Steve Marovich, Carthage Sports Information

KENOSHA, Wis. -- Former Carthage College coach and athletic trainer Jon Swift died on April 15, 2012 after a long battle with scleroderma and lung cancer. Born in Forreston, Ill., on July 29, 1937 and raised in Oregon, Ill., Swift graduated from Carthage in 1960, the same year he married his college sweetheart, Mary Newell.

Swift coached the Carthage men's cross country team for nine years (1964-71 and 1983), winning College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin titles in both 1966 and 1967. He also coached men's tennis (45-57, 14 years from 1965 to 1978) and men's basketball (126-150, 11 years from 1973 to 1983). Swift's greatest coaching success was with the Carthage men's golf team. After Carthage reinstated the program in 1983, Swift brought the program to national prominence, winning four consecutive CCIW titles from 1991 to 1994, another in 1996 and making five-straight appearances in the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship from 1992 to 1996.

Swift was Carthage's first certified athletic trainer, and the College's athletic training facility is named after him. He was inducted into the Carthage Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. Swift retired in 1996 with 35 years of service to Carthage. He and Mary resided on Jordan Lake in the Wisconsin Dells after Swift retired. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 21 at the Bethany Lutheran Church in Wisconsin Dells, Wis. A memorial service at the Carthage College chapel will be conducted on Wednesday, April 25, beginning at 1 p.m.