UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Jim Brennan won seven out of eight conference diving titles during his Blugold career and was runner-up to a teammate the only time he did not win. He also had four top four finishes at nationals including a second on the one-meter board in 1978. Brennan, who prepped at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois, competed on the 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981 Tom Prior-coached swim teams that not only won four WSUC crowns but placed second twice, sixth and fourth in the NAIA Nationals. Besides winning seven conference titles in four years, Brennan set WIAC records in 1979 and 1980 and was voted NAIA District 14 Swimmer/Diver of the year in 1980. As a four-year All-American, he finished second on the one-meter board in 1978 and third on the three-meter board in 1979 while accumulating eight top 12 finishes at the NAIA national meet. He was a three-year captain and Blugold team most improved once and team MVP once. His Blugold diving coaches were Prior, Jo Casey and Bob Clotworthy.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1981, he worked 13 years in Chicago for IBM as an advisory marketing representative, area staff representative and marketing manager in General Business and Higher Education. After one year as product manager at Systems Group, Inc. in Schaumburg, IL; Lexmark International, Inc. was his next stop for 15 years, serving as District Sales Manager, Systems Engineering Regional Manager, Director Software Alliances, Director of Practice Development and Director of Systems Engineering-US. At the time of his induction, Brennan was Vice-President for sales & marketing for Arlington Industries in Waukegan, Illinois. Over his career he has been recognized for his ability to successfully develop and build high performance teams. Brennan has worked with the local community Adventure Guides youth organization and at the time of his induction, had coached age group soccer and basketball for the Spring Lake Sports League for 15 years.
