The former water polo and swimming coach will be honored with a dedication ceremony following an alumni swim meet scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Anderson started his career at Cal Poly as a physical education instructor in 1947. He went on to become the university's athletic director in 1963 and finally retired in 1968.

"It really hasn't hit me yet," said Anderson, who lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife Jane. "I would've never dreamed of this."

Anderson, inducted into the Cal Poly Athletics Hall of Fame in 1991, coached more than 40 All-Americans. His most famous swimmer is Olympian Gene Lenz, who swam the men's 400 meters in the 1960 Olympics.

"I'd say nine out of every 10 kids I coached were great kids," Anderson said. "That's what I remember most. And these kids have gone on to coach and try to emulate what I did for them."

The outdoor pool at Mott Gym was constructed in 1968, Anderson's final year at the school, in addition to the gymnasium facility built in 1959.

The six-lane, 25-yard pool holds about 200,000 gallons of water with depths of 6 to 12 feet and is used by both the athletic and kinesiology departments.

"Dick still comes in here and swims," said Cal Poly swimming and diving coach Rich Firman. "... and he should, because it's his pool. He still swims. He still competes. He drops by the pool now and then to get updates on the program and to see how funding is going."

Firman said former Cal Poly swimmers Lenz (1956-59) and Geoff Capell (1963-65) have been instrumental in fund-raising efforts for the program and also will be creating the Dick Anderson Scholarship Endowment in honor of their legendary coach.

"Coach Anderson was a man who cared," Capell notes. "Coaching was his vehicle for teaching and counseling others about life. He had a magic touch."