Augustus Pingree "Gus" Stager, Jr. (February 18, 1923 – July 6, 2019) was an All American competitive swimmer for the University of Michigan.

[16] Stager enrolled at the University of Michigan after being discharged from the Army around the Spring of 1946, and set a freshman American record in the 200-yard free style in February 1947 with a time of 2:12.3.

[11] As a highpoint of his college career, in 1948 he swam for the Michigan team that won the NCAA swimming championship and had the distinction of being the highest point scorer of the meet.

[18][22] In February 1954, Stager submitted two performances by his swimmers at Dearborn High as National records, a 23.2 in the 50-yard freestyle by Ken Gest and a 1:19.3 in the 150-yard medley relay, a relay event also swum by Gest, though it is an event no longer swum in High School competition.

[24] Stager was hired by athletic director Fritz Crisler,[25] and remained Michigan's swimming coach for 25 years until 1979.

[26][27] Stager's 1959 Wolverines' team was considered one of the strongest in NCAA history, as they scored an NCAA meet record 137½ points (41 points higher than the prior meet record set by Yale in 1954) -- more than the combined total of the second, third and fourth place teams.

The foreign boys can't conceive, for example, that they should swim out of their stroke (a free-styler competing in the breast-stroke, for instance) so that the team will get points.

[18] Stager’s best-known swimmers included the Olympians Carl Robie, Dave Gillanders, Dick Hanley, Bill Farley, Jack and Bert Wardrop and Juan Carlos Bello.

Tony Tashnik, a high point NCAA winner, was at the top of the national champions he coached which included Fritz Myers, Cy Hopkins, Breezy Nelson, Ron Clark, Frank Legacki, and others.

Stager is credited with focusing on certain swimming innovations such as shaving a swimmer's legs before a major competition to reduce resistance and increase speed, though the benefit may also be psychological.

After his passing on July 6, 2019, he had a Celebration of Life ceremony at the University of Michigan League Ballroom, attended by many of his former swimmers.

[34] While a student at the University of Michigan, he was married on August 22, 1948 to Marion Curtis Stager, who survived him, and the couple had two children.