{"id":8540,"date":"2026-04-12T09:23:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T13:23:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=8540"},"modified":"2026-04-12T23:52:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T03:52:54","slug":"lessons-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2026\/04\/12\/lessons-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is another in the Sunday story series. No \u201ccurrent\u201d politics today.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young Athlete<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been involved with athletics for almost all of my life.  I was a five-year old Little Leaguer in Cincinnati, (the University of Cincinnati basketball coach, Tay Baker, was our Coach).  I competed as a swimmer when we lived in Dayton and then in high school.  And I always knew I was fast, the fastest kid in Southdale Elementary School.  I loved 50 yard dash day.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I read the Jesse Owens story, and I was hooked on track and field, even more than being the first baseman on the baseball team.  Through Scouting I actually got fifteen minutes to talk to Mr. Owens. That cemented my track decision. And finally, in Junior High, I started wrestling. There was even a point when I was  swimming, wrestling, and getting ready for track all at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wrestling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a high school wrestler, I experienced a \u201cquestionable coach\u201d.   He taught us a lot about wrestling.  But he also made sure we knew how to cheat the weigh-in scales.  You could casually lean back on a convenient teammate’s thumb directly behind you.  Or you could crunch up paper to put under the foot plate of the scale (all balance scales back then).  And there were a variety of other ways to \u201crig\u201d the system.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was about that time that I also learned that you could \u201cstand on your head\u201d for a couple of minutes, then jump upright and onto the scale. This wasn\u2019t cheating, it just defied the laws of physics. But it worked: usually saving the few ounces needed to make weight.  A common sight at weigh-ins back then, was for several wrestlers to be upside down against the wall, waiting to get a final shot at the scale.  (In more modern times, wrestlers weigh-in with a singlet on, and only get one try). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that same Coach demonstrated the dedication that wrestling requires, especially when it came to controlling weight.  He was a \u201chands on\u201d coach, and if he really wanted to teach a lesson, you\u2019d wrestle with him all practice.  After all, we were adolescent boys, wrestling in weight classes fifteen to twenty pounds below or normal weights.  Boys not eating for days at a time \u2013 that\u2019s dedication.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back on all that, my wrestling coach was young, fresh out of University of Cincinnati.  The cheating was a \u201creverse\u201d lesson for me, showing the kind of example I didn\u2019t want to be.  But there was an even more important point from that Coach. You can be the person that kids will \u201crun through a wall\u201d for. It\u2019s up to you to pick the right wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And speaking of high school coaches, my track coach for two years was Gary Jump.  Coach Jump was really a football coach, and he ran the track team like it was football conditioning.  But, he was a good guy and one lesson he taught me hit home.  We were on a bus trip to an away track meet. But it also was the day before \u201csenior skip day\u201d.  The senior athletes discussed how to “get away” with it on the bus. Being the budding lawyer that I was back then, I suggested that they claim they were sick, all at once, at the Winton Woods picnic area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Coach Jump, sitting in the front (that\u2019s where the coaches go \u2013 right?), growled at me. It was a simple phrase, but it stuck with me for now fifty-two years.  He answered, with what we would now call \u201cmike drop\u201d simplicity.  \u201cDahlman, they aren\u2019t LIARS\u201d.  And that struck home.   I did skip school senior skip day, but I did it in the middle. I showed up in the morning, then skipped out for lunch.  Then I came back afterwards, with lunch for my favorite teacher, Eve Bolton, the major reason I ended up a teacher myself.   I was ready to “face the consequences. I wasn’t a LIAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one got punished. As I now know, the school Administration was just as interested in getting rid of the inattentive seniors in May, as those Seniors were to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My first and most important early coaching mentor was John McGowan, my first head coach.  John was competitive, and coached most of the team by himself in the early days.  But John was also compassionate to our athletes, and made sure they knew that he (then we) cared about them more as people, than times and distances.   For me, he became the ultimate \u201cmeasuring stick\u201d on how to coach.  I wasn\u2019t always successful, but we (my staff) tried to put the kids first. Then the effort, the dedication, and the success comes.  Our Track team was a family, and my assistants and I worked to make that possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was twenty-five when I became the Head Boys Track Coach at Watkins. Today,  I would call me a \u201cKid Coach\u201d, just like my old wrestling coach.   \u201cKid Coaches\u201d are the ones who look like they could put on a jersey and run a relay leg in a high school meet.  When I see them now, it\u2019s hard to be sure who they are:  athlete, spectator or coach.  Twenty-five was young, just a few years older than the sixty or more boys on the team.  But I was confident, I mean, really confident, that we could be a great team, year in and year out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I definitely stepped on some toes in those early days.  I knew things were bad, when the High School Principal Bill McKinley told me, in the middle of a lecture on a different subject: \u201cI see runners on the road, then I think about you, and I get nervous\u201d.   By the way, Bill and I didn\u2019t get along when it came to track or cross country until the mid-1990\u2019s.  Then he gave me a sage piece of advice:  \u201cI respect staff who stand for what they believe in, even if it means you\u2019re yelling at me!!\u201d I did that once \u2013 stood up and yelled back. And our relationship became much better. Job saved – Lesson learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Official<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been a track official since 1979 (with a pause in the early 2000\u2019s).  And most of those years, I also coached high school track and field at Watkins Memorial High School.  I coached every event in track and field, from sprints relays and hurdles to shot and discus, high jump, long jump and, of course, pole vault.  And, I even had national qualifying athletes in those events and more: Triple Jump, javelin and the steeplechase and the hammer throw .   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know my way \u201caround\u201d the track, and the field. So when I went to this “dark side\u201d, officiating full -time, it was natural for me to start at pole vault.  I still run the pole vault safety program for the Ohio Track Coaches, now for thirty-six years.  I looked for officials to model, the best pole vault officials I worked with as a coach. That\u2019s the kind of official I wanted to be (Tom, Roger, Brian, Patty, Bill; if you know, you know).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve Officiated Districts, Regionals and the State meet for the past four years.  The \u201cbook\u201d on me, is that I\u2019m a \u201cpole vault guy\u201d, who can still communicate with the \u201cpole vault guy\u201d coaches, as well as the \u201ckid coaches\u201d who come out with intensity and demands. They’re a younger me in from the 1980\u2019s!!. As I tell them, I\u2019ve been on their side of the \u201ccoaching box\u201d (where coaches can watch their vaulters), a lot longer than I\u2019ve been on this side (the \u201cDark Side\u201d).  I\u2019ll be back at the District, Regional and State pole vault pits in May and June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now, I’ve decided   to diversify my officiating.  So this year I applied for pole vault, District, Regional and State.  But I also applied for the Head Field Judge, the official administrative position. That official is responsible for all of the Field events.  Last week, I was hired as a Regional Pole Vault official for the Division IV competition in Chillicothe, and the Head Field Judge for the Division V competition at the same place (different days).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not worried about knowing the \u201cins and outs\u201d of field event rules.  After all, I\u2019ve got the vertical jumps down.  I\u2019ve done a lot of long jumps over the years, even at Districts meets.  And I coached throws. But, there is a process for making sure that the implements, the shots and discs, are legal.  They need to be weighed and measured with special templates.  And then the \u201cgood ones\u201d need to be marked to withstand impact, and so the event official knows that no one is sneaking in a \u201cringer\u201d implement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I called my \u201cfavorite\u201d Head Field Judge, Mark Moore.  Mark mentored me as I started this second career in 2019, making sure that I had the support and backup I needed to do my pole vault assignments.   And Mark is directly responsible for me knowing my \u201cofficial number\u201d, signed on each score sheet.  He had mine memorized even before I did, then he made sure I knew it.  His quiet expertise is exactly the kind of Head Field Judge I want to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One More Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At sixty-nine, I\u2019ve had great mentors in all of my endeavors:  teaching, coaching, administering, and now, officiating.   But, there’s always “one more story”. This lesson I learned as a \u201chot shot\u201d political operative working for the Carter\/Mondale Presidential campaign in 1976.  I was twenty-years old (still extremely confident), and owned a 1967 Volkswagen Squareback (station wagon).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of my job was to drive all of Southwestern Ohio, coordinating the different groups who were helping Carter win Ohio.  I had fun with college groups and high school volunteers.  Then I was assigned to work with the United Auto Workers labor union in Hamilton, Ohio.  So I pulled up in my VW, wearing my personal\u201cuniform\u201d: blue sports coat with a Bicentennial American Flag tie.  I went into the Hall, and had a good talk with the leadership about what they could do for Jimmy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We completed our meeting, and I started to leave, when the Local President came up and put an arm across my shoulders.  His grip was more than friendly, perhaps even a little menacing.  He walked me to the Union Hall door, and quietly said: \u201cYou\u2019re a rookie and we like you.  But if you ever drive that Volkswagen up to this Hall again, we\u2019re done with you\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good thing Dad had a second car, a bright red 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass.  It had the big engine, and I was tempted to see how fast it could go.  But the suspension wasn\u2019t as solid, and going much over eighty was an adventure that might have a bad ending.  So, Dad saved the job for me.  The UAW guys were a lot happier the next time I parked that Cutlass in front of their Hall. It was another lesson learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

2021<\/h4>\n\n\n\n