Jeff Cavana started his swimming career wearing the Bellevue Tigers’ black and gold.
He finished his coaching career in the Louisiana State University Tigers’ purple and gold.
Cavana passed away Sept. 3 at age 67. He was an LSU assistant coach from 1989-2000, head coach from 2000-2004 and head coach of Jamaica’s Olympic team at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
“Jeff was a great kid,” former Bellevue boys basketball coach Mike Swauger said Monday. “I was really surprised when I heard that he had passed.”
Jeff Cavana’s athletic roots were Ohio River deep.
“He was the swimming team,” Swauger said. “For many years the swimming team was dormant, and when he got into high school he was Bellevue’s swimming team. From ‘72 to ‘75 he was a six-time top five finisher at the state swimming meet during his career.”
Jeff’s father, the late Milton “Bud” Cavana, coached Bellevue swimmers to team titles in the old Little 5 Conference, and his older brother, the late Jim Cavana, joined the Tigers’ varsity swimming team as a third-grader at age 8 and won eight state diving championships from 1955-63.
“His dad was one of the organizers of the first state swimming meet at Morehead State University,” Swauger said.
As a sophomore at Bellevue in 1973, Jeff Cavana placed third in the 100-yard backstroke and fourth in the 100 butterfly.
Jami Briede, Jeff Cavana’s niece and Jim’s daughter, recalled their summers at the Fort Thomas Swim Club.
“(Jeff) was a lifeguard out there, my dad was a lifeguard out there also,” Briede said. “I just remember being so proud of him.”
After a four-year letterman on Western Kentucky University’s swimming team, Jeff Cavana coached at Highlands. He then went to Wright State University, where he was inducted into the Raiders Hall of Fame.
Cavana was a multi-sport athlete at Bellevue. He was also the quarterback and captain of the football team in 1974.
Jeff Cavana is survived by Helen, his wife of 27 years, and sons, Jake Cavana, Sion Cavana, Ian Cavana, and Max Cavana. He is also preceded in death by his mother, Jane Cavana.
Visitation will take place at 11 a.m. EST, Friday at St. George Catholic Church, 7808 St. George Drive in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, followed by the Funeral Mass at 1 p.m. EDT. Burial will be at the church’s cemetery with reception in the church’s Kleinpeter Activity Center from 2:30-4:30 p.m. EDT. Friends and family unable to attend the service may go to St. George’s YouTube channel to watch a livestream.
