Head Coach Elliott B. MacSwan was the predecessor to coach W. Leo Shields, later serving in the United States Navy during World War II. He was a highly decorated combat veteran of the Pacific Theater.

     MacSwan returned to the BHS gridiron after World War II only to serve as head coach once more in 1957, but served many seasons as an assistant coach under W. Leo Shields.

      A highly regarded football and All-American hockey player at Colgate University from 1928-1932, Coach MacSwan hailed from Natick, MA. MacSwan later became BHS Athletic Director following the death of Leo Shields in 1964 and is considered the "Father" of Barnstable High School varsity hockey, establishing the school's first varsity team in 1957 before serving as the team's head coach through the 1970-71 season.

    He was enshrined in the Massachusetts High School Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1976.

      Mr. MacSwan played three years of varsity football and three years of varsity ice hockey at Colgate University and served as captain of Ice Hockey his senior year. He played tackle, tight end and fullback on the football team under Andy Kerr who later went on to great fame as coach at West Point.

    MacSwan also served as athletic director at Barnstable High from 1962-1972 and for 20 years served as an assistant coach for spring track & field.

    After graduating from Colgate, MacSwan went on to serve as head coach of ice hockey at New Hampton Prep, leading his boys to the best season in school history with just one defeat. He also played hockey for Mt. Washington in the Amateur Ice Hockey Association of Baltimore (MD),  part of a group of barnstorming semi-professional clubs that were deemed some of the best in the country in the 1930s.

    In high school, MacSwan captained Natick and was a three-year varsity letterman in ice hockey, football and baseball.