Hall of Fame water polo player, coach Dennis Fosdick dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) Dennis Fosdick, a member of the U.S. Water Polo Hall of Fame who coached Occidental College to a national championship in 2000, died at 63.

Fosdick, who was diagnosed with cancer last year and underwent surgery in December, died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center, Occidental spokesman Jim Tranquada said Monday.

Fosdick worked at every level of the sport during his 40 years as a player and coach in California and Texas, where the Texas Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association named its most valuable player trophy for Fosdick.

He was elected to the sport's hall of fame last year.

Fosdick had a 189-32-1 record as coach of the Texas A&M men's team, which reached the national championship in 1975 and '77. He also started the university's women's program in the mid-'70s.

Fosdick launched a state water polo tournament for Texas high school teams. He refereed and organized all the championships through 1979, helping the sport flourish in Texas.

Fosdick returned to California in 1980 to work with the men's national program. He was the U.S. team leader for the 1981 World Junior Championships, the 1987 Pan American Games and the 1988 Olympics.

``This is a tremendous loss for water polo,'' said Rich Foster, president of USA Water Polo. ``Dennis was one of the pioneers in trying to nationalize the sport. His glory was seeing improvement in players and coaches regardless of their experience levels.''

During Fosdick's 11 years at Occidental, the women's team made eight consecutive appearances in the Division III national championships, winning the school's first title in 2000, when Fosdick was named coach of the year.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)