To Some, He Will Always Be ‘Coach’

On land, Mark Gargiulo leans on his wife, Sara, for directions. Under water, Gargiulo may as well be Magellan.

“I think there’s a little fish in my DNA,” he laughed.

Whether he’s swimming laps in the Premier Fitness pool, riding the surf, collecting gold medals at Senior Games competitions or diving 130 feet into the Great Blue Hole made famous by Jacques Cousteau, the retired swim coach is most comfortable in the water.

Mark Gargiulo propels himself through the water with a butterfly stroke before taking a break at the pool at the Premier Fitness & Health Center. Photo by Dave Barfield

Gargiulo suggested that his affinity for water may be a matter of astrology. He’s an Aquarius. More likely, Gargiulo’s love of the water surfaced around the age of 10 when he worked at a float rental stand at Daytona Beach. Like an alligator in a flood, he’s been moving from one body of water to the next ever since.

Gargiulo spent 19 years as the swim coach for Maclay School and was added to its athletic hall of fame in 2017. Gargiulo led Maclay to 12 city championships, 17 district titles and 14 Top 10 finishes at the state championship. He coached 21  All-American swimmers, 10 All-American relay teams and earned the title of the area’s Coach of the Year a staggering 15 times.

Despite this illustrious record, Gargiulo is reluctant to take credit for his swimmers’ successes, saying that they were fast before they met him, and, “They made my job easy.” Still, swimming is a disciplined sport, and Gargiulo’s two-a-day practice schedule was intense. The coach made sure to deter possible discouragement with fun.

“I took the swim team to Curaçao,” Gargiulo said. “We would set up dates at the beach all the time. We would go to Daytona and swim. We tried to incorporate a lot of fun into the training, but the training was the ultimate. We couldn’t be the best without the hard training.”

Today, the 76-year-old may be retired, but shaking his coaching habit is easier said than done. His wife Sara can attest to that.

“Once, we were playing in a pickleball tournament, and I was telling her what she needed to do,” Gargiulo said with a smile. “She stopped right in the middle of the tournament, looked at the audience and yelled out, ‘Is there a marriage counselor here?’”

This memory sparked rolling laughter from Sara. Both retired coaches, Sara and Mark are fiercely competitive on the court, in the pool and everywhere else. Sometimes they even catch themselves counting who placed the most pieces in their jigsaw puzzle.

“​​I think it’s great,” Sara said. “There are a lot of husbands and wives who don’t do the same things. That’s fine for them, but for me? I think it’s much more fun to have a playmate.”

For Sara and Mark Gargiulo, a typical day begins at 9 a.m. with an intense gym workout and a swim of 2,000 to 3,000 yards. The couple has ramped up their exercise routines in recent years throughout which they have competed in the Tallahassee Senior Games and amassed a collection of medals. Photo by Dave Barfield

“She is my biggest fan,” Gargiulo said. “She supports me so much and encourages me. There are things that I just wouldn’t do, but she is always there pushing me and supporting me to try. Not only are we husband and wife, we are best friends. We do everything together.”

For the couple, a typical day begins at 9 a.m. with an intense workout and a swim of 2,000 to 3,000 yards in the gym pool. They have ramped up their exercise routine in recent years in which they have competed in the Tallahassee Senior Games. In pickleball, they have won gold medals together in mixed doubles tournaments and apart from one another in men’s and women’s doubles.

Gargiulo dove into the Senior Games swimming competitions three years ago and brought home a gold and a silver medal.

Sara thought he could do better. The next year, Gargiulo agreed to work harder on one condition: Sara had to swim, too.

That year, Garguilo brought home five gold medals and set five records. The following year, Sara and Mark each won four gold medals.

Photo by Dave Barfield

“I beat three of my records from the year before and set one new one,” Gargiulo said. “So this year I decided I ought to branch out. I decided to throw horseshoes.”

His opponent brought his own horseshoes — not a good sign. The match was a nail-biter, but Gargiulo eked out a win. He went on to win gold in the bean bag toss tournament and silver in the basketball shoot.

Gargiulo beams when recounting his and his wife’s athletic triumphs, but he may be even more proud of the relationships he has maintained with his former swimmers. Decades later, they still call him coach, they come visit for dinner and when things get tough, they offer a helping hand.

“When Hurricane Michael hit, it really did a lot of damage to our house,” Gargiulo said. “All the shingles blew off and water just poured in, so the whole house had to be gutted.”

Gargiulo received a call from Greg Hardwick, a successful Orlando builder and former Maclay swimmer. As the two chatted, Gargiulo mentioned the trouble. Hardwick offered to fix the house.

“I said, ‘You’re kidding. Why would you do that?’ He said, ‘Coach, you don’t know what an influence you were on my life. I would be happy to do this for you.’”