[2][3] After a move to Arizona in 1969 at 14, Northway attended Tucson's Sahuaro High School where he was coached by Dick Cooper.

Bob Davis started the Dolphins in 1967, and was also an accomplished coach for the University of Arizona beginning in the early 1970s.

[6] When Davis moved to the Marin County Athletic Club in May, 1973, Northway followed him for the summer, though soon was busy with collegiate competition in the Fall.

As a 17-year-old at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, he received a bronze medal for his third-place performance in the men's 1,500-meter freestyle (16:09.25).

[12] Mike Burton, a former Carmichael, California swimmer for Sherm Chavoor's Arden Hills swim team, won the event with a world record time of 15:52.58, and Australian Graham Windeatt took second.

At the 1976 National AAU indoor swimming championships at Belmont Pool in Long Beach, Northway won the 400-meter event with a time of 3:56.48.

[19] At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, he swam for the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

[12] Swimming the leadoff 200-meter leg, Northway's relay team swam a combined world record time of 7:30.33 with Tim Shaw of Long Beach, Mike Bruner, and Bruce Furniss.

[22] In 1981 he competed in the New Zealand Games, taking medals in the 100 and 200 freestyle, and won the 100-freestyle at the Australia Speedo International Event.

[23] Northway won the Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean on July 19, 1984, having attempted the long distance swim in three prior years, but being unable to finish due to hypothermia.

The marathon swim is 32 kilometers, or 19.8 miles long, and swum in Lake St. Jean between Peribonka and Roberval, Quebec, Canada.

He coached swimming at Ventana Canyon, was a licensed minister, an associate pastor at a church, and taught Spanish to elementary students at Grace Christian School.

Those charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty in April to attempting to molest the girl, according to court records.