Scholarship Criteria

Graduating high school senior; full-time enrollment at a college/university; dedication to competitive swimming or diving during high school; minimum 3.0 GPA.

Scholarship Information

Remembered for his competitive, yet caring nature when working with the young people he coached, Bob Block's memory continues to live on. Raised in Kalamazoo as part of an athletic family--his father was a professional boxing standout--Block chose the water and became an award winning diver at Loy Norrix.

He went on to win an NCAA Division III championship at Alma College and then moved to Cleveland for a career opportunity. Block's return to Kalamazoo to attend graduate school at Western Michigan University was this community's gain. He was on his way to becoming a premier coach for swimmers and divers in the area when he was killed in an auto accident in the 1990s.

In 1996 his wife, Susan, established the Bob Block Memorial Fund at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation to assist graduating high school athletes who have demonstrated dedication and commitment to competitive swimming or diving, and their education.