It was becoming that, final night time, the sector hockey crew from Lititz Warwick (Pa.), regardless of having a greater report and higher seed than opposing Palmyra (Pa.), wore its street black equipment to the PIAA Class AAA semifinal sport at Landis Area in Harrisburg, Pa.
Whether or not you knew it or not, Warwick’s crew was in mourning, as long-time head coach Bob Derr handed away yesterday. He was one of many winningest male coaches within the historical past of scholastic discipline hockey, however the variety of tales about him in addition to his gamers abound.
There’s the story of his begin, which lasted a mere 10 days and three contests, because of the departure of the earlier Warwick JV coach. The three-game audition was, frankly, successful. The gamers on that JV crew benefitted to such a level to his construction and strategy to the sport, he finally developed into the crew’s head varsity coach a number of years later.
The primary time I met Derr, it was at a non-conference match when his Warriors traveled to Newtown Council Rock (Pa.) within the mid-Nineteen Nineties. He struck me as an individual who, at his core, was real. He appeared to get pleasure from the truth that this intrepid journalist who got here out to this sport was concerned about its intricacies in addition to the individuals who performed it.
Over the course of seasons, I’d see well-trained and attack-minded Warwick sides compete for trophies, whether or not it was District 3 or PIAA titles. And on the sidelines was Derr, being his jovial finest and answering questions (a few of which he might need heard dozens of instances) with a smile on his face.
It was across the flip of the century when the Warriors have been at their finest. They received six District 3 championships between 1998 and 2005, and PIAA titles in 1999 and 2000. Derr would win consecutive Nationwide Area Hockey Coaches Affiliation nationwide coach of the yr titles in 2000 and 2001.
He would go on to win 630 video games over 39 years of teaching varsity discipline hockey at Warwick. He additionally modified numerous lives on the hockey pitch in addition to on the wrestling mat. He was a top-rated wrestling official, rising to the extent of officiating NCAA matches. Yep, you might need seen him flying within the air and diving on a mat to get a detailed view of whether or not the shoulders of an opponent have been pinned to the mat for the half-second wanted to trigger a fall.
And to prime all of it off, he was a track-and-field coach for 29 years.
Derr retired from teaching in 2022. Since then, one did hear rumors, bits, and tales about his well being, and the way he wasn’t feeling properly. After all, lots of people of their 70s . A motion grew within the small city of Lititz (pop. 9,742) to rename the varsity’s new turf discipline after him. Greater than 1,800 folks signed the Change.org petition, however the powers-that-be inside the Warwick Faculty District have to this point been immune to the thought.
Possibly they received’t be now.
