History of a Legacy - The James A. Funiciello Pool
Liverpool High School Pool was first put
into use during the 1967-1968 school year. This
coming school year marks the 40th anniversary
of use by students, athletes and community
members.
Jim Funiciello served as a teacher, coach,
and eventually as athletic director with the
Liverpool School District from 1966-1993. While
ground for the high school pool was being
broken, the first Liverpool swim team trained at
the Baldwinsville High School pool during the
1966-67 school year. The following year,
Funiciello coached his inexperienced, but
enthusiastic group of boys in the new high school
swimming pool. One of the best high school
facilities in the state.
At that same time, under the directorship
of Luke Laporta, Funiciello created and oversaw
the third grade learn to swim program, free to all
third graders in the Liverpool district. This
program was designed to ensure that all students
attending Liverpool schools be given the
opportunity to learn basic swimming skills. This
fall, Liverpool’s third grade learn to swim
program will be celebrating its 40th year. More
than 25,000 Liverpool students have participated
and continue to benefit from this program!
In 1967, to encourage community interest
in swimming, Funiciello along with Tom Creamer
became founding members of the Liverpool
Swim Club, now known as the Liverpool Jets
Swim Club. This Amateur Athletic Union
(A.A.U.) team was one of the first year-round
sports available to boys and girls aged 4 and up.
As participants, swimmers trained in all four
strokes and were able to compete throughout
New York State at various club meets. This
program also became a springboard to
participation in middle and high school swimming,
providing athletes with the necessary skills to
compete at state and national levels.
As a physical education teacher for
swimming, Funiciello taught countless high school
students how to swim in the Learn to Swim
classes, since a graduation requirement at the time
included the ability to swim 25 yards of the pool.
But Funiciello provided more than swimming
lessons to Liverpool high school students.
Students also had the opportunity to take courses
in Scuba, Kayaking, Canoeing, Water Games,
Waterpolo, Diving, and Lifesaving, which served
as leisure activities they could pursue throughout
their lives.
As a high school swimming and diving
coach, Funiciello is recognized as one of the
winningest coaches of all time, compiling a 228-5
record. He was the Warriors Varsity Boys’ coach
from 1966-1983, and Interim Varsity Girls’ coach
for the 1978-79 season. Under his guidance, the
boys and girls won a total of 18 OHSL
championships and 16 Section III titles. State
rankings began in the early 70’s, and the boy’s
team was ranked #1 in the state for nine
consecutive years. During the 1979-1980 season,
the boy’s team won the Eastern Seaboard
Championships and were ranked #4 in the United
States. He produced 26 All-Americans and
countless State Champions.
In 1978 Athletic Director Luke Laporta
asked Funiciello to quantify how much college
scholarship money his athletes had received to
date. At that time, it was determined that
Liverpool swimmers and divers had been
awarded more than $1,000,000 dollars in
scholarship money at various institutions across
the nation!
Despite so many successes, Coach
Funiciello says his proudest moment as a coach
came with the 1982 loss to Fairport–the Warriors
first loss in more than a decade. After the final
relay, the scoreboard gave the news. The Fairport
team and fans were ecstatic, cheering, crying,
jumping into the pool. The Liverpool boys
spontaneously surrounded all four sides of the
pool and gave the winning team, their opponents,
a standing ovation. A true picture of the type of
people Coach Funiciello trained his athletes to be.
From 1979 until his retirement in 1993,
Funiciello served as athletic director for
Liverpool. Around that time, he also served as
Empire State Game Swim Meet Director in 1978,
State Swimming Director for the Games from
1979-1988, and Central New York Regional
Director for Empire Games from 1988-2003.
Compiled by Kara Selig Eicholzer
