so began the years of chemo, radiation, transplants, broken bones, relapses, and more, over and over and over again.
“Soon after my diagnosis, I received a phone call from Bud. He asked if it would be OK if he called me regularly.
“Of course,” I said.
“Little did I know that regularly meant every other day and then weekly. To this day depending upon where I am in my treatments, I receive a phone call from Bud at least weekly and sometimes every day. He coaches me on how to visualize my white blood cells attacking and destroying cancer cells. There was a model of my pelvis where I had tumors, and he wanted me to focus every night on my T-cells attacking that tumor. He taught me how to completely relax and rest and much more.
“He recently told me that I did a dumb thing by swimming a hundred 100s to celebrate being in remission.
“I cannot adequately express my love and appreciation for Bud – he’s had thousands of swimmers, and somehow he finds the time to reach out to one of his swimmers who’s dealing with cancer. I know I’m not the only one with a Bud story, and there are a lot out there. He’s helped so many of us in so many different ways, and he’s still doing it. I will be forever grateful for the lifelong impact of Bud on my life. Thank you, Bud!”
As far as Bud is concerned, all his former student-athletes are family. To that end, Saturday’s event had the feel of a family reunion.
“This has been quite a surprise,” Bud said. “I haven’t seen some of these people in over 30 years.”
Person after person walked up to him to let him know what an impact he had made on their lives.
“I got into the Navy because of you,” Charles Hanson said. “You put me on the right path.
“The attitude and culture thing has served me very well over time,” said Drew Davidson, now an electrician. “I think you have to experience it to really understand it. You have to see him every morning at 5 when you’re miserable and then at 3:30 when you’re miserable. It absolutely changed the direction of my life.”
Ah, those long practice sessions that Bud was famous for. Two-and-a-half hours each morning, then two-and-a-half hours each afternoon. Five hours every weekday, then shorter practices on the weekend. It’s how tiny little Cottage Grove competed with the big boys.
Bud first learned his work ethic by watching future Olympic champion Dyrol Burleson run around town.
During high school, Burleson was sitting in the Cottage Grove library when he saw the new “Sports Illustrated” with Roger Bannister on the cover. He made a vow to make it on the cover himself – and he did so twice after running for Oregon coach Bill Bowerman.
Thanks to Bud’s vision to inspire local youth, when he saw Burleson running down River Road on Aug. 25, 2005, he helped name the route the Dyrol Burleson Trail.
Bud is nearly 85 and needs a walker to get around after breaking both ankles at the same time a few years ago, getting his foot caught on an exposed root while walking down an embankment.
He’s blind in his left eye, has gone through colon cancer, and currently has skin cancer on his face. He’s been hospitalized 21 times.
“My dad and mom both made it to 92,” he said.
Whether he reaches 92 or not, nobody has made a bigger splash in the Lane County swimming scene than Bud Taylor.
