A knee injury forced former Butler basketball standout Ed Erdos to change sports - and it changed his life.

The 1962 Butler graduate began swimming at Slippery Rock State College. He lettered three years in the sport, won a collegiate state title and spent numerous years as a high school and college swim coach.

His achievements in the sport gained him induction into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame. Erdos will be one of seven honored during the organization's annual banquet at 6:30 p.m. April 30 at the Butler Days Inn.

"I played forward (in basketball) at Butler and was named to an all-star team with (NFL football coach) Marty Schottenheimer my senior year," Erdos said. "I suffered a knee injury earlier in my high school career.

"After being recruited by Slippery Rock, I hurt the knee again my freshman year, and that ended my basketball career. Because I was a physical education major, I had to be involved in some varsity sport. The swimming coach liked my size and invited me to give it a shot."

Erdos went on to finish first in the 200-yard backstroke at the Pennsylvania State College meet in 1965 before placing fifth in that event at the NAIA Nationals.

He set four school records at Slippery Rock that year - in the 400-yard medley relay, 400-yard freestyle relay, 100-yard backstroke and 200-yard backstroke.

In fact, Erdos was undefeated in backstroke events in regular competition during the 1965 season.

"I had some background in swimming before college, serving as a lifeguard at a pool in Butler during the summer," Erdos said. "I had just never swam competitively."

Erdos got into coaching in 1966 when he took the reins of the Berea (Ohio) Midpark High School program. He stayed there five years, coaching 16 all-state swimmers and compiling a 60-20 record.

For two years, he served as interim coach of the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins AAU team, replacing Ron Johnson, who became swim coach of Mexico's Olympic swimming team.

In 1971, he went on to Edinboro University, where he was hired to initiate and develop a varsity swimming program.

"That was difficult because there were already established programs in the state like Clarion and West Chester," Erdos said. "I brought seven swimmers with me from Berea and filled out that first team with walk-ons."

Edinboro finished sixth out of 12 teams during that first season and Erdos guided the program for 15 years.

During that time, he coached 22 swimmers to 90 All-American titles in NCAA Division II and finished second in the PSAC for five consecutive years. More importantly, 95 percent of his freshman swimmers graduated in four years.

Erdos retired as a health and physical education professor at Edinboro in May 2004

Erdos is the third member of his family to be inducted into the Butler Area Sports Hall of Fame, joining his brother Tom (1983) and cousin Bill Erdos (1995).

"My background was established through the role models I had in Butler," he said. "Ed Hepe, Doggie Cavalero, Paul Uram - I looked up to and admired those guys."

Erdos received the PSAC Swimming Coach of the Year Award in 1982 and 1986. He was inducted into the Edinboro University Hall of Fame in 1992 and is a 2005 inductee into the Erie County Aquatic Hall of Fame.