David Holland has always been comfortable in the water.
That quality made him a two-time second-place finisher in the WIAA State Swim Championships while at Janesville Parker High in the mid-1970s.
Holland still demonstrates his ability while competing in the his age groups in U.S. Masters Swimming events throughout the United States and Canada. This weekend, he is in Greensboro, North Carolina to compete in the 2026 Spring Nationals.
Holland will be inducted into the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, May 16th at the Janesville Country Club. Joining Holland in the 2026 induction class will be Jean Welch, Jimmy Coulter, Bob Pedersen and twin brothers David and Jim Jackson.
Holland will become just the third swimmer-associated inductee in the Janesville Sports Hall of Fame, joining Janesville High graduate Fred Westphal (1992) and Craig graduate the Rev. David Boyd in 2001.
Lambrecht, Moore were huge influences
Holland grew up off of North Parker Drive. He got involved in swimming as an 8-year-old.
Dick Lambrecht was his first coach in age-group swimming.
“I just started excelling in it and just kept with it,†Holland said.
Then Jeff Moore took over Holland’s coaching at the YMCA.
“Jeff Moore was the most influential in my development,†Holland said. “He spent countless hours on the pool deck coaching; showing up for early morning practices even when only three or four of us were there.â€
Holland remembers the Volkswagen Bug that Moore drove at the time.
“He even made the long drive to Fort Lauderdale three times for YMCA Nationals,†Holland said. “He was not only a great coach but also a good friend.â€
When Holland got to high school, Lambrecht became his head coach again. Holland qualified for the WIAA State Championships all three of his varsity seasons.
Holland and Scott Mylin were the standouts of the Vikings squad during those three years.
State meet regulations at that time limited participants to two events. For Holland, that was the individual medley and breaststroke. The individual medley consists of the breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly stroke and freestyle.
“Otherwise, he would have been on relays, too,†Lambrecht said. “But that was the way it was at that time.â€
Lambrecht said Holland’s best stroke was the breaststroke.
“The breaststroke is a very coordinated stroke,†Lambrecht said. “That is why you don’t see a lot of kids swimming the individual medley anymore. You can either do it, or you can’t.â€
Holland could do it.
“It was just natural to me,†Holland said.
As a junior, he finished second in the 200 individual medley.
As a senior in the 1977 State Meet, he finished second in the 100 breaststroke to Nicholas Nevid. It was the only time he lost that season.
“The guy that beat me (in the breaststroke) went on and set an American record in college,†Holland said. “He went to Texas and just blossomed.
“I just remember seeing him passing me in the final five yards,†Holland said. “I just had nothing left.â€
Nevid was prevented from competing in the 1980 Olympics because of the U.S. boycott.
Finishing second to Nevid was a huge accomplishment.
“It was nice to see a kid do so well,†Lambrecht said. “He was a very coordinated swimmer.â€
Holland wanted to win the state title for Lambrecht.
“He coached me through milestones, setbacks, and successes, and his encouragement helped me discover both my potential and my love for the sport,†Holland said of the 2010 Janesville Sports Hall of Fame inductee. “Outside of the pool, his presence, patience, understanding, and guidance have helped me more than I could have imagined.â€
While swimming was still a passion, he did not carry the success he had in the pool to the University of Wisconsin.
Injuries and illness were the main obstacles.
“The first semester I got mono,†Holland said.
He recovered from that in time to make the Badgers’ annual training trip to Hawaii.
“But someone brought the flu, and I got that,†he said. “Then I got strep throat. They gave me medication and said I had to stay out of the sun.
“The joke on the team was I came back from Hawaii whiter than when I left,†he said.
The next obstacle was more serious. Holland pulled a groin muscle, which is the key muscle in swimming.
“That literally took me a year, a year-and-a-half to get over,†Holland said. “So, my college career wasn’t all that successful.â€
Getting back in the pool
Holland remained in Madison after he graduated. Some friends got him interested in joining a swimming group that worked out at Middleton High School.
At that time, a Masters Swimming Club was taking shape in Middleton. U.S. Masters major competitions are held in the spring and late summer. That gave Holland incentive to get back into competition.
“I just keep going with it now,†he said.
Holland finished first in the 200 medley relay at the U.S. Masters National Championships in 2024. In 2014, he finished first in the 2014 FINA World Masters Championships in Montreal, Canada. In 1998, he recorded two first-place finishes in the Nike World Games in Seattle.
Holland also competed in four Maui Channel Swim competitions. That event is a relay race from the island of Lana to Maui.
Holland has been involved in the Masters program for three decades.
World recognized company
Bernie Staller was another influential person in Holland’s life.
Staller was an agribusiness instructor and Future Farmers of America advisor at Parker High for 11 years. Under Staller’s guidance, the agriculture education program increased from 40 to nearly 500 students, and the faculty expanded from one to five instructors.
Staller got Holland interested in horticulture, which was his major when he enrolled at the University of Wisconsin.
“My senior year at Parker, they built a greenhouse,†Holland said. “Bernie Staller was in charge of that. I got involved in that and just really enjoyed it.â€
Holland graduated from the UW with a degree in horticulture. After dabbling in a business started by his future father-in-law, he went back to Wisconsin and earned a degree in accounting. He spent 15 years in public accounting, specializing in small businesses, along with tax planning and preparation.
In the early 2000s, Holland purchased Class Biologically Clean, Ltd., from his father-in-law.
The manufacturing company in Madison produces specialized flexible-film isolators for germ-free mouse and rat research. Under his leadership, the company expanded from a three-customer operation to a global supplier serving more than 32 countries.
“We basically make expensive mouse and rat cages,†Holland said.
Class Biologically Clean is recognized as one of the leading isolator system manufacturers worldwide, with distributors in Germany, South Korea, Thailand, and China.
The soon-to-be 68-year-old still spends nearly every day working.
“It’s a good problem to have,†Holland said.
Holland and his wife, Karen, have three children. Their children, Noah, Serena and Jenna are 30, 28 and 26, respectively. Noah and Serena live in Austin, Texas. Jenna lives in Madison.
Despite his busy work schedule, Holland finds time to hit the water.
“I work out four to five times a week,†he said. “You are not hurting your knees or anything.â€
He is in Greensboro, North Carolina swimming against fellow Masters swimmers. He plans to compete in the 50, 100 and 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley, the 50 freestyle and several relays.
“The fields keep getting smaller,†Holland joked. “But the fast guys seem to stick around.â€
As long as there is water, Holland will be there. It always has been his home away from home.