Terry German, a member of the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame who coached successful basketball teams at both Dieruff and Parkland and helped mentor dozens of athletes through his ownership of Camp Olympic, died Thursday at his home in Carolina Shores, North Carolina. German was 88.
German and his wife, Colleen, were married for 62 years.
“We lost a great husband, father and papa,” German’s son, Matt, said. “My father influenced many people in the Lehigh Valley, and he had the same impact on his family. He led a principled life and always cared more about others than he did himself. He was a great friend, mentor and coach. He told great jokes and had an infectious smile and personality. He will be sorely missed by all, but his memory will endure forever.”
German played for legendary Allentown High coach J. Milo Sewards before graduating in 1955. He was cut when he tried out for Allentown’s JV team as a sophomore, but blossomed playing for Kline’s Pharmacy in the Allentown City League, and Sewards sought him out as a senior and put him on the 1954-55 Canaries squad, where he shined.
Looking to get into education, German attended West Chester University, where he earned 10 varsity letters and participated in golf, soccer and track in addition to basketball. In basketball, he scored 1,226 career points, which earned him selection to West Chester’s Hall of Fame. He then returned to the Lehigh Valley to coach and teach, and spent a combined 35 years at Dieruff and Parkland.
At Dieruff, he joined Dick Schmidt’s first basketball coaching staff in 1959-60 and helped the Huskies win four consecutive District 11 championships from 1966-69. He spent 10 seasons with Dieruff before leaving to become the head coach at Parkland. He went 84-38 in five seasons with the Trojans, but returned to Dieruff when Schmidt retired as head coach and became the Huskies’ athletic director.
“This is where I started in 1959 and where I learned a lot of lessons from Coach Schmidt,” German said at a ceremony at Dieruff held in his honor in January 2016. “I learned how to coach, how to teach, how to be a gentleman, even how to dress. When I got the chance to come back to Dieruff, where I started, it was like a dream come true.”
German had big shoes to fill in succeeding Schmidt, but led Dieruff to the District 11 title game in his first season in 1974-75 before losing to Allen, which had first-year coach John Donmoyer in charge after Donmoyer succeeded Sewards.
German led the Huskies to a District 11 title in 1977 and to back-to-back league championships in 1977 and ’78. In 1978, Dieruff was the No. 1 seed with a 24-1 record, but was upset by Northampton in the district tournament quarterfinals. The 24 wins tied a school record, and the 24-2 also set a school mark for winning percentage.
In 1979, Dieruff withstood the loss of several key players for disciplinary reasons, and thanks to German’s ability to get the most out of his players, the Huskies still made the district final before losing to Allen. He was voted the league’s coach of the year in 1979.
Dieruff made the EPC finals in 1982 but lost to a Whitehall team that went on to win the state championship.
He retired from coaching after the 1981-82 season to devote time to running Camp Olympic, the famed basketball camp where nationally known players and coaches worked.
“Adolph Rupp has been to Camp Olympic; so have [Hall of Fame college coach] Hank Iba and Dean Smith,” German said in a 1998 Morning Call story. “We’ve had some great people and a lot of professional athletes. Adrian Dantley and Sleepy Floyd have been to the camp. Billy McCaffrey, the Hurley brothers have been here, and a lot of other people. I can’t rattle them all off, but there have been a lot of important people who have been here.”
Camp Olympic was for boys and girls ages 6-16, and at its peak attracted about 250 campers per week.
German also established lifelong friendships with everyone in the local and regional basketball community.
“It’s all about the friends you make, relationships with people,” German said. “I have met all kinds of good people through athletics. It’s mind-boggling sometimes. I give Milo a lot of credit. If not for him, I wouldn’t be here. He changed my life. I’m indebted to him, and I mention him lots of times in my prayers at night.”
While running Camp Olympic, German won the University of Notre Dame Award for outstanding leadership, an award presented by then Fightin’ Irish coach Digger Phelps.
German ran numerous golf tournaments for friends to raise money for scholarships and donations to various charities as his way in giving back to the community. In 2019, he was the driving force behind a special night to honor Morning Call editor Paul Reinhard and reporter Keith Groller, which raised money to be given as scholarships to journalism students at Allen and Dieruff.
German left Camp Olympic in 2005 and later moved to North Carolina.
But his mark on area athletics, particularly in basketball, was indelible.
“We usually had about 250 to 300 kids a day for 10 weeks,” German said in 2016. “We probably had 15,000 youngsters per summer out there, so a lot of kids came through Camp Olympic. I see some of them on the streets once in a while, and they’ll tell me how much they remember Camp Olympic and the things we taught them and how much fun they had. So, I wouldn’t change a thing with how my life has gone with my wonderful family and the things that I was able to accomplish with the help of everybody else. It has been a great life.”
A celebration of life service is being planned Nov. 29 at Stephens Funeral Home, 274 N. Krocks Road in Upper Macungie Township. More details will be announced at a later date. The family requests that donations be made in his name to Gentiva Hospice, 497 Olde Waterford Way, Suite 208, Belville, NC, 28451.
