South African swimmer Jonty Skinner trained with Palmer at the Central Jersey Aquatic Club before becoming a world record holder in the 100-meter freestyle at the Senior AAU Nationals in Philadelphia in August, 1976.

[5][2] One of Palmer's earliest swim coaching assignments after graduating from Monmouth University, was his Driftwood by the Sea Swimming Team which won the Shore Junior Championships against eight other clubs at Driftwood Beach Club on the Jersey Shore in Sea Bright, New Jersey, in late July 1959.

[6] In June 1960, as coach of Driftwood Swim Club, Palmer attended the National Indoor Championship at Yale University.

For a number of years through the mid-1970's, the team still met in the summers at the Driftwood Beach Club, depending on pool availability.

[12] Palmer led the Shore Aquatic Club team then known as the Central Jersey Aquatic Club in August, 1976 to an excellent showing in the National Championship of the American Athletic Union in both the senior women's and the combined categories for men and women.

[3][1][11] An early swimmer with the Shore Aquatic Club under Palmer was John Clews, who swam for Red Bank High School and qualified for the State Finals in 1973, taking a second place in the 200-yard freestyle.

[13][3] Jonty Skinner, who swam for Central Jersey Aquatic Club under Palmer in 1976, set a World Record at the U.S. Senior National Championships in Philadelphia on August 14, 1976, of 49.44 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle twenty days after the 1976 Montreal Olympics, breaking Olympian gold medalist Jim Montgomery's newly set record of 49.99 seconds in the event.

[3][16] Cathy Corcione, who swam for Princeton, was the Shore Swimming Club's first Olympian under Palmer in 1968, ranking first in the world in the 100 freestyle, fifth in the 200 IM, and second in the 200 backstroke, an event in which she broke the American record.