Owen Kuyper (Class of 1970, Town) leaves behind a remarkable legacy in South African swimming and education. A gifted backstroke swimmer, Owen represented South African Schools throughout his high school career and set several Pretoria Boys High School swimming records. He went on to receive a swimming scholarship to Southern Illinois University, representing South Africa and competing at the highest levels of the sport before concluding his competitive career in 1975.
His passion for swimming continued long after his own competitive days. Owen became an accomplished coach at school, club, provincial and university level, eventually coaching the South African University Swimming Team. In 1978, he was selected as coach of the National Swimming Team, and although South Africa was unable to compete internationally at the time, he travelled to Berlin to further his coaching knowledge and build relationships with leading international coaches. He also served as Chairman of the SA Swim Coach Association and played an important role in developing generations of South African swimmers.
Alongside his sporting achievements, Owen enjoyed a distinguished career in education. He returned to Pretoria Boys High School as Head of Educational Guidance and Senior Housemaster of Rissik from 1987 to 1990, before becoming Principal of Arcadia Primary School and later serving as principal of five Crawford Schools. Throughout his career, he was recognised as an innovative educational leader who believed strongly in academic excellence, sport and the holistic development of young people.
Owen’s influence reached far beyond his own achievements. Through his dedication to swimming, coaching and education, he touched the lives of generations of athletes, coaches and pupils, leaving a lasting legacy in both the sporting and educational communities he served.
“I have known Owen and his family for years, in fact for decades. From school in the early 70s until the last time I bumped into him on the South Coast a couple of years ago.
The irony is that in all those years I really had no idea what he was doing. Because when we chatted, it was all about family, and how I was doing…and how lekker life in its simplest form is. And he never stopped smiling. I mean never, as in … from the 70s until the present. A broad, happy, contagious smile of a man content with serving his family and those he worked with. Owen was a giver…and the love, care, and humility he shared with everyone will continue on in others, because he changed lives for the better… and that is what made him special.
You may not be with us, Owen but your essence lives on in your family and all the people whose lives you blessed
Stay blessed, brother.” – Paul Anthony –