Swimmer's legacy lives on in scholarship fund, swim meet

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With every race Matt Gianiodis started at the John Munley Long Course Memorial Swim Meet on Saturday at IM Sports-West, he was thinking of his former swimmer, John Munley.

The MSU swimming and diving head coach — who served as an assistant coach when John Munley was swimming for the Spartans — knew the swimmer very well, spending days and weeks traveling with him around the country to different championship swim meets.

At the annual meet to raise money for the John Munley Memorial Scholarship — which is presented every year to a member of the men’s team who demonstrates outstanding competitiveness, dedication to swimming and loyalty to MSU — Gianiodis wished the meet didn’t have to happen.

“If I could go back in time, I’d rather have him back here and not do the meet at all,” he said. “But whatever happens, happens, and since it did, it’s a really nice tribute.”

John Munley swam for MSU from 1997 to 2001, and passed away on April 30, 2001 from an enlarged heart while jogging in East Lansing. His family set up the scholarship fund for the men’s swimming and diving team, and it’s currently at about $105,000, meet director Gail Dummer said.

While there are no set criteria for the winner, Gianiodis said it usually goes to an in-state swimmer who earned himself the scholarship.

“When I first got the scholarship, it barely covered only half my books,” said Dr. Nick DeFauw, a teammate of John Munley’s and the scholarship’s first winner in 2002.

“Now, it’s almost a full semester of tuition. I think it’s pretty impressive how much it’s grown and the story of John just goes on and on. You keep hearing new things and new ways it’s affected people’s lives and how it’s really changed them.”

With about 60 entries for the swim meet — the highest turnout to date, consisting of mostly MSU alumni and U.S. Masters swimmers — Dummer said the event is the major contributor to the fund.

Known as a fun-loving swimmer, John Munley followed his brother, Tom Munley, to MSU’s team.

During his time at MSU, John Munley was the team’s Most Valuable Swimmer in 1999 and 2000, and he qualified for the NCAA Championships in several events, while also qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Trials in the 200-meter freestyle.

Although John Munley’s accomplishments speak to his talent in the pool, Tom and Michael Munley — his other brothers — were thrilled with the turnout at the meet honoring their brother, who they said was loved by everyone.

“It means that the impact my brother had is long-lasting,” Tom Munley said. “It goes beyond just his life and benefits Michigan State and the whole swimming program.”

With John Munley as inspiration, DeFauw is working to get a sports medicine fellowship in primary care, focusing on injury prevention.

“With the hot topic in the news with enlarged hearts and screening athletes for enlarged hearts, primary care sports medicine does that,” DeFauw said. “So John’s untimely death has actually fueled my passion.”

Gianiodis remembers John Munley as a dedicated and smart swimmer, who once had himself scratched from an event he didn’t think he could score in at the Big Ten Championships and ended up swimming another.

Although Gianiodis said he still mentions John Munley during practice sometimes, there’s one message he still tries to send to his swimmers.

“The one thing I do say is, ‘You better take advantage of whatever you’ve got because you don’t know how long it’s going to last,‘” Gianiodis said.

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