In 1962, Dave Dabbelt came to Elder as a freshman.  Throughout his time at Elder, he was a wrestler.  From 1967 to 1970, he helped coach wrestling while still in college, and in 1970, he started again at Elder as a Social Studies teacher and a wrestling coach.

After spending all these years at Elder, starting as a teacher and coach, he made his way up through the ranks and landed himself the position of Athletic Director, running the show on all platforms of sports.  Throughout his tenure, Elder’s athletic teams have earned upwards of twenty state championships.  Dabbelt has also seen four new interscholastic sports programs start during his tenure.  This, he said, was one of his most valued accomplishments throughout his years.

Now, 54 years after first coming to Elder, Mr. Dabbelt is still here, with his son (also named David), a senior.  At the end of the year when his son graduates, he will also be saying goodbye to the building at 3900 Vincent Avenue.

Coach Dabbelt is behind the scenes of every single athletic event involving Elder.  He is constantly on the phone with other schools’ athletic directors, discussing transportation, timing, scheduling, and every other little detail that needs to be taken care of.

I asked him what the proudest moment of about his career as Elder’s AD was, and he told me that “there’s been a lot of them obviously, you look at State championships in basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, but what I really take joy in, is I started four different sports.”  Coach Dabbelt is the reason that Elder has hockey, bowling, lacrosse and volleyball teams.  “The idea of trying to get as many kids involved in athletics as possible, to me, was a big piece of that,” he added.

Coach Dabbelt will forever be remembered as the one who strived to give every Elder Panther the opportunity to perform on the field of play that he wants to.  This is the reason he created the programs for the additional four sports.

He told me that “having been a wrestler with wrestling just starting at the time, I sort of saw the value of participation in sports.  I tried to create a number of different sports that have a lot of different body types that might be included in it, from volleyball players to bowlers;  hockey players to lacrosse players.”

David Dabbelt ’17, Coach Dabbelt’s son, has been along for the ride for the entirety.  We talked about his memories of his father and his constant involvement in sports, and he said “it’s been ever since I can remember.  He was always bringing me to games, and I remember a few State championship games.”

Young David’s favorite memory involving his dad and Elder Athletics was the game this year against Pittsburgh University Prep.  At halftime, Coach Dabbelt and the entirety of his family was recognized on the field for the endless hours of service that he’s given to Elder.

“We had the whole family out on the field recognizing him for his many years here at Elder.  He doesn’t usually accept all the attention and recognition but it was nice for the elder Community to recognize his years of service at Elder,” David told me.

When the time finally does come for Coach Dabbelt to hang up the spikes, the person to pick them up will be Mr. Kevin Espelage, the current Assistant Athletic Director, per Coach Dabbelt.  I asked for his official word and he told me that “the word out there is that Mr. Espelage is the good bet, as long as he can keep his health and well being.”

All in all, the Elder community as a whole is forever grateful to Coach Dabbelt and his ability to show the excellence of Elder Students both in the classroom and on the field.  Throughout all his years, he has preached the ideals of teamwork, determination, and self-discipline, and hammered home the idea of “Altiora” in all of the athletes that have performed under his guidance.