GREATER PENSACOLA AQUATIC CLUB

Team History

The name GPAC has been synonymous with excellence in competitive swimming on the local, regional, national and international levels for over 50 years. GPAC today is the end result of a long history of community cooperation and effort. Formed as the Pensacola swim team in 1972, it was originally composed of swimmers from several local groups – Cordova Park, Pensacola Navy, Rolling Greens, Scenic Heights, and Scenic Hills swim teams and the Pensacola Aquatic Club who wished to unite into a competitive team.

In 1973, with the assistance of Dr. John Lloyd, Head of the Department of Physical Education, the team associated itself with Pensacola Junior College (PJC). In the interest of promoting swimming, PJC agreed to furnish the facilities, hire the coaching staff, and assist the young team if it became self-supporting. Happy to have a home at last, the club accepted the challenge. The team was given it’s first official coach and the name of the Pensacola Junior College Aquatic Club (PJCAC). As PJCAC grew in numbers, it’s requirements for support also grew. In the 1979-1980 season, parents of swimmers formed Swim Boosters, Inc. to raise the funds necessary for club operation. Since 1985, the club has been known as the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club (GPAC).

Today, GPAC is a community program whose swimmers represent the Greater Pensacola area in major swim meets throughout the Southeast, as well as nationally. GPAC hosts up to six swim meets annually, which are attended by over 500 out of town swimmers and their families. GPAC swimmers can be found practicing six days per week at the University of West Florida and five days a week at Pensacola Junior College.

Excellence – GPAC was proud to send three swimmers and a coach to the 1988 Olympic Games.  At the 1995 Olympic Festival, a GPAC swimmer earned more medals than any other swimmer in the Festival and in 1996, a GPAC swimmer went to the Olympic Team Trials while a Masters swimmer broke a World Record at the Paralympic Games. A GPAC swimmer was invited to compete in the U.K. Nationals at Sheffield, England in 1998. GPAC has also had an Olympic Trials qualifier in 2000, two qualifiers in 2008 and one in 2024. Also in 2024, a GPAC swimmer made the Junior Pan-Pacific Championships for Team USA and won gold in the 200m butterfly.