Augustana College Athletics

Don Alexander, the lanky, smiling red-head, graduated in June of 1958 as the Augustana pool record holder in the 60 and 100 freestyle swimming events. He also was the school record hold in the 40, 50, 60, 100 and 440 yard freestyle distances.

Because only one conference school had a 25 yard pool in those days, the above distances were the usual for college swimming at the time. At one time or another, Alexander was the conference record holder in the 50, 100 and 400 yard distances as well. For three consecutive years he was the top point scorer on the team, consistently nearing the 100 point mark for a single season. He served as team captain as a junior.

He was an active member of the Augustana community during his time on campus. He served as student government vice-president and was the president of the Pi Upsilon Gamma fraternity. He received his M.Ed. from the University of Illinois and eventually earned a M.S. from Illinois Institute of Technology. He also did graduate work at the University of California, University of Colorado and Cornell University and his course load included black history, anthropology and demography.