Longtime San Mateo County swim coach and history teacher Bren P. Ferguson passed away peacefully February 10th, in his board and care home in San Mateo, following a long bout with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 86.

Throughout the 1970s, Ferguson served as the Belameda pool director and swim coach of the San Carlos-Belmont Trident Swim Club. Hundreds of kids, 14-and-under, would look forward to the Annual Summer Belameda Olympics, which included medals, pride and even a ceremonial torch lighting.

In 1973, Ferguson took 35 members of his Trident swimmers to compete in a meet in Hawaii. A couple of them are still involved in swimming as a coach or a parent of a college swimmers fifty years later.

Vicky Brusati-Vandenbusch, who went on to be an aquatics teacher and high school swim coach, has fond memories of that trip.

"During that meet in Hawaii, I was 14 years old, and I told him that this is where I wanted to go to college," said Brusati-Vandenbusch. "When it came time to apply to colleges, he reminded me and had the University of Hawaii coach fly out to see me swim. I wound up getting a scholarship there."

In 1976, Ferguson beefed up his Trident coaching staff, hiring as an assistant coach Suzy Jones Roy, a member of the 1968 US Olympic team and former world record holder in the breaststroke.

"I have good memories coaching with him. He was a good mentor to me when I was beginning my coaching career," said Roy, who still coaches at Ladera Oaks Swim and Tennis Club. "He really made coaching fun."

Ferguson joined the Air Force in 1955, and stayed nearly four years. He left just in time to attend San Jose State University on the G.I. Bill. He graduated with a masters degree in history in 1966. In one of his first jobs after earning his teaching credentials, Ferguson expanded the social studies curriculum at San Lorenzo's Arroyo High School to include Black History and African history courses as electives.

Ferguson was born on April 15, 1936 in Los Angeles. In grade school, he used to listen to the Brooklyn Dodger games on the radio with his dad.

"One of his fondest childhood memories, was listening with his dad to the Dodger game on the radio as Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier as the first African American player in Major League Baseball. It was extra special because it happened on my dad's 11th birthday," said Kevin Ferguson. "Three years later, my dad would attend Robinson's alma mater John Muir High School in Pasadena."

Another one of Bren Ferguson's teacher-activist endeavors occurred in the late 1960s, also involving Arroyo High. Ferguson had read about a federal proposal to damn up the Eel River in Mendocino County. This plan would result in creating a reservoir, which would flood the Round Valley Indian Tribe.

Ferguson took a class of 30 Arroyo students on an overnight camping field trip. They spent time with the tribe and met the Tribal chief.

Soon after, Gov. Ronald Reagan received 30 letters from Arroyo High students requesting they cancel the Eel River damn project because of the impact it would have on the Indian tribe.

Reagan visited the Eel River, and later complied with that request.

"My dad told me that story one time over lunch in 2008," said Kevin Ferguson. "While I cleaned out his apartment after his move to a board and care home in 2022, I found an album of Polaroids from that 1960s field trip."

In 1969, he left Arroyo and began a 30+ year career teaching social studies to troubled youth at the San Mateo County Juvenile Hall Youth Services Center.

In the 1990s towards his retirement, Ferguson took up ballroom dancing, a social activity that grew into a competitive one. He also became a dance host on cruise ships, leading to an opportunity for him to see many of the historical sites that he used to teach to his social studies students long ago.

A celebration of life memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, March 25th, at Menlo Church, 950 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park.

He is survived by his two sons, Kevin of Foster City, and Michael of Sausalito; one granddaughter, Alexis, one nephew, Shaun of Palm Desert; two nieces, Kimberly Crossley of Nevada, Pam Catching of Washington; His two brothers predeceased him, Francis (Skip) and Dennis. He was the son of George Ferguson and Margaret (Mahoney) Ferguson.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the charity of the donor's choice.