CLASS OF 2026

Joel grew up in South Carolina but settled in Winston-Salem, NC, to open a Pediatric Dental Practice in 1976. A year later he became a North Carolina High School Athletic Association Official – in Football – a sport where he continued to serve as an official for 24 years. Four years later, in 1981, Joel became a Certified Official for both North Carolina Swimming and YMCA Competitive Swimming. In 1989 Joel also became a certified official for the NCAA, for North Carolina High School Swimming, and for USA Swimming.

In YMCA Competitive Swimming, Joel added Certified Instructor of Officials to his resume in 1985. He served as Regional Chairman of Officials, on the Officials Advisory Committee, and 6 years as National Officials Chair. For the past 18 years, Joel has been a YMCA National Faculty Trainer and serves on the YMCA National Officials Committee. He has served as a top official at 22 YMCA National Championships including roles as Deck Official, Starter (5), Deck Referee (4), and Meet Referee (6). In 2009, Joel was recognized with the Connie Carroll Award as the YMCA’s most Outstanding Official

and in 2017 he received the YMCA’s Joseph R. Rogers Award for Service to Competitive Swimming. Joel continues to officiate YMCA and YWCA meets and teach Level I and II Training Clinics each year.

For North Carolina Swimming, Joel served on the Officials Committee for 26 years, including 16 of those years as Committee Chairman. He has served as Chairman of both the NC Board of Review and Legislative Committee Chair, and as Meet Referee for countless State Championships, Sectionals, and Grand Prix events. He was honored with the Phillips 66 Volunteer Recognition Award in 1992 and the Jack Lynch Volunteer of the Year Award in 2006.

As an NCAA Official, Joel served as an Atlantic Coast Conference Swimming Championships official for 27 years, beginning as a Stroke & Turn Judge and Starter for the first 16 years, then Assistant Referee for 2 years, and finally Meet Referee for 10 years from 2007 to 2017. He also served as Assistant Meet Referee for 3 NCAA D-I Men’s Championships from 2001 to 2013.

For USA Swimming, Joel served on the Officials Committee for 23 years, beginning in 1994, and was Co-Chair of the Committee from 2004-2006. He also served on the Rules Committee and continues to serve on the National Board of Review since 2014. Joel has been a National Championships Meet Referee seven times, including Junior Nationals, Senior Nationals, and the U.S. Open. He also served as an official for three Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Joel has officiated at 5 U.S. Olympic Trials in Swimming beginning in 1996 and continuing through 2012. For his top-tier officiating and service to USA Swimming, Joel received the Ken Pettigrew Award as USA Swimming’s Outstanding Official in 2005.

Rich DeSelm was a standout swimmer at UNC Chapel Hill from 1974-1978 where he was awarded the team’s Hardest Worker Award in 1975 and was recognized as UNC’s Most Valuable Swimmer three years in a row, 1976-1978. He was named to the NCAA D-I All-American Team in 1976, served as Team Co-Captain 1977-’78, and set UNC records in 5 events.

After graduation, Rich became Assistant Swim Coach at his alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill for 15 years from 1978 to 1993. For six of those years, 1987 to 1993 he directed the Carolina Swim Camp as President and Owner. In 1993, Rich became the Head Swimming & Diving Coach at Davidson College in Davidson, NC. During his 7 years at Davidson, Rich led the team to four women’s and three men’s Southern Conference Championships and earned five Conference Coach of the Year awards.

Rich headed to the University of Florida in Gainesville in 2000, where he served as Assistant Coach for 6 years. During his tenure at Florida, he coached over 300 NCAA All-Americans while the team placed in the NCAA Top 10 every year with 7 of those finishes in the Top 5. In 2005, while coaching at Florida, Rich was inducted into the Tennessee Swimming Hall of Fame.

In 2006, Rich returned to Carolina where in 2007 he was named Head Swimming and Diving Coach. Rich led the Tar Heels for 12 years, until 2019, and during that time his swimmers included 58 NCAA All-Americans and 26 ACC Champions. He lead the UNC Women to 8 NCAA Top 20 finishes and UNC Men to 3 NCAA Top 15 finishes. Under Rich’s leadership, Stephanie Peacock, a fellow NC Swim Hall of Fame, captured the NCAA title in the 1650 Freestyle while Tyler Harris placed 3rd in the NCAA’s in the 400IM, the top NCAA finish for a UNC men’s swimmer in 45 years!

Rich has a strong history of coaching leadership for Team USA on the international front including Head Manager for USA Pan American and Pan Pacific Teams in the 1990s; Assistant Manager for the US Olympic Team in the 2000 Sydney Games; Head Coach of the 2011 U.S. World University Games Team in Shenzhen, China; and Assistant Coach of the USA Open Water Team in Budapest, Hungary.

From 2021 to 2024 Rich served as Assistant Coach at Carrboro High School where the team won 5 North High School Athletic Association State 3A Championships. In 2022, Rich also became Assistant Coach for the North Carolina Aquatic Club, a 240-member club located in Chapel Hill, which was a team he had led from 2007 to 2020 while coaching at UNC.

Stephanie grew up in Florida where she competed in club swimming for Swim Florida. She swam for Bishop Verot High School in Ft. Myers where she was on three state championship teams, was twice named to the Florida All-State Team, a two-time News Press Swimmer of the Year, and a 10-time high school All American.

In college Stephanie competed for the UNC Tar Heels where she had a major positive impact on the program, starting early in her freshman year where she set Atlantic Coast Conference records in the 500-yard Freestyle and was named ACC Freshman of the Year.

The following year Stephanie set a new conference record in winning the 1650 Freestyle in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships and was named the Championships’ Most Valuable Swimmer as well as ACC Swimmer of the Year. That same year, at the NCAA D-I Women’s Swimming Championships, Stephanie set a new record in the 1650 Freestyle, breaking the 22-year-old record set by swimming legend Janet Evans, on her way to becoming the National Champion in the event. She earned All-American status in both the 500 and 1650 Freestyles and was named National Breakout Swimmer of the Year. At UNC’s year-end awards banquet, Stephanie won the Most Valuable Women’s Swimmer and Most Outstanding Swimmer awards. In 2016, UNC inducted Stephanie into its Swimming & Diving Champions Circle, an honor reserved for the program’s most-accomplished graduates.

Internationally, Stephanie competed in 3 World University Games. At the 2011 Games in Shenzhen, China, she won gold on the Women’s 800 Meter Freestyle Relay and Bronze in the 400 Meter Freestyle. In 2013 in Kazan, Russia, Stephanie was the World University Games Champion in the Women’s 1500 Meter Freestyle where she set a new World University Games record, and a Silver Medalist in the 800

Meter Freestyle. In the 2015 Games in Gwangju, South Korea, she won the Bronze Medal in the 10 Kilometer Open Water Swim.

Brooks Teal grew up in Tarboro, North Carolina, where he competed as an age-group swimmer on the Tarboro Swim Club and for the East Carolina Swim Association, a team that combined swimmers from clubs across eastern North Carolina such as Kinston, Wilson, Greensville, Goldsboro, and Tarboro. Brooks was a walk-on swimmer at NC State University in the 1970s before later moving into the coaching ranks.

Brooks began his age group club coaching in his hometown of Tarboro, followed by 9 years as Head Coach and Director of Competitive Swimming with the YMCA of Raleigh (now YMCA of the Triangle, or YOTA). It was at YOTA that Brooks coached eventual NCAA Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, and World Record Holder, David Fox. With David Fox, a NC Swim Hall of Fame honoree, on board, the Raleigh Y won the YMCA National Men’s Team Championship.

After 8 years at the YMCA (1981-1989), Brooks’ collegiate coaching career began as Assistant Coach at Indian River Community College from 1989 to 1992. In 1992 he became the Men’s Swimming Head Coach at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. During his 7-year tenure at James Madison, he established the team as one of the region’s most successful collegiate programs, leading the Dukes to 6 consecutive Colonial Athletic Association championships and three Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championships.

From James Madison, Brooks moved on to his alma mater, North Carolina State University, becoming the Men’s Head Swimming & Diving Coach in 2000. During his 11 years at NC State (2000 to 2011), Brooks coached two national champions: Cullen Jones in the 50-yard Freestyle (2007) and Kristen Davies in platform diving. One of Brooks’ swimmers, Cullen Jones, a North Carolina Swimming Hall of Fame inductee, went on to capture multiple Olympic Gold Medals.

After his NCSU tenure, Brooks spent a year as Assistant Coach at Clemson (2011-2012). Brooks has spent the majority of the last decade back at the YMCA of the Triangle, including two years at the Kerr Family Y and another six at the Taylor Family Y. After a lengthy and distinguished aquatics career, Brooks just retired last week.

Despite competing as an age group swimmer, a Masters Swimmer, and during her college days for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill from 1981 to 1984 where she was awarded the Hill Carrow Spirit Award 3 years in a row (a record unmatched by any UNC women’s swimmer to this day), Patty Huey Waldron’s passion was always for coaching. During her 40+ years since graduation, she has coached virtually every level of swimming and has helped shape generations of athletes and coaches throughout the state.

Patty began her coaching career with Mechlenburg Aquatic Club in Charlotte where she became Head Age Group Coach. She was known for her versatility, as she coached swimmers from beginners to seniors and Masters, and all those in between. Her service to clubs, North Carolina Swimming, and the sport overall, were recognized by North Carolina Swimming with the Volunteer of the Year Award in 1998. Patty became Head Coach of the SwimMAC Masters program, rebuilding it into one of the strongest Masters programs in the state. United States Masters Swimming recognized Patty in 2014 for her outstanding work in support of Masters Swimming by presenting her with the Kerry O’Brien Coaching Award for outstanding coaching and exceptional contributions to Masters Swimming.

Patty later became Head Coach of the Charlotte Latin Swim Teams. There her boys and girls clubs teams won 22 CISAA Conference Championships and 9 Independent high school state championships, and she was named Coach of the Year by the Chalotte Latin Boosters Club in 2017. She also helped found MSA Masters where she built the club from a handful to more than 170 members today.

Patty currently serves as the volunteer director and organizer for Swim Across America -- Charlotte, where she has helped raise more than $1 million for the local children’s hospital through the years.