Fifty years ago, Coach Jim Ellis founded the first Black swim team in the country – the Philadelphia Department of Recreation swim team, perhaps more widely known as PDR. Though the 2007 film, Pride, may have introduced his story to a wider audience, Ellis has and continues to champion the success of the hundreds of swimmers whose lives he’s touched. 

As a child growing up in Pittsburgh, Ellis learned to love swimming and eventually became a lifeguard in a time of racial tension when many pools would close or become privatized rather than integrate. He swam competitively for Winchester High School and then would later go on to swim for Cheney State, a historically-Black college near Philadelphia. 

Ellis started as a water safety instructor at the Sayre-Morrie Recreation Center in West Philadelphia, often working with youth who weren’t selected for other sports teams. Under Ellis’ guidance, PDR has grown into a premier competitive swim team that has become a model for urban swim programs across the United States.

Ellis received the President’s Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2019, he was inducted into the International Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame.