REMEMBERING KENNETH TREADWAY: OLYMPIC STAFFER AND SPLASH CLUB FOUNDER LEAVES GLOBAL SWIMMING LEGACY
Phillips 66 Splash Club founder Kenneth Treadway is shown in a file photo. Treadway, an International Swimming Hall of Fame honoree who established the Bartlesville swim club in 1950, passed away July 31, 2026, in Lawrence, Kansas, at age 96.
Courtesy photo
By Becky Burch
August 4, 2026
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Kenneth Treadway, the legendary founder of the Phillips 66 Splash Club, passed away July 31 in Lawrence, Kansas. He was 96.
Treadway, who won virtually every major accolade in competitive swimming, founded the Phillips 66 Splash Club in 1950 and served as its first head coach. Today, the organization stands as one of the most successful swimming programs in history.
As the original head coach, Treadway set in motion a program that has helped fulfill the dreams of thousands of Bartlesville children over the last seven decades.
Current Bartlesville Splash Club executive director and head coach Chad Englehart recalled meeting Treadway during the organization's 66th anniversary celebration.
“He was so kind and encouraging that it was easy to see how he became such a beloved and legendary figure in the swimming world,” Englehart said. “I am honored to be leading ‘Ken’s Swim Team’ and enthusiastically promoting aquatic safety to the Bartlesville community.”
Englehart said Treadway’s passion for enriching the lives of local children and strengthening families through the sport is felt worldwide.
“Tens of thousands of children have been taught life-saving water skills thanks to Ken’s relentless efforts,” Englehart said.
In 2009, Treadway was inducted into the Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame by the Bartlesville Sports Commission. Additionally, the very organization he founded, the Bartlesville Splash Club, was inducted into the local hall of fame in 2016.
Over a span of 45 years, Treadway served as a competitor, coach, official and chairman of state, national and Olympic committees, as well as an employee of the Phillips Petroleum Co. After founding the Phillips 66 Splash Club in Bartlesville, he persuaded his company to sponsor an annual swim meet, in addition to founding the successful Phillips 66 Long Beach Aquatic Club.
Treadway’s other achievements range from receiving the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) “Neptune” award in 1972 — then swimming’s highest honor — to his induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1983.
In 1963, he led Phillips in hosting four national swimming championships. In 1972, Treadway and Dr. John Bogert developed a plan for the company to become a national sponsor of swimming. The sponsorship started in 1973, and today ConocoPhillips’ sponsorship of USA Swimming stands as the longest continuous corporate sponsorship of any amateur sport in America.
Treadway was selected as a member of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team’s staff in Tokyo, Mexico City and Munich.