King's Hard Work, Variety of Skilled Strokes Leads to 19 All-American Honors

As a high school student in Newark, Del., Debbie King Gannon “was not hip on the idea of going to college where mom (Elizabeth Colton) had gone,” as she put it, but they just happened to be in nearby Canton, Ohio, for a swimming meet during the spring of her junior year and decided to visit. King immediately fell in love with The College of Wooster, realizing it had everything she was looking for – small classes, a focus on liberal arts, critical thinking and writing with the Independent Study program, and a highly successful swim team.

While King may have been impressed with the swim program at that time, she was “the one that carried on the groundwork and traditions … (and) kept us in the national ranks,” according to 19-year head coach and current Wooster athletic director Keith Beckett. In fact, she graduated as the second-most decorated swimmer in school history with 19 (of a maximum 28) All-American honors from 1993-96.

“Without a doubt, Debbie was the most diversified we’ve ever had,” said Beckett. “Being a specialist in the individual medley, she had a diverse set of talents … a diverse range of strokes over a diverse set of distances.”

King came to Wooster, “knowing (she) could do well,” and she lived up to that belief right away with a pair of All-American swims as a freshman. She finished among the top-10 in both the 200 IM and 400 IM, but that was just a small preview of what was to come.

With some hard work, which Beckett described as “one of the most driven trainers (he) ever had the privilege to work with,” King put together extraordinary sophomore and junior seasons, contending for national championships. In 1994, King won the 200 IM and 400 IM at the North Coast Athletic Conference meet and was the runner-up in those events at the NCAA Div. III Championships, and likely would have won a national title had she not been part of the same era as Kenyon College’s Katie Petrock, who broke the national record in those events. King also was third-best nationally in the 200 breaststroke and led four relay teams to top-16 showings as well.

King defended her conference championships in the 200 IM and 400 IM the next year. At the NCAA’s, she again was among the top challengers in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 breast, placing among the top-five in each race, highlighted by third-place in the 400 IM.

King was a bit disappointed with her senior season, however, she still collected five all-NCAC (top-three at the conference meet) and seven All-American certificates. She made the championship heat (top-eight) at nationals in both the 200 breast and 200 IM, touching seventh and eighth, respectively.

All told, King left the Scots’ program with four conference wins, 10 individual All-American honors in the 200 IM, 400 IM, and 200 breast, as well as nine others in relays, and six school records – 200 IM (2:08.03), 400 IM (4:30.28), 200 breast (2:24.30), 200 freestyle (1:59.24), 1000 free (10:49.24), and 800 freestyle relay (7:59.31). Her mark in the 400 IM is still a Wooster best.

King, who earned a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in geology at the College, was equally dedicated and skilled in the classroom, as she received a prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship. That helped her complete a master’s degree in museum studies at the University of South Carolina-Columbia.

Since graduating from Wooster, King has lived in South Carolina, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, and now Iowa where she is an administrative coordinator in the department of athletics at Grand View College. Also working there is her husband, Dr. Kevin Gannon, an associate professor of history. They are the parents of a daughter, Emma (2), and are expecting another child in early December.