Greenwich High School's boys swim and dive team funds its season the same way it has for half a century: selling fresh fruit.

The annual fundraiser dates back roughly 50 years, according to Greenwich Free Press. The exact start date is undocumented. The team's online order page describes it as the program's main fundraiser for "50+ years."

The timing fits the sport. The boys' swim and dive season opens in December, and Coach Terry Lowe's swimmers need to stay in peak condition through the holidays. Oranges and grapefruits beat Christmas cookies.

The team sourced its fruit from Florida's Langdon Barber Groves starting around 1976, Greenwich Free Press reported. When Langdon Barber sold to Pee Jay's, a family-owned New Jersey company, in 2018, the team kept the tradition going with the new supplier.

Each swimmer and diver is asked to sell 10 boxes. The all-time record belongs to a pair of brothers who moved more than 100. One of the team's biggest repeat customers is a local realtor who buys around 80 boxes a year. She swam for GHS herself and had two brothers on the team.

When the fruit truck pulls up to the high school loading dock in mid-December, the entire team unloads hundreds of boxes together. It doubles as a workout and an early-season bonding exercise.

Proceeds help offset team dues for families that need financial assistance. The money also covers team suits, food for late away meets, training during December and February school breaks, the team yearbook and the end-of-season celebration.

Local buyers get their fruit hand-delivered by a GHS swimmer or diver. Out-of-town orders ship via UPS anywhere in the country.

The fundraiser has run alongside one of the most dominant programs in Connecticut high school sports. Lowe took over the program in 1967, according to the GHS Sports Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 2023. He is a member of the Connecticut Coaches Hall of Fame, the FCIAC Coaches Hall of Fame and the Fairfield County Hall of Fame.

Under Lowe, the Cardinals have won 40 State Open titles and 40 CIAC Class LL titles, the Greenwich Sentinel reported in March 2026 after the team captured its 12th consecutive State Open championship at Yale University's Kiphuth Pool.

That's a lot of fruit boxes.

Orders for the current season are open at freshfruitorder.org.