Mr. Swan graduated from Swarthmore High School in 1950. He studied at Swarthmore College until joining the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He served Stateside until he was discharged in 1954. Mr. Swan returned to Swarthmore and earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1957.

Mr. Swan, who earned a total of 10 varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball at Swarthmore High and Swarthmore College, never played competitive lacrosse until he was out of college.

After a stint with the Philadelphia Lacrosse Club, he took a job as assistant football coach at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., where he was recruited as an assistant lacrosse coach. He became the head lacrosse coach in 1965.

Mr. Swan took a job as football coach with Haverford College in 1967. The college's football team was disbanded in 1972. Mr. Swan had started the lacrosse program as a club sport in 1971. A year later, lacrosse became a varsity sport, and Mr. Swan was head coach until 1986. Concurrently, he was athletic director until 1982, when he transferred to the admissions department. He retired in 2002.

Mr. Swan inspired and mentored five generations of young men who went on to be judges, senators and doctors. "Some of his former students brought their children to our home to learn words of wisdom from my father," his daughter Betsy said.

Mr. Swan changed hats to reflect circumstances. "If he wore his green felt coaching hat with two feathers, we couldn't speak with him because he was concentrating. He wore an orange hunting cap so his family could find him in a crowd," his daughter said. "When he had a handlebar moustache, he wore a straw boater to go with it. That meant he was in a playful mood."

For Mr. Swan's 60th birthday, a group of Haverford alumni put together a book of his many expressions, including "Rest when you get there," said Stephen Emerson, college president.

Mr. Swan was fond of saying "Hidey ho" to his players. "That meant 'Get going,' " his daughter said.

In 1958, Mr. Swan married Priscilla Boston, a math teacher at the Baldwin School. The couple had three daughters before she died in 1995.

In 1996, Mr. Swan rekindled a love affair with his college sweetheart, Joan Nelson, and they married a few months later.

An amateur photographer who enjoyed birding, Mr. Swan also loved to sail and "dance in the kitchen with me," his wife said.

In addition to his wife and daughter Betsy, Mr. Swan is survived by daughters Susan Swan Smith and Martha Swan Melichar; a stepson, Marc Aumuler; and nine grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Haverford Friends Meetinghouse, 855 Buck Lane, Haverford.

Donations may be made to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dana W. Swan Memorial Fund, Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Box 62, Chincoteague Island, Va. 23336.