Makos Couldn’t Mirror Nadadores

The Mission Bay Makos were supposed to be the next great U.S. swim club, but like the Mission Viejo Nadadores, they fell victim to the national real-estate decline in the late ‘80s.

Unlike the Nadadores, who are thriving if not dominating, the Makos are extinct.

Mark Schubert, originally hired away from the Nadadores as a consultant with a free hand to design his dream facility, was presented with one of those impossible-to-refuse offers by millionaire developer James Brady.

Brady’s proposal began with a record-setting salary and included a $5-million facility with 4,500-seat stadium in Boca Raton, Fla., weight room and sports medicine lab, a full-time physiologist, sports psychologist and nutritionist. It also included stock in the venture that Schubert hoped would become a foundation for a future of financial security.

Nadadores diving Coach Ron O’Brien, star pupil Greg Louganis and a swarm of Olympic-medalist swimmers and divers also headed to Florida to join the Brady bunch.

“[The Mission Viejo Co.] was still funding the [Nadadores] program at full strength,” said Schubert, now USC swim coach, “but they had made it clear there would come a time when that would no longer be the case. I thought I had the foresight to get into situation that would be comparable to what we had at Mission.”

By 1987, it was clear the Florida development would not sell enough houses to pay for the swim complex, and Schubert’s dream team went under. The pool was filled with cement and the complex turned into a tennis facility.