Chandler swim coach dies from COVID-19
Chandler head swimming and diving coach Kerry Croswhite died Tuesday evening from complications due to COVID-19, his wife Laurie posted in an online journal she has kept since he was hospitalized in early July.
Croswhite was 61.
“This is a hard one,” Laurie wrote. “Kerry lost his battle at 6:01 pm this evening. He fought so hard. The song ‘These Are the Days’ by Van Morrison was playing on his Pandora when he passed. Think of him whenever you hear it. He now can see all of your love and tributes and support. We could not have made it this far without all of you and your prayers. We are so broken, but we will be okay. Toast a scotch to Kerry.”
Croswhite was a fixture on the Chandler campus for the last 15 years with his big personality. Not only a well-respected coach and mentor to students, he was known for dressing in a kilt and playing the bagpipes, sometimes leading the marching band and football team onto the field on Friday night.
He also played the bagpipes at state swimming meets when his swimmers came onto the pool deck for the finals.
“Kerry was a great man who meant so much to so many people,” Chandler Athletic Director Jim Culver said. “He was an inspirational coach and teacher and he had a huge impact on so many CHS students and athletes throughout the years.
“The Chandler High community will greatly miss his presence.”
Croswhite, who was also an assistant softball coach at Chandler, began feeling ill the day after Father’s Day.
The first test for COVID-19 came back negative.
On June 30, his breathing became difficult and he was tested again.
This time, it came back positive.
Croswhite was put on a ventilator July 8 after his oxygen was dropping with double pneumonia.
Laurie Croswhite said that she was notified by his ICU nurse last Friday morning that Kerry was declining and that she should come to the hospital.
Vigils at Chandler’s aquatics center and softball field were held last weekend.
On Tuesday, again she was asked to come to the hospital, where she was told there was nothing more medically they could do.
His blood pressure was dropping and his oxygenation was unstable and his breathing labored, Laurie wrote.