My Carolina Experience: Sue Walsh
January 7, 2015 | Swimming & Diving
My Carolina Experience: Sue Walsh
By Zoya Johnson, GoHeels.com
By the time she was a recruit for the Carolina women's swimming team, Sue Walsh had already left a mark on the swimming world. Unlike many of the female athletes who would be involved in college level athletics at the time, she did not intend to fade from the spotlight. Instead, Walsh chose Carolina to help elevate an already outstanding program to another level.
Due to the fact that this was before the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women had merged with the NCAA, it was difficult for females to obtain college scholarships. Thus, many women would participate in their sport for a few years and either retire or coast through the rest of their time as an athlete.
“I had loftier goals than that,” Walsh says, “I wanted to continue to improve. I wanted to help Carolina swimming get into the top 5 nationally.
“We were fortunate to have such a talented recruiting class in 1980 and we ended up third at the AIAW Championships my freshman year. My sophomore year we ended up third again but this time in the NCAA Championships. We had a lot of injuries the following year and we fell to sixth, but my senior year we were back up to fifth in the nation.”
Walsh came to Carolina after already having made an Olympic team in 1980 for the 200-meter backstroke. Although the U.S. boycotted those games in the Soviet Union due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan she continued to train and improve in hopes of securing her spot on the 1984 Olympic team.
During that time Walsh became one of the greatest swimmers, not only in UNC's history, but also in the history of the NCAA. In addition to her success on the collegiate stage, Walsh participated in the Pan American Games and the World Aquatics Championship as she attained American records and world rankings along the way. Though she would miss securing her spot on the 1984 Olympic team by just one hundredth of a second her career was far from a disappointment.
By her senior year, Walsh's 11 national collegiate titles (including 10 individual crowns), five NCAA records and undefeated collegiate record in the backstroke prompted her to be awarded the Patterson Award, the highest honor given to a UNC senior student-athlete. She became the second female athlete to receive the honor at Carolina and then the first UNC athlete ever to receive the NCAA Top Five award, one of the highest accolades that the NCAA awards.
As impressive as her athletic resume was, Walsh's prowess was not limited to the pool. She graduated from Carolina Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in business administration and accounting. Walsh feels the self-discipline she acquired while at UNC coupled with proper time management was the key to her success.
“Carolina helped me mature a lot intellectually and to do a better job of strategizing. It also opened my eyes to the qualities of being a leader. My junior and senior years I was a captain and that was about much more than being a quiet leader or even a leader by example. It's about helping teammates make better decisions for themselves personally, academically and athletically and inspiring them to reach their full potential.”
Carolina gave her a chance to grow in all aspects as a leader and in virtually every aspect of herself while also giving her the coaching she needed to continue being a force in the pool. Those are the opportunities for growth Walsh felt she would not have attained had she chosen to go to a school where she would have been just another swimmer.
“I think that just solidified that the decision that I made was right. I loved the university when I was here and Coach (Frank) Comfort was really focused on my progress not only as a student-athlete but as the person I was becoming, so he really gave me the freedom to do things outside of the sport. It is because of that that I was able to really thrive. Here I am, after 25 years of working for the University, and my thoughts on my decision haven't changed. I'm glad that I chose Carolina and looking back I know I would not have chosen otherwise.”
Her role as UNC's Director of Legacy Programs allows Walsh to supervise the Educational Foundation's endowment and giving. As someone who was previously a certified public accountant she feels the position is especially gratifying because she is directly able to help improve opportunities for student athletes.
“I believe in our mission and the role athletics can and should play on a campus and I'm really excited about the future we have in front of us. I think as an athletic department we've got a good vision as far as what we have been and what we could be and I think there's clarity as far as the course that we're taking. The expectations are a lot clearer and the bar has been raised so I think everyone is going to be challenged to continue to build on the success and the traditions that we've had in place for so many years.”
“I love this place and hold it in such high regard and I was fortunate enough to have two out of my three kids come here, one of whom actually swam for the team, allowing me to step into a role as a sort of team mom. I raised all of my kids to be Tar Heels and despite the fact that my son is playing football at Vanderbilt, he is still engaged with Carolina's campus. It just means a lot to our family and I'm sure that tradition will continue.”