Early Life
Swan is the eldest son of working class parents, Hubert E. E. Swan (a career police officer) and Barbara Swan of Southampton. He spent a great deal of his formative years in the presence of his maternal grandparents John and Ivy Anderson; John a stonemason and fisherman and Ivy a devout member of Mount Zion AME Church, the eldest daughter of Irishman Isaac McKinley "Ike" Hall and Emily Burrows Hall from Southampton. Through his paternal grandfather, Swan is also 6th generation descendant of Charles Roach Ratteray(1799–1872), a renowned ship builder, entrepreneur and pioneer of the AME Church in Bermuda. Swan's paternal grandmother Ismay Agatha Swan came to Bermuda from St. Kitts at 15 to join her mother Emily Cardin Rose.
Swan attended Southampton Glebe, Berkeley Institute and Warwick Secondary Schools in Bermuda before receiving his tertiary education at Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach State College) in Lake Worth, Florida and graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Troy University in Troy, Alabama in 1980. Swan was a member of the then Palm Beach Junior College golf team led by Ken Green (Green would go on to win 5 events on the PGA Tour), which finished 4th in the State Junior College Championship in 1978, before joining Troy State University golf team which won numerous team titles. Individually, he won medalist honours at the Northeast Louisiana University Invitational at Chenault Park Municipal Golf Course in Monroe, Louisiana. Swan played under legendary Golf Coach Mike Griffin at Troy; Swan lead the Troy team that placed 4th in 1979 NCAA Division 2 Championship at El Macero Country Club, Davis, California and was named MVP for Troy University in 1979.
Swan was taught the game of golf by his uncle, Herman Santucci Bascome, a former Golf Pro at Ocean View Golf Course in Bermuda, while growing up at the newly developed Government owned Port Royal Golf Course in the early 1970s. As an amateur golfer Swan participated in numerous major amateur events including the 1974 Orange Bowl Junior Championship in Miami, Florida and two World Amateur Team Championships Eisenhower Trophy competitions in Fiji and the United States; before turning Professional in 1980. Swan qualified for the PGA European Tour in 1980 and competed for three years. He would partner with fellow Bermudian Keith Smith to win the Americas Zone qualifying of the World Cup of Golf in 1984 and three Bermuda Open Golf Championships.
Read more about this topic: Kim Swan
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