Richard Thornton, Olympian and legendary Bay Area swim coach, dies at 65
Richard Thornton, a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic swim team and the longtime head coach of San Ramon Valley Aquatics, died on Thursday in Santa Cruz. He was 65.
Thornton’s younger brother, Marc, announced the news on Facebook and swimming website SwimSwam was the first to report it.
Thornton’s family said Thursday night that initial reports Richard died while surfing are inaccurate. Thornton died while stepping into the water but the cause of death is unknown, his daughter, Kirra, said in an email to this media organization.
Thornton helped found San Ramon Valley Aquatics — a year-round swim program for athletes of all ages and skills — in 1985. He was an Olympic swimmer for the US in 1980, but didn’t compete as the national team boycotted the games in Moscow.
Since 1984, Thornton had coached Olympic and world championship finalists, world record holders and NCAA All-Americans. He coached US national teams, and junior national teams, in France in 1994; Brazil in 1995; and in Japan in 1997.
Thornton graduated from Cal with a degree in physical education and got his master’s at Saint Mary’s. He led the SRVA team for nearly four decades, until he died “doing what he loved,” Marc wrote.
The Thornton name has been synonymous with Bay Area swimming for decades. Thornton’s father, Nort, led Cal to two NCAA team titles as the Golden Bears’ head swim coach during a 33-year career that produced such Olympic champions as Matt Biondi and Anthony Ervin. Nort died in 2021 at the age of 87.
Sarah Anderson Cramer, one of the best swimmers in Cal program history, raced for both Rich and Nort.
“Rich had one of the biggest impacts on my life,” Anderson commented on Facebook. “He was an outstanding person and someone I truly loved and respected. By the end of my swimming career I considered him a member of the family. Heaven called home one of the best today. Trying my best to smile through the tears! Sending all my love to the Thorntons.”
CORRECTION: Family members clarified Thursday night that the cause of death is unknown and Richard was not involved in an accident or water incident of any kind, as was reported in earlier versions of this story.