Mal Cofield

Mal Cofield arrived at the Kokomo YMCA in 1951 with no experience as a swimmer or swimming instructor. Within six years, the self-taught coach helped produce the Y’s first national champion and two years later, Cofield started high school swimming in Howard County.

Cofield taught hundreds of Howard County children to swim, but it was his success as a Y instructor and later as a coach at Kokomo and Haworth high schools for which he is perhaps remembered best.

Proof of Cofield’s success can be found among IHSAA records that show from 1959-81, he piloted 14 swimmers to state titles in 18 events. His Kokomo squad won a state championship in 1969 after finishing as runner-up in 1965 and 1968. His Haworth team, stocked with juniors, was state runner-up in 1981, then one season after Cofield retired, that same group of swimmers spearheaded the city school’s march to what would be its only team state championship.

A Rising Sun, Ind. native and Little All-American football player at Taylor University, Cofield was inducted into the charter class of the Indiana Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame in 2007. He died in 2006.