Paul Barr Blair (1949–2006)

Paul Barr Blair was an iconic figure in Arkansas swimming. The founder and longtime coach of the Arkansas Dolphins swim team, he was a nationally recognized swim coach whose innovative approach to sprint training, with its focus on interval work, earned him wide acclaim.

Paul Barr Blair was born on May 19, 1949, in Dover, Ohio, to Bill and Martha Blair. Blair graduated from Dover High School in 1967 and then went on to West Liberty State College in West Liberty, Virginia. In 1971 and 1972, Blair earned back-to-back All–Western Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) All-American honors, as well as leading West Liberty to the conference swimming title. After graduating from college in 1975, he began his coaching career at Linsly School, a preparatory school in Wheeling, West Virginia. At Linsly, Blair coached both the swimming and cross-country teams.

Blair started his Arkansas coaching career in 1979 when he began coaching the Arkansas Dolphins, a team he would coach to unparalleled success until his death in 2006. Over the course of his almost three-decades-long career, he trained twenty-five Olympic trials qualifiers, six U.S. national champions, and nine Masters national champions. The swimmers he coached excelled at the highest levels and included an Olympic gold medalist, world-ranked swimmers, national age-group record holders, and dozens of Arkansas state champions. He led the Dolphins to the U.S. Open Men’s Team title in 1988 and the Men’s USA Swimming National title in 1989, as well as taking the Masters team to nine national titles. His teams also participated in numerous regional as well as state age-group championships.

Blair served as a U.S. National Team coach on eight occasions and also served on a number of state and national boards. Blair served as vice president of the American Swim Coaches Association, the International Swimming Hall of Fame Board of Governors, and the State of Arkansas Governor’s Council for Sport and Fitness. In 2004, he received the International Swimming Hall of Fame Yutaka Terao Character in Coaching Award.

While most of his efforts were centered on his club teams, in the final two years of his life, he also served as the women’s associate head swimming coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Blair was inducted into the West Liberty University Hall of Fame in 1989, the Arkansas Swimming Hall of Fame in 1992, and the American Swimming Coaches Hall of Fame in 2008. Blair’s fourth hall of fame honor was a posthumous induction in 2022 into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, representing the first induction of someone from the swimming community. His daughter Shawna noted that he would likely have preferred this honor to have been bestowed on one of his swimmers, given that he always put his swimmers first.

Blair and his wife Mary Dawn Blair had three daughters: Shawna, Marissa, and Lindann.

After a three-year battle with prostate cancer, Blair died November 8, 2006, and is buried at Pinecrest Memorial Park.

For additional information:
Gladstone, Mitchell. “State Swimming Pioneer Blair Gets His Due.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 4, 2022. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2022/apr/04/state-swimming-pioneer-blair-gets-his-due/ (accessed April 30, 2024).

“Paul Barr Blair.” Ruebel Funeral Home. https://ruebelfuneralhome.com/obits/preview.php?id=151&p=551&search (accessed April 30, 2024).

“Paul Blair.” West Liberty University Athletic Hall of Fame https://hilltoppersports.com/honors/hall-of-fame/paul-blair/104 (accessed April 30, 2024).

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School