Swim coach, teams named to GRHS Hall of Fame listing

Among the inductees in the 2015 Green River High School Hall of Fame is a coach responsible for bringing the school four consecutive state titles.

Jack Beard, as well as the 1974-1977 boys swim teams, will be inducted in a ceremony Sept. 5 and will be introduced during halftime at the Sept. 4 football game. Beard was the school’s first swimming coach, taking the position after the Monroe Pool was completed.

Beard, born and raised in Thermopolis, was a member of the Thermopolis Bobcats football team in high school. After completing the requirements to become a teacher, he taught and coached in both Guernsey and Encampment, before returning to Thermopolis as a teacher and football coach. He later became the swim coach while in Thermopolis. In 1959, he earned his bachelor of science degree in elementary education. He would also earn a masters degree in elementary education in 1965.

He met his wife Lois Marques while in Thermopolis and the two married in 1961. The couple moved to Green River in 1963. According to his induction biography from GRHS, swimming became a popular and year-round sport in Green River under Beard as he coached both high school and junior high teams. He encouraged students to compete during the summer months. The students’ hard work, combined with Beard’s coaching, resulted in a number of individual state records being set and GRHS bringing home a record four consecutive state swimming titles.

Beard also received a number of awards for his work with youth in both Thermopolis and Green River. In 1962, he received a citation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Thermopolis for his work and coaching during the organization’s marble tournaments and was awarded the Key Man Certificate by the Thermopolis Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1959. His work with the University of Wyoming’s student teacher program was recognized in 1972 and he was named swim coach of the year during the 1976-1977 school year.

Outside of the classroom and pool, Beard was active in the Green River Lion’s Club and the Union Congregational Church, serving as a moderator for the latter organization for two years. Beard and his wife Lois raised two children, Charles and Caroline, and enjoyed swimming vacations to Granite Hot Springs. He also enjoyed hunting for Native American artifacts, as well as studying about the Native Americans and early fur trappers in the area.

Beard died of a heart attack April 25, 1981. His name is carried on through a memorial scholarship still offered by the Union Congregational Church 34 years after his death.

Beard and members of the swim team aren’t the only inductees into the GHRS Hall of Fame. Retired music teacher Bill Hoyt and Lincoln High Mirth and Missives founder Mark Hoffmann join Beard and the swim teams in their induction into the GRHS Hall of Fame.