VIDEO: RAY BUSSARD HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CEREMONY
Ray Bussard enjoyed a successful career as a three-sport athlete at Bridgewater, participating in football, basketball and track and field. A two-time all-tournament basketball player, Bussard was a member of, and scored the only touchdown for, the 1948 BC football team which was the first to compete for more than a decade. But Bussard gained the most acclaim for his exploits on the track, where he was Virginia State AAU medalist in the half mile, shotput, discus, javelin, broad jump and high hurdles and participated in Bridgewater's only Mason/Dixon Conference team championship in 1952. In 1951, Bussard was runner-up in the NAAU All-Around Championship, an event he returned to and won in 1952.
Upon graduation, Bussard embarked on a successful career which spanned 19 years in both Virginia and Tennessee. Among his accomplishments, Coach Bussard posted a 117-7 track and field record, and won more than three dozen state and regional titles coaching football, basketball and baseball as well as track. In 1967, Bussard was named Head Swimming Coach at the University of Tennessee, where he spent the next 22 years and brought the program to national prominence. During his tenure, the Volunteers posted an incredible 252-20 (.927) record, including an 85-meet win streak, both standards for any sport in conference history. Bussard's squads captured eight Southeast Conference titles, 10 NCAA Top Ten finishes, and the 1978 NCAA Team Swim Championships. In all, the "dean of SEC coaches" developed 64 All-Americans and two Olympic Gold Medalists at UT. In addition to his collegiate success, Bussard was twice a coach of the United States team dual meets with the Russian National team (1978 and '82) and served as an assistant U.S. swimming coach for the 1979 Pan American and 1983 Pan Rim teams. In 1984, Bussard served as a U.S. assistant swim coach for the Olympic Games, in which his sprinters grabbed 11 gold metals.
Among his many honors, Bussard was named SEC Swimming Coach-of-the-Year six times and was named the National Collegiate Swimming Coach-of-the-Year by the NCAA (1972, 1978) and the Ohio Touchdown Club (1973). In 1984, Bussard received the National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy from the College Swimming Coaches Association, the highest honor bestowed upon swimming coaches. Bussard is a member of both the University of Tennessee Hall of Fame and Swimming Hall of Fame and, in 1987, received the Bridgewater College "Distinguished Alumnus Award."
