Wilson's Doug Dahms, Hamburg's Phil Kistler calling it a career as track and field head coaches
Apr. 20—A three-sport athlete at Muhlenberg in the late 1960s and early '70s, Doug Dahms was a member of the Muhls track and field team under the direction of Hall of Fame coach Barrett Oxenreider.
When he first joined the team, little did Dahms know that Oxenreider would be the motivating force for what would eventually become his career, and largely his life's work.
"My high school track coach was a big influence in my life in terms of getting into teaching, getting into coaching," Dahms said. "He had a great rapport with kids and was the kind of guy you didn't want to disappoint."
More than 50 years later, Dahms, 69, is in the midst of his 47th and final year of teaching and 33rd year as the track and field head coach at Wilson. He will continue to serve as the Bulldogs football head coach.
"I patterned a lot of what I do coaching after his style," Dahms said about Oxenreider. "He was a great guy. The athletes came first, and the health and mental well-being of the athletes came first."
More than four decades, thousands of athletes and countless champions later, Dahms is stepping down after this season, and will serve as a track and field volunteer assistant coach moving forward. In the classroom, he is retiring after serving as an Advanced Placement biology and Advanced Placement environmental science teacher at the high school.
"Coach Dahms is one of the legends here at Wilson, from both a teacher and certainly a coach perspective," Wilson athletic director Drew Kaufmann said. "The thing that coach Dahms has really done in my opinion for our track and field program is he has given amazing opportunities to a large number of students here at Wilson."
While he said it was a difficult decision, Dahms wants to spend more time traveling with family.
"My wife wants to travel," Dahms said. "I've been doing this for 47 years, and it's year-round. There are places we want to go."
Dahms has coached seven Berks record-holders and two District 3 Class 3A record-holders. The Bulldogs have won four District 3 team titles under his guidance.
Despite all the record-holders and champions, it is watching the athletes develop that always has been the most meaningful part of Dahms' role at Wilson.
"It's rewarding seeing a kid grow up," Dahms said. "When you get a kid that struggles and has to overcome some things and still makes great successes out of themselves, that's what is really nice."
Dahms has seen the development of his student-athletes not only on the track and field, but inside and outside of the classroom. He started a marine biology-focused trip to Jamaica in 1997, which has grown exponentially throughout the years.
Dahms now takes two groups of students to Jamaica on two separate nine-day trips every winter, where they go snorkeling and study the area's marine life.
"That's just incredible to see kids learn so much that they didn't think they could possibly (learn) in a short period of time," Dahms said.
In the summer, Dahms takes a group of recent graduates and others on a humanitarian trip to Jamaica, where they volunteer their time and efforts at a government-run infirmary that houses people with mental and physical disabilities. The group takes 25-30 suitcases of donations and 450 sets of educational materials to the island nation every year.
Dahms builds cabinets, benches and shelving for the infirmary, and is currently working on building a house for a local resident. He said he hopes to complete the home this summer after more than two years of construction.
"The kids are changed when they come back," Dahms said. "They see abject poverty and they can't believe how smiley and happy everybody is down there. It's just a great experience for them."
And whether he is in West Lawn or Jamaica, it is Dahms' willingness to help students and athletes excel that has defined his career at Wilson.
"He's amazing," Kaufmann said. "His character is beyond reproach. He is the epitome of student-centered. He is always looking out for the best interest of our students here at Wilson."
Dahms graduated from Lebanon Valley College, where he was a three-sport athlete and earned 12 varsity letters across football, wrestling and track and field. He threw the javelin, shot put and discus, ran in the 400-meter hurdles, competed in the pole vault and high jump and was a member of a relay team during his college career.
Dahms served as an assistant track and field coach for 14 years before taking over as the head coach.
"He does a lot for the team," Bulldogs senior Mia Brown said. "He's always there for everybody."
As he heads into the home stretch of his final season as the head coach of the track and field team, Dahms continues to bestow his four decades of wisdom on the current Bulldogs.
"You got to be a good person," Dahms said. "You got to have good character. When you get there, if you make it, pay it back. Make sure that you take care of the people that helped you get to where you are. That's what coaching is all about."
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Growing up in Hamburg, Phil Kistler would run around his yard or up and down the street, curious as to how much ground he could cover in a certain amount of time.
"I was always active as a kid," Kistler said. "I was always fascinated by distance."
Once he got older, Kistler ran cross country, winter track and spring track at Hamburg before becoming the head coach of all three sports several decades later. The 2023 season will be Kistler's last as the head coach of the track and field team, and he will retire as the head coach of the cross country team following their season in the fall.
"Time has probably come," Kistler said. "Even though I still enjoy it."
Kistler began coaching at Hamburg as an assistant track and field coach in 1996 and has served as the cross country and spring track and field coach since 2000, and as the winter track and field head coach for the past 10 years. He helped re-establish both the cross county and winter track programs at Hamburg after they were disbanded in the 1980s.
"He does things the right way," Hamburg athletic director Aaron Menapace said. "He's a man of his word. He's a guy for 20-plus years that I could count on to do the right thing in every way."
A Hamburg resident his entire life, Kistler, 69, graduated from Hamburg in 1971. He was a distance runner for the Hawks, running in the half-mile, mile and two-mile events.
While he will be stepping down as head coach, he intends to remain on staff as a volunteer assistant coach.
"When you get something from a sport, it's only good if you share that with someone else," Kistler said. "I hope to be able to do that."
As head coach, Kistler helped guide Adriene Beltz to a PIAA Class 2A girls cross country individual title in 2003, the lone state champion in Hawks' athletic history. He led the 2012 girls track and field team to an 11-0 season, including a 5-0 league record.
"He's helped me be a better person and be more positive," Hamburg junior Rebecca Young said. "He's a good coach."
While his teams were competitive and experienced success, it was not solely about the trophies and records for Kistler.
"I try to stress the life skills and the character development that you can get from sports that help you later in life," Kistler said. "Be the best student you can be, be the best athlete you can be, be the best person you can be. To see them develop in all three of those, that's probably the greatest joy of coaching."
Kistler taught sixth-grade social studies at Hamburg Middle School for the entirety of his career before retiring 11 years ago. While he was a successful coach, Menapace said Kistler's legacy is more about what he did for the student-athletes.
"It has nothing to do with winning and losing," Menapace said. "It's about teaching kids to have good character, teaching kids to have grit, work through hard times and persevere and be good people. Say what you're going to do and do what you're going to say."
Kistler is heavily involved with the Hamburg Area Historical Society, and already has written several books about the history of the area, including a book about the history of the Hawks track and field team. He is working on a book about the Native Americans of Berks County, and looks forward to continuing his research on the topic in the coming years.
As he steps away from full-time coaching and continues to pursue his passion for history, it is the lives he impacted that Kistler considers his greatest accomplishment.
"They become productive members of society," Kistler said about his former athletes and students. "That's special, knowing that hopefully you had a little part with that."
