For the love of the game
Starkey’s Maris Grove neighbor, John Smith, also has an impressive rapport with a certain group of students. As he sat at the beach enjoying the last days of vacation this summer, he says he began to think about the upcoming school year. But he wasn’t thinking about classes or lesson plans. Instead, he was focused on stat sheets and game plans. That’s because Smith spends the school year as a high school coach and referee.
In the fall Smith referees volleyball, and in the winter he coaches the girls’ ninth grade basketball team at Garnet Valley High School. Finally, in the spring he returns to the muddy playing fields wearing a striped shirt and donning a whistle to referee women’s lacrosse.
“First and foremost, I love sports,” Smith says. “That’s why I initially got involved, but now I really like to see the kids understand and learn to love the game too. That’s a big part of it for me.”
He has a coaching resume that puts many to shame, including more than 15 years as a girls’ high school basketball coach, including two trips to the finals and one state title.
“We lost that other game by one shot with four seconds remaining,” Smith recalls. “And I remember that shot to this day—a two hander from the corner. It was a tough loss, but I hope it was still a good experience for our team and those girls. I’ve had a great group of kids over the years,” he says with a smile.
After retiring a few years ago, Smith wanted to continue to coach and add officiating to his resume. “I wanted to remain involved in sports,” he explains. “I couldn’t give it up just because I was retiring.”
“Volleyball is a fun one; you just tweet the whistle and watch those lines. And lacrosse—it’s an exciting sport, a lot to watch. But that was a natural choice for me because my daughter played lacrosse at Penn State, so I was quite familiar with it,” he says. “The transition was easier than I expected.”
Scratching ‘the itch’
For Richard Dunlap, a retired elementary school principal, this time of year brings up a familiar feeling.
“Education is unlike any other profession because there’s a defined beginning and end,” he says. “Most people work year-round, but in education it’s a cycle. So naturally this time of year I start to get that itch.”
Dunlap says, “I never said I was ‘going to work.’ I always said, ‘I’m going to school.’ When you’ve been in school for over 40 years, you love it. You love the challenge of a new year, seeing your coworkers, and of course meeting the challenge of working with the kids.”
But after having been retired for a few years, one summer Dunlap received a phone call from the superintendent of the Rose Tree Media School District, his old employer.
“They needed a hand,” Dunlap explains. “A principal was out for surgery, and they needed someone to sub and open a school for them.”
A year later a similar situation occurred, only this time Dunlap was asked to help close down a school for the summer.
So Dunlap now finds himself in the unique position of being a substitute principal.
“I fill in wherever and whenever there’s a need,” he says. “And I love it. It’s a great way to stay connected to all of my former colleagues and still get to work with the kids. And my wife loves it since I don’t come home at different hoursbothering her for dinner. Now we can just go right upstairs to one of the restaurants, sit down, have dinner, and catch up on our days.”