HOLLAND, Mich. — Bryan Huffman, a Holland-based ophthalmologist, is making waves in West Michigan with a campaign to ensure every child in the region learns how to swim.
Swimming has long been a part of Huffman’s life, dating back to middle and high school.
"In college, I started doing triathlons, and I coached in the summers at Blythefield Country Club," said Huffman at Tunnel Park in Holland, Monday.
That passion for swimming was interrupted by life.
"When I got into med school, it started going year round, and that was the end of my swim coaching," Huffman said. "And I really didn't swim for, like, over 20 years."
The COVID-19 pandemic gave Huffman time to return to swimming.
"That's when I kind of started with the goal of swimming the English Channel," Huffman said. "I started in August of 2020, and my goal was to swim the length of Lake Macatawa by the end of the summer. And I was able to do that by the end of the summer."
Huffman completed the swim across the English Channel in 2022 and found inspiration from Vicki Keith, the first woman to swim across all five Great Lakes.
"She's from Canada, and she did it in 1988 ... in one summer, which is crazy difficult," Huffman said. "But in doing it, she ran a swim program for disabled kids, and so she decided to raise money for that. Between those swims and the next summer, she did the English Channel and Catalina Channel, both butterfly the entire way across, she raised $1.2 million for swim lessons for kids."
It's a cause Huffman is emulating.
"Drowning is the number one cause of death for kids one to four, and it's second only to car accidents in kids five through 14," Huffman said. "So it happens all the time, and it happens all the time right here in Lake Michigan."
For the past three years, Huffman has been fundraising through marathon swims. The proceeds go toward swim lesson scholarships at the Holland Aquatic Center.
"We've raised up to about $70,000 now ... And I'm hoping to hit at least six figures with swims next year, and maybe continuing on after that, maybe not even me as the swimmer, but with other people swimming too," explained Huffman.
His swims include the Triple Crown; the English Channel, the Catalina Channel in California, the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan, making him first Michigan resident to complete it in open water swimming.
He's also swam across Lake Erie, Lake Huron and, most recently, a 20-mile crossing of western Lake Superior.
"We went to the Western crossing, which is between Two Harbors, Minnesota to Port Wing, Wisconsin," Huffman said. "We beat the record by two hours. So we made 11 hours, 16 minutes and 34 seconds. I was thrilled to have that be able to do that."
Huffman credits his family and his team for their support.
"My wife, Stacy, definitely, she's my main supporter on my swims and just dealing with all the logistics of the swims and things like that," Huffman said. "But there's a whole team at the Aquatic Center I've got, my coach, Mike. Jen and Jennica coach at the Aquatic Center as well, and then I have a whole team that goes with me on each of the swims to help with just logistics."
Huffman plans to continue swimming and you can learn more and support his journey, here.
"I think everybody, when you get too many miles into a swim like this, you just want to quit, but you just have to want to finish more than you want to quit," he said.
The Holland Aquatic Center Foundation will celebrate Huffman's accomplishments with a press conference Thursday, Sept. 25, at 5:30 p.m. in the Fishbowl conference room at the Holland Aquatic Center.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
