Santee heading to Hall of Fame

CEDAR RAPIDS - Les Santee was only doing what he considered his duty.For 39 years, he has guided student-athletes as an assistant swim coach and will be recognized for those efforts.Santee, an assistant coach for the Cedar Rapids Jefferson girls and boys swim programs, will be inducted into the Iowa High School Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame during the state swim Saturday at the Horne Henry Aquatics Center at the Marshalltown YMCA. Ceremonies begin at noon followed by event competition."It means a lot," Santee said. "It's a reward for all the years I've put in but I thought I was just doing my job. I didn't expect being inducted into the Hall of Fame."Santee, 65, was selected by a statewide panel. It's rare for assistants to receive such an honor, but shows the respect he has earned for his work."He's well recognized across the state," Jefferson girls swim coach Ryan York said. "It's just the job he's done with the kids."And York is an example of that work and the impact Santee has had on area swimming. Santee helped coach York as a J-Hawk from 1992-95. He's one of Santee's former swimmers who went on to become coaches. At one time, half of the Metro's varsity girls head coaches were J-Hawks under Santee, including current Linn-Mar coach Chad Derlein and former Cedar Rapids Xavier coach Heather Mann."I can see that but I wasn't the only one coaching them," said Santee, praising the previous coaches and their staffs for how they promoted the sport. "It is real gratifying to see they're carrying on the sport and they have and still are coaching at various places."Making a contribution to the sport after competition was emphasized on his athletes."He had such an influence on people to be able to give back," York said. "He brought that up to many people that it's important to give back for what you learned."It isn't limited to coaching. Santee has stayed in contact with former athletes who have gone on to other endeavors, including becoming doctors and lawyers. The Hall of Fame is nice but seeing athletes develop as person trumps it."That's the real reward," Santee said, "when you see kids set goals and then strive to achieve them whatever they are."There are plenty of expressions swimmers from learned over the years. York referred to them as "Santee-isms" and said the most notable is a light-hearted "Shut up and swim". He uses it for swimmers to forget a bad experience, push through adverse situations and continue to work and improve."So many it's hard to pick one," York said about the Santee-isms. "He's got a lot of little things."Santee, who also serves as the Taft Middle School boys head coach and an assistant to the middle school's girls team, couldn't single out one specific highlight over the years. He has taken the greatest pleasure in watching swimmers surpass expectations."I was fortunate to work with good people," said Santee, who has named National Assistant Coach of the Year previously. "We've had a lot of rewarding experiences where kids reached their goals  (or) do something unusual or unexpected."Santee experienced a little bit of the unexpected this season when he suffered what he described as a "middle of the road" heart attack. He had two stints in his heart in 2006, but was unaware of a vessel that was closing until he had trouble doing light fence work on his farm. He stayed a weekend in the hospital and was forced to miss one Jefferson meet the following Tuesday. If the choice was his he would have made the meet, but followed the doctor's orders and is fine now."I've done rehab at St. Lukes," Santee said. "I have no restrictions and I'm good to go."He's also good to go for at least one more season and isn't on any timetable to leave. That's good news to York, who doesn't want to lose an asset to area swimming."I still enjoy it," Santee said. "We have kids that respond. It's still fun."