An outstanding athlete at Grand Haven High School, Kent lettered in football, and baseball and, as a diver, co-captained the Buccaneers’ swim team before heading off to Western Michigan University. At Western, he again excelled in the pool, winning both Mid-American Conference diving events as a senior, earning All-American honors.
Following college graduation, Kent joined the staff of Kalamazoo College, guiding the school’s swimming and diving program for 35 years. During that span, his teams won 25 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles and finished in the Top 10 at the NCAA Division III Championships on 13 occasions. The winningest men’s Swimming and Diving coach in MIAA history, Kent was inducted into WMU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 and into the Kalamazoo College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009.

He served Kalamazoo College from 1968 to 2003, including 16 years as men’s athletic director and chair of the physical education department, as interim head football coach for a season and as an assistant coach for 15 years.

Kent was also previously inducted in the MASHF in 2003 as a catcher on the Grand Haven 1960 and 1961 baseball teams.