A California-Style Tribute to a Water Polo Hero

CORONADO, California, October 12. BRIAN Bent was an ambidextrous water polo player known for converting 6-on-5 advantages into points. As a high school All-American and one of the top prep recruits in the country, Bent became a member of the UCLA Men’s squad and played with the Bruin’s water polo team from 1995 to 1997. In 1995 he redshirted the NCAA title-winning season. In 1996, he had a tremendous freshman campaign, scoring 30 goals in 46 attempts and helping guide the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA Championships. He graduated from UCLA in 2000 and passed away peacefully in his sleep on April 2, 2006 from an enlarged heart, a condition called cardio myopathy. At the time of his passing, he was teaching English to students in Taipei, Taiwan.

Bent is now memorialized in one of California’s premier aquatic facilities in his home town of Coronado Island near San Diego. The Brian Bent Memorial Aquatics Complex (BBMAC) is located on the Coronado High School campus where Bent earned prep All-America honors, was named the league’s most valuable player and garnered 1994 CIF Player of the Year accolades as a senior. That season, he helped lead Coronado High School to the CIF title.

“Brian was clearly as talented an athlete as anyone I have ever coached, including the three highly regarded Olympians. But my memories of Brian serve me often, and he was the complete package. Honest, strong work ethics, sincere, and without a doubt, fun-loving. His spirit is simply expressed as ‘living the moment’. Brian Bent captured the moment of what many of us strive to achieve,” said Randall Burgess, Coronado High School’s water polo coach.

Read the entire Swimming World article here.