STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Paul Barren, a 2004 inductee to the Collegiate Water Polo Association Hall of Fame, will join another Hall of Fame as the Pennsylvania Swimming Coaches' Association announced his selection to the Class of 2011 Pennsylvania Swimming Hall of Fame.  

A standout prep school athlete, Paul Barren became involved in water polo while attending college at West Chester University. While swimming competitively for the West Chester swim team, he began to learn to play water polo with the school’s club team. After graduation, Barren played with the Philadelphia Water Polo Club, a team composed mostly of German and Hungarian ex-patriots. The level of play he encountered with the team piqued his interest in the sport and he began to pursue it with vigor.

While teaching math and serving as an assistant football coach at Lower Moreland High School in Huntington Valley, Pa. in the late 1960’s, Barren received permission from the school’s athletic department to start a water polo program. He coached the team for the next twenty years, taking his athletes on trips to Europe to compete in Germany and the Netherlands while compiling a record of 444-117-5.

Barren began officiating collegiate water polo games in the early 1970’s for the newly formed Mid Atlantic Conference. He also officiated AAU games during the summer and earned national certification in 1973. As Barren’s stature in the officiating community grew, he was able to earn a FINA rating as an international referee in 1978.

For his contributions to the sport of water polo, Barren was elected to the National Water Polo Hall of Fame in 1995 and inducted at a ceremony in Seattle, Wash. in 1997.

Established by the Pennsylvania State University in 1968, the Pennsylvania Swimming Hall-of-Fame recognizes those Pennsylvanians who have exhibited extraordinary service and achievement through aquatics. The Hall-of-Fame is located in the upper lobby of the McCoy Natatorium on the Pennsylvania State University-University Park campus. It includes a large plaque with appropriate inscriptions, nameplates, framed pictures of elected members, and a brief summary of each inductees' accomplishments. Today, Executive Officers of the Pennsylania High School Swimming Coaches’ Association are the governing body tasked with collecting nominees’ names and making the final decision as to who will be elected in the future. Each year, up to three candidates may be selected for induction.

Honorees are selected based on submitted nominations by indviduals during the course of the year.  

Nominations for the Class of 2012 can be submitted by filling out the nomination form and forwarding the information to Jim Burkman, PHSSCA President, 3414 Laurel Street, Laureldale, Pa. 19605.