Honorary Maverick Bill Volckening, 38, was born in Atlantic City, NJ. He learned to swim when his family joined a community pool in North Caldwell, N.J. The policy wouldn’t allow lessons to anyone under age 5, but when little Billy refused to stay in the shallow end of the pool, he was allowed to start at age 4.

Bill’s secondary education was at the Peddie School in Hightstown, NJ. He did Undergraduate Studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts, NY, for two years each, with a B.F.A. He did his Graduate study at the International Center of Photography, NY and NYU. He missed his college swimming days, and joined Masters in 1989. His first involvement with the Mavericks came after the 2001 LCM Nationals.

“Paul and Margie visited my home, and we discussed creating a web site. They gave me a Maverick swim cap, and I created the first logo. I felt strongly that the Mavericks could really grow by having a web site. Soon after, we went live with the Florida Mavericks Web Site. “

In 2003, Bill was the first person to compete in all 12 National Championships, in the same year. This led to one of his most outstanding swim experiences, when he was selected as the Long Distance All Star for men, 35-39. He is most proud of overcoming great adversity and losing 70 lbs, in 2002. The following year, he reached his highest level of fitness, and surpassed lifetime best performances in swimming events, more than 50 times in one year. His swim goals are to continue to improve until age 50, and beat Paul’s times when he was 50. Bill’s sister lives in MA and his parents live in ME. He is currently single, very content and lives in Portland, OR, with his two cats, Shadow and Boo.