The Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table will be inducting seven new members into its Hall of Fame on Monday, Sept. 16. The Induction Class of 2024 includes five athletes, a coach and a special achievement honoree.
This is the second in a series of stories about this year’s inductees.
To purchase tickets to the Hall of Fame event at the Cabrillo Pavillion, click here.
Santa Barbara has a rich history of water polo talent over the years, and one of the most influential local figures for USA Water Polo is Russ Hafferkamp.
Hafferkamp turned a water polo career that began at Santa Barbara High School in 1972 into a life full of experiences in the water, including becoming a member of the USA National Men’s Water Polo team from 1977 to 1980.
He has since parlayed his elite playing days into a career as a water polo coach and an active member of USA Water Polo as a referee, coach and administrator.
“I am proud to be one of the early pioneers in Santa Barbara Water Polo and I continue to hold close affiliations with the local college, age-group, and master’s programs in and around Santa Barbara,” Hafferkamp said.
After he wrapped up his career as a Don in 1972, Hafferkamp competed in water polo and swimming at Santa Barbara City College in 1973 and 1974, and he was named a California Junior College All-American in his final year.
He then went on to play at the NCAA level with San Diego State in 1975 and UC Santa Barbara in 1976, where he was an NCAA All-American and won the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Outstanding Athlete Award.
“In retrospect, my early path for success in water polo was more determination than mental maturity and awareness of the patience and discipline required to truly be successful in the sport,” Hafferkamp said.
After college, he embarked on what eventually became a decorated career with USA Water Polo.
After he was a member of the National team, he was a 14-time All-American in the Open Division and a 29-time All-American in the Masters Division. He is an eight-time National Champion in the Open Division and a 26-time champion in the Masters Division.
His coaching career began in 1975 as the freshman men’s water polo head coach at UCSB. He was then the men’s water polo head coach at UC San Diego from 1977-70, winning the conference championship and coach of the year award in 1978.
After that, he won a conference championship at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and coached the Australian Tasmania State Men’s Water Polo team.
He also coached at Cal Berkeley as a men’s and women’s assistant and was the head coach and won the FINA Masters World championship for both the Olympic Club of San Francisco and SB Masters Silver Surfers.
Hafferkamp’s career resulted in plenty of accolades, as he was named to the Hall of Fames of International Swimming (2008), USA Water Polo (2022), the Olympic Club of San Francisco (2006,2020) and SBCC (2024).
“I credit a great deal of my lifetime athletic success to growing up in Santa Barbara’s competitive sports environment,” Hafferkamp said. “More than anything else, I was blessed with learning from several caring and talented coaches, across many different sports, who taught me the fundamentals and discipline it took to succeed.”
Now, Hafferkamp lives in the Oakland area and works as an Olympic water polo broadcast analyst for NBC Sports. He has worked at the Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio De Janeiro and Paris Olympics.
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