Fresno State plans to build an aquatics center for the revived women’s swimming and diving team. What to name it? My suggestion: The Ara Hairabedian Aquatics Center.
Hairabedian, who died in 2004 at age 77, was the heart and soul of aquatics at Fresno State for nearly a quarter-century. He started the swimming program in 1954 and the water polo program four years later. He resigned from his final coaching job (water polo) in 1977 and retired from the university in the mid-1990s.
Hairabedian was a nationally-famed swimming coach, and a courageous, blunt advocate for Bulldogs aquatics. Men’s swimming and water polo were eliminated in the 1990s.
Hairabedian taught at Fresno State for more than four decades, but he felt he was dishonored in his final months at the university. It all came to a head in July 1994 when Hairabedian was told to move from his office so it could be made into a new secretary’s office for women’s sports as part of Title IX compliance.
Hairabedian didn’t move fast enough, so the university packed up his belongings — 36 boxes. According to Hairabedian, the university left the boxes sitting unattended outside the office.
Said Hairabedian at the time: “My dignity has been repudiated.”
The women’s swimming and diving team is being revived as part of Title IX compliance. Naming the new aquatics center after Hairabedian is valid not only on the merits of his life, but as a gesture of reconciliation among all the parties involved.
Dear Mr. Hostetter,
Your suggestion of honoring the late Dr. Ara Hairabedian by naming the new swim complex after him is an EXCELLENT idea. The way he was dishonored by the former Athletic Director was inexcusable by any measure. Such a tribute would be a final honor for a great coach and educator.
George Hostetter's suggestion to name the aquatics center at Fresno State in honor of Ara Hairabedian should be quickly accepted by the university. Dignified and committed to a program that did not always reciprocate, Coach Hairabedian impacted in the most positive way thousands of athletes and students throughout his life.
By naming the center in his memory the university can assure new students, athletes and visitors will know of the commitment and wonderful things one man who came before them did in service to college students, the university and our community.
Coach Hairabedian was a fantastic mentor and teacher to me during my time at FSU. I am ashamed of the way he was treated by the university and call upon those in the decision making process to consider the proposal of George Hostetter. This is a rare opportunity to offer thanks and praise to a man that spent his career in service to the students and athletes for many decades. His legacy should not be forgotten!