Opinion: State College’s ‘Coach Garis’ is deserving of athletics memorial
It brings our family great sadness to read about the passing of Frank Garis on June 4.
Coach Garis was an instrumental part of State College Athletics and the greater State College community for many years and his impact on thousands of local lives (most especially students) deserves to be further appreciated and recognized.
Coach Garis was one of a kind and it is unlikely we’ll see someone like him so willing to selflessly contribute over so many years any time soon. Our family was involved in the SCASD athletics program for many seasons across a number of sports and this recent news started a family text conversation filled with memories highlighting how deeply Coach Garis contributed to the student community and his lasting impact on it.
The obituary mentioned his trips to Kennywood every year with the JV athletes. What it didn’t mention is that he was the main organizer for the trips and paid for the buses himself. And it is true that he was always first in line for the skydive and roller coaster rides.
I think he may have enjoyed working with the junior high and JV teams as much as, or even more than, the varsity squads. Coach always had a bag of candy (Bubblicious gum for the wrestlers) on him to hand out, even though he was diabetic and couldn’t partake himself — he did it for everyone else.
Coach Garis meticulously recorded detailed stats for a number of sports for many years without a computer then compiled them using a typewriter. He paid to print hundreds of post season booklets; at the year-end banquet, every kid on the team got a neatly-bound copy detailing tackles, catches, touchdowns, field goals, takedowns, hits, outs, pins, scores, wins and losses, completely broken out game by game/match by match/inning by inning, and totaled for the season. In the pre-camera phone and online highlight video days, many SCASD athletes who went on to represent State College at the collegiate level owe something to Coach for being able to produce detailed statistics about their past performances to potential college recruiters when requested.
I remember Coach Garis stopping by the weight room during the summer, attending preseason two-a-days, appearing in the team photos, recording the stats at games, running the clock at matches, or keeping the book on the diamond. Home or away. Rain or shine.
He’d spend almost every afternoon of the week on the field or court or mat, often leaving one sport’s practice to attend another sport’s game. I would guess he heard more halftime speeches, pep talks, butt chewings and coaching calls than anyone I know. I recall him being in the locker room smiling after wins and I remember him silently getting off the bus with the rest of the team when we returned home through a 2 a.m. blizzard after a loss; he was right there in the heart of it, with a lot of students over a lot of years. Always present and always positive. And always with a notepad, pen, and a bag of candy.
In recognition of his more than 50 years of contributions to the local community and SCASD, it is my hope and request that the SCASD Athletics Department find some way to appropriately memorialize Coach Garis. After a life’s worth of time and love invested in his State College sports passion, imagine his smile were he to learn his name was added to the football press box, a softball backstop, the wrestling room, a basketball court, a scoreboard, or a locker room. He has earned it.