Former TAG Buying Group Leader, Owner Trevor Swangard Passes Away

Updated July 28, 2025

DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS (July 22, 2025) – Trevor Michael Swangard, who was a leader and owner in the Team Athletic Goods (TAG) buying group and part of the sporting goods industry for more than 40 years, passed away on June 27 in Redmond, Washington from complications related to pancreatic cancer.

Swangard, who was 85, spent his final days connecting with friends, family and former colleagues and making sure his flowerpots were properly planted for their summer blooms. 

Swangard was with his wife Marianne, son Dan, daughter Jill and granddaughter Courtney when he passed away.  

“What a beautiful, loving and kind human,” Jill wrote on her father’s CaringBridge page. “What an amazing life. He will be deeply missed. We’re so fortunate to have loved and been loved by him.” 

Swangard was born September 4, 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. The standout three-sport athlete in high school enrolled at the University of Oregon, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1962 and a master’s degree in administration in 1965. He led the Oregon baseball team in runs, doubles and stolen bases in his senior year and he played three seasons of minor league baseball in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization from 1962-64. 

After spending time as a coach and teacher at Southern Oregon Community College, Swangard returned to Eugene in 1965 and began working at Luby’s Sporting Goods, which specialized in retail and team sporting goods sales. Swangard would eventually become a dealer for TAG and in 1984, he became its first Executive Director, a position he held until 2005. For much of that period, Swangard and Marianne relocated to St. Louis, Missouri.

TAG grew significantly under Swangard’s leadership, including launching a line of football shoulder pads, which has become one of the top-selling brands in the industry. He remained an owner of TAG until 2009 and returned briefly in 2010 as a consultant.

Swangard was deeply committed to youth sports. He served on the board of the Eugene Boys Athletic Association, later known as the Eugene Sports Program (ESP), from 1969-78. He was named ESP Volunteer of the Year in 1975 and served as board president from 1975-76. He also served on the Marist High School Foundation from 1983-85. As part of a loyal group of former Oregon baseball players, Swangard was a founding donor for the construction of PK Park when the University re-established the program in 2009.

Trevor and Marianne Swangard were married September 19, 1964, in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were introduced through mutual family friends and shared 60 yeas of marriage. In articles announcing his retirement from TAG, Trevor was quick to credit Marianne for supporting his professional success.

After his retirement, the Swangards relocated to the Seattle area to be near their daughter Jill and their two grandchildren. Trevor would become the model grandfather, golf marshal, gardener and loyal friend to all who knew him. He is survived by his wife, Marianne; his son, Dan Swangard; his daughter, Jill Swangard; two grandchildren, Gabriel and Courtney, all of Redmond, Washington; and his brothers, Randy (Abbie) of Eugene, Oregon and Graham of Kitchener, Ontario.

Two celebrations of life will be held: the first in Eugene on Sunday, August 17, at 2 p.m. at the Eugene Country Club, and then in Redmond on Sunday, September 7, at 3 p.m. in the Cedar Lodge at Trilogy at Redmond Ridge.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Trevor’s memory to an endowment set up by the family to provide youth scholarships at Kidsports in Eugene. Checks made out to the Oregon Community Fund with a “Trevor-for-Kids” memo line can be mailed to the OFC office at 1221 SW Yamhill St, Suite 100, Portland, Oregon 97205. Online donations can be made at www.oregoncf.org/trevor-for-kids.