Sept. 12, 2012

LAS VEGAS - Karen Moe Humphreys - the former California women's swimming and diving head coach - earned induction into the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame on Sept. 7. The organization inducted her during its ASCA World Swim Clinic in Las Vegas.

Humphreys, who coached the Golden Bears for 14 years as Karen Moe Thornton, led the Cal program from the 1978-79 through the 1991-92 seasons, after which Teri McKeever began her tenure as Cal's head coach. Humphreys brought Cal to six fourth-place finishes and a fifth-place result at the NCAA Championships as well as a fourth-place finish in the AIAW Championships in 1982. In her final season, Cal's erstwhile boss coached the Bears to 11th place at NCAAs and fourth place in the Pac-10 Championships. Humphreys compiled an 89-43-1 all-time dual-meet record at Cal.

She coached such Cal luminaries and Olympians as Mary T. Meagher (USA), Conny van Bentum (the Netherlands), Trina Radke (USA), Helen Jameson (Great Britain), Hui-Chien Chang (Taiwan), Kim Chen (Taiwan), Lene Jenssen (Norway), Hiroko Nagasaki (Japan) and Akiko Thomson (the Philippines). Humphreys also coached All-Americans Sarah Anderson, Carol Felton, Lisa Pereira, Alicia Walker, Lynn Wittstock and a host of others during her reign in Berkeley.

Prior to joining Cal, Humphreys competed for UCLA and the United States, winning a gold medal in the 200-meter butterfly in world-record time (2:15.56) in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.