50-Year Coaching Veteran Forced To Reapply For Job

New York Daily News, Mitch Abramson

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high-school/longtime-newtown-hs-track-coach-jack-dammann-forced-reapply-job-school-renamed-nyc-education-department-turnaround-plan-article-1.1093168

Jack Dammann is a quiet, unassuming man, but he expects to be recognized when he enters a room, especially if that room is inside Newtown HS, where he has coached track and field for the past 40 years.

On Friday, to his mild surprise, Dammann received a blank stare from a school administrator when he introduced himself.

“I’m Jack Dammann,” he said with a warm smile. “Do you know who I am?”

The administrator did not. Dammann shrugged his shoulders, smiled and went on his way, taking the lack of recognition in stride.

But Dammann won’t be so reserved if he gets overlooked by the school’s new principal in September and loses his job. After coaching high school sports in the city for the past 50 years, Dammann, who started his career at George Westinghouse HS, may have unwittingly coached track at Newtown for the final time when the outdoor season ended.

Newtown — which opened in 1897 — will be shuttered for good on July 1, a victim of the Education Department’s decision to close struggling schools and open them under new names. After June 30, Newtown will be known as College and Career Academies HS at Newtown Campus. All teachers and coaches will then lose their tenure and retention rights and be forced to reapply for their positions.

Dammann, 76, will be asked to submit an application for his job as the school’s outdoor/indoor and cross-country boys coach.

He will not be alone. Scores of other coaches across the city who work at schools being affected by the Education Department’s plan are also being asked to reapply for their jobs.

The process has angered many of the veteran coaches throughout the city.

“I just hope my reputation stays with me and that people appreciate what I’ve done,” Dammann said on Friday as he sat in a large conference room at Newtown. “It’s one of the reasons I’m re-applying. It’s kind of like my ego is on the line, which doesn’t happen too often. But I still have a love for the sport. I still want to coach.”

Dammann admits to being frustrated by the process. He’s is not sure when a decision will be made on his coaching future, so for the first time in a while he’s in the dark about whether he will be a cross country coach again next season, which starts in late August.

If Dammann doesn’t retain his positions, he’s sure of one thing: he will retire from coaching.

“I will pack it in,” he said. “I don’t want to coach at any other schools. I feel very close to Newtown. I’m very comfortable here. I am 76 years old, and it’s not time to start new again. I can spend time with the grandkids.”

If that happens, it will be an unfortunate end of one of the longest and most memorable terms for a city coach.

Dammann, the son of a vaudeville performer, was a star distance runner at Hunter College. He eventually went on to guide his teams at Newtown to 15 straight Queens cross-country titles from 1978 to 1993, and he helped produce runners that went as far as the Olympic Trials.

“He’s a living legend,” said Newtown softball coach Wayne Crawford, who also must reapply for his position as an English teacher and coach after 12 years at the school.

Crawford was Dammann’s assistant on the cross-country team this season, and said, “If you look at some of the storied figures in New York sports — the Jack Currans of the world — I look at someone like Jack Dammann (as) up there with those guys — the legends in the city.”

Dammann admits that track is not an easy sport to coach, because of the long hours involved, but he still seems like someone who’s willing to do the job — if he’s allowed to.

“Not many people want to do it except track people. But it’s a great sport. It’s man against man,” Dammann said, slapping the table in front of him for emphasis. “That’s what makes it so great. That’s why I love it.”