Waterloo Black Hawks mourn former captain and coach Dave Swick at 88

The Waterloo Black Hawks lost one of the defining figures from their early junior-hockey years when Dave Swick died Tuesday at 88. Swick was remembered as both a former captain and coach, and his influence stretched well beyond his playing days because his arrival helped set the tone for one of the franchise’s strongest stretches.

Swick was never a big player by stature, listed at just 5-foot-4, but Waterloo’s remembrance made clear that size never defined his value. His feisty style turned him into a fan favorite, and it arrived at exactly the right time for a club building momentum. The winter he came out of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Waterloo started a run of five consecutive USHL championships, a standard that still sits near the center of the team’s history and identity.

That championship window gave Swick a place in Black Hawks lore, but his later work as coach made his connection to the franchise even deeper. In a junior market like Waterloo, a figure who mattered first on the ice and later behind the bench becomes part of the club’s memory across generations. Swick was one of those links, a bridge between the title teams of his era and the culture that followed.

The Black Hawks said Swick is survived by his wife, Gloria, son Dave Jr. and daughter Susan. His son Gary predeceased him. Funeral services were pending in Michigan, where his family planned to honor a life that stayed close to the game and to the organization that benefited from his edge, his leadership and his place in a championship stretch that still defines Waterloo’s early junior-hockey legacy.