Inductees

Athlete Bio

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Derek Swaim

Class of 1991

A two-sport Dual County League MVP who is recognized as the finest soccer player in school history, Derek Swaim '91 went on to captain the Harvard University soccer team following a distinguished high school career.

Growing up as the youngest of three boys (brother Jeff '84 was a goalie on the CCHS hockey team and brother David '88 was a football, wrestling and lacrosse letterman) on Park Lane, Derek attended Alcott and Peabody schools while participating in town and local club soccer, basketball and the Assabet Valley hockey programs. As a seventh grader, Swaim hit the "Shot heard around the world" for the CMS Basketball team, a last-second heave from the corner to defeat Wellesley and preserve a perfect season for coach Joe Leone's Patriots.

As a freshman, Swaim decided to stick with basketball and was the starting point guard for coach John MacNamara's varsity squad. As a sophomore, Swaim elected to go back to hockey, and made an immediate impact in his first year, earning DCL co-MVP honors and leading the team and league in scoring as the Pats qualified for the first of three consecutive state tournaments. As a junior, Swaim again led the DCL in scoring and was named league MVP as the Patriots defeated rival Acton-Boxboro for the first time in Over a decade to earn a share of the school's first-ever DCL title. In three years on the ice for coaches Gary Fay and Duncan Finch, Swaim amassed over 140 points. A three-time DCL All-Star, Derek was also named All-Scholastic by the Middlesex News and Lowell Sun in all three seasons.

Soccer was Swaim's top sport, and long-time head coach Jack Murray says "In the 36 years I coached high school soccer, Derek was the best player I ever coached. His willingness to adapt to what the other team was giving him was incredible, and he also had the ability to turn and shoot so quickly. He was also a natural leader, and even as a freshman the other players were looking up to him. His head was always on Straight, and you always knew he would do the right thing."

A four-year letterwinner and two-time captain, Swaim played on three DCL championship teams and captained the 1990 squad to the Eastern Massachusetts title game. A three-time DCL all-star and the league's most valuable player as a senior, Swaim capped his career on the pitch with over 100 career points. A two-time Boston Herald All-Scholastic, Derek earned a spot on the Boston Globe All-Scholastic team and was also named the Globe's Division II Player of the Year in 1990. For his efforts, Swaim was also named to the All-State team for three consecutive years and was twice named to the Coaches All-New England team.

Also a National Honor Society member at C-C, Swaim was heavily recruited by a bevy of top academic and athletic schools and wound up at Harvard, where he was a four-year letterwinner on the pitch for the Crimson. As a freshman, he scored the game-winning goal against rival Yale, and played on a pair of NCAA Tournament teams while earning All-Ivy League honorable mention honors as a Sophomore. Swaim also played a year of JV hockey for the Crimson.

Following graduation from Harvard with a degree in Economics in 1995, Swaim worked in New York for several years before attending Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Derek is now employed by Harris Williams of Boston in the Investment Banking field.

Still active in several local soccer leagues and an avid golfer at Concord Country Club, Swaim and his wife Jenna, a former soccer standout at Yale, recently moved to Winchester and are expecting their first child shortly.