Huntington Beach, CA - February 22 - Tragedy struck the Colorado Water Polo club and Mountain Zone water polo family when Grier Laughlin was killed in a car accident this past weekend in Colorado. Laughlin was a key member of USA Water Polo's Mountain Zone and was the founder of the Colorado Water Polo Club. Laughlin also served as Head Coach and President of the club which was started 10 years ago and served on the Mountain Zone board for the last seven years.
Well known in the Colorado swim community Laughlin was an 11-time All-American while swimming for Cherry Creek High School. He became captain of the swim team while attending Dartmouth College where he also discovered a love for water polo.
Friends throughout the water polo community mourn his loss including Mountain Zone Chair Brad Peercy, "He was a great guy that really saw the vision for the sport of helping young people develop life skills through water polo, not just winning," said Peercy. "He really cared about the kids and while he pushed them and produced excellent players, he also knew it was important that they have fun. He always brought a bus load of kids from Colorado to our June tournament in Utah and their team always had the most spirit, driving the other teams crazy with their Pirate cheers," remembered Peercy.
Peercy also noted that Laughlin pushed for the Mountain Zone to have a Zone Championship, something that will begin this summer. Laughlin also had a great impact on younger players. "He pretty much single-handedly got youth water polo going in Colorado. There really wasn't anything going on for youth and now new clubs are sprouting off of his club in Boulder, Fort Collins, and soon in Colorado Spring," added Peercy.
Laughlin's family is establishing a memorial fund with the dual purpose of providing college educations to his children and to hopefully build a Grier Laughlin Swimming and Water Polo Center. Information is available on the Colorado Water Polo club website. Donations are preferred over flowers. For more information on Grier Laughlin click here for an article published in the Aurora Sentinel.
