Staff Writer
Presque Isle high school has seen some memorable athletic accomplishments this 2008-09 winter season. In addition to the hockey team winning the Class B Eastern Maine Championship for the first time, the swim team had four athletes compete at States, another PIHS first. Behind every good swimmer is a dedicated coach. Joyce Price, head coach of the Presque Isle swim team, had an extra set of eyes this season to help her coach the swimmers and provide efficient techniques in the pool. That extra set of eyes belongs to John Leber, who volunteered his time and experience as assistant coach. No matter what age or ability Leber has coached, his love for swimming is as clear as the water in which he swims. His immediate involvement in Presque Isle’s swim team may not seem unusual, but his journey north holds a few surprises.
Staff photo/Abigail Hunt
As part of the original 1971 Titan team, Presque Isle assistant swim coach John Leber received a framed photo of the team, signed by many of his teammates and coaches. The photograph hangs in the office at Easton United Baptist Church, where Leber has been pastor since July 2008.
New to the county as of September 2008, Leber and his wife Kathy are originally from northern Virginia, where Leber initially learned how to swim.
“I’ve always swam,” said the former USA swim coach. “I’ve been swimming since I was 2 years old; I used swimming as a way to get in shape for other sports.” Wrestling and football, to be specific. In high school, Leber spent more time on the mats and in a helmet than he did in swimming trunks. As a wrestler, Leber was a junior Olympic athlete and second in the state of Virginia. But it was his football career that made it to the big screen.
“I was a junior fullback in ’71,” he said. “They actually made a movie of the story of my football team.” Leber went on to explain that he played under coaches Boone and Yoast, and the movie was “Remember the Titans”. Of course, Hollywood took some liberties with the story. “Let me put it this way,” he began. “Denzel [Washington] made coach Boone look good. In reality, Boone was a tough old bird but my coach, Yoast, was outstanding.” After suffering a knee injury two games before the playoffs, Leber was the one who had to sit out during the season’s final games. Leber also brought to light what really happened before the games. “There was no kissing in the locker room,” he admitted. “Ron Bass was a little perturbed about that.”
With a fascinating high school sports career behind him, Leber headed of to West Chester State to study health and physical education initially, but graduated with a degree in criminal justice from Park College. After obtaining his bachelor of science degree, Leber headed off to George Washington University for a master’s degree in crime and commerce then launched into a career as a federal employee.
“I applied for a job as a Virginia State Policeman and as a Secret Service agent. I heard back from the federal government first, and ended up working in the Secret Service for 12 years,” he said. During those years, Leber spent much of his time with former president Reagan. “I was in Berlin with Reagan when he said ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall’,” reminisced Leber. “And I went with [Reagan] to Ireland to find his roots. It was my day off when he got shot, but that night I was at the hospital with him.”
There have been other highlights, too. “I was on detail when Mobutu visited from Zaire. I’ve been through a couple of bomb blasts, but one of my biggest highlights was being on detail when the Pope came to the States for his first visit. It’s all part of the job,” remarked the former agent. And while he was protecting the president, Leber also found time to coach local swimmers, like the Potomac Marlin Swim Team.
“I started coaching when my son, Jonathan, was 6, so it’s been about 20 years,” said Leber, who has coached every age level from 5-20. His title with Potomac was “primary deck coach” and Leber would oversee roughly 120 students each week, working with two or three other coaches underneath him. “Swimming is a big sport down in Virginia. On any given Saturday, you could have over 14,000 kids swimming at different pools in northern Virginia alone.” Leber also spent time coaching Lake Braddock and Ravensworth swim teams and has seen some of his swimmers make it to top 16 in the nation.
It was during his time with Potomac that Leber’s life took a sudden and unexpected shift. “About three and a half years ago, my wife and I lost our son.” Jonathan, who was also heavily involved in swimming, spent time as an assistant coach, first in Virginia then later in Wisconsin, where he attended college. But, a student at Maranatha Bible College, Jonathan’s true passions were aviation and missions and the college junior had plans to move to South America after graduation to help plant churches along the banks of the Amazon River.
As Leber remembers, “Jonathan was flying back [to Wisconsin] to take the final exams his junior year and he ran into a storm over Lake Michigan. Amazingly, he was able to land the plane in the water and made a 9-1-1 cell phone call from the top of his aircraft.” Although Jonathan’s body was never found, divers later recovered his Bible from the bottom of the lake and, in the back of the book were the words “How Real Is Your God?”, the title of a message Jonathan had delivered at his home church the previous weekend. “Over 2,000 people attended his memorial service in Virginia,” said John Leber, who kept up his coaching even during those difficult weeks. “Coaching [swimming] helped me through that time. Potomac asked if I wanted to take some time off, but I told them absolutely not.”
Though Leber continued to coach swimming, his career path took a decidedly different direction as a result of his son’s death. Leber had previously studied to earn a master’s in biblical studies before becoming a Baptist minister and he began candidating at churches around the area after his son’s death. Leber soon found himself traveling to Easton United Baptist Church for an initial visit, and eventually left the warmth of northern Virginia, retired from coaching and moved up to a slightly colder Aroostook County.
“When I moved up here and changed jobs, I retired from coaching but I heard Presque Isle had a swim team. I met Joyce and talked to her about the team and decided to volunteer.” Though having only helped out for one season, Leber has already seen the team improve and has been rewarded himself for sharing the journey to states with the athletes.
“The best thing all season was seeing that [the swimmers] were getting it. At times, they would complain, but if you want to get better, you have to put forth the work. When they did, they started seeing results, especially at meets. They were starting to swim faster.”
Leber finds the root purpose of his job to be watching his swimmers peak and constantly get better; swimmers like Matt Dunn and Kyle Gilson. Dunn had never swam before but still made it to States because he would listen, learn the techniques and apply them each week. Gilson trimmed off a few bad habits he had learned and started swimming a lot faster. “Of course,” joked Leber, “I’ll never forgive them for getting me sick after States.”
Though the winter season has ended for swimmers, Leber is already planning for years to come. “As long as I’m up here, I plan to work with swimmers. I’d like to get a feeder program started where we start working with younger kids and building their endurance so they’re ready when they get to high school. The big picture is to someday have Presque Isle go to States and be the team to reckon with,” said Leber.
Whatever the future holds for the Presque Isle swim team, John Leber is sure to be involved.
