It has been a tough few days for the local sports world in general, and Allentown in particular.
Just a few days after the passing of legendary softball coach Ed Stinner, who guided Allen to a state championship in 1990, the local sports community learned of the death of Hall of Fame Dieruff and Parkland boys basketball coach and longtime Camp Olympic owner and director Terry German.
Stinner was 71, German was 88.
Both were teachers in addition to being coaches and had a profound influence on generations of young lives in Allentown.
Many of Stinner’s former players are pushing to get Allen’s softball field named in Stinner’s honor. There are hurdles to overcome in the Allentown School District for that to happen, and Terri Adams, the Eastern University softball coach who was on one of Stinner’s first teams in the 1980s, is among those determined to get it done as soon as possible.
The perfect scenario there would be for Ed Stinner Field to be christened in the spring of 2026 with an Ed Stinner Day doubleheader that would feature Allen against Dieruff, the school where Melodie Stinner, Ed’s wife, taught for many years. And the other game should feature Parkland and Whitehall, the two other places where Stinner coached and where his children, Kyle and Deanna, served as assistants.
For German, perhaps something at Camp Olympic Park in Emmaus could be named in his honor. The Dieruff gym has already been named in Dick Schmidt’s honor, and the court is a fitting tribute for two-time state champion coach Linda (Repp) Cruttenden.
Those who knew German will tell you that he was a very modest man and wouldn’t even think about having something named in his honor. He would be more than thrilled to have his legacy live on through the dozens of young student-athletes he taught.
Two of those he influenced the most go back to the 1960s, before German became a head coach.
George Isaacson, who went on to coach at Allen, Central Catholic and Dieruff, was a key member of the Huskies’ four straight league and District 11 title teams from 1966-69, when German was an assistant on a staff headed by Schmidt.
“I was very fortunate to play for three Hall of Fame coaches, and I coached with three Hall of Fame coaches,” Isaacson said. “However, Terry German was more to me than a teacher-coach. He was a mentor.”
Isaacson remembered that in June of 1967, after his junior year, when Dieruff won their second straight league and district titles, German asked Isaacson what he wanted to do after high school.
“I said ‘go to business school or work’ and Terry German said ‘No, I want you to go to college to become a physical education teacher and coach like me’ and he saw something in me that gave me the confidence to make something more out of myself,” Isaacson said. “So after playing three years at Dieruff, I went to LCCC for one full year. Then Terry made a phone call to West Chester, and I was accepted in the school of health and physical education.”
German was a Hall of Famer at West Chester after a remarkable basketball career that included 1,635 points and a school-record 1,236 rebounds. When he talked, school officials listened.
Hall of Fame boys basketball coach Terry German went 84-38 in five seasons at Parkland went 155-64 in eight seasons at Dieruff. He also ran Camp Olympic for 23 years. (Morning Call file photo).
Isaacson said German’s influence carried through his entire life as he became a teacher in the Allentown School District. German hired Isaacson as an assistant at Dieruff in 1978 after he had stints at Central and Allen.
“He also hired me to work at Camp Olympic in the summers as well as helped me get the Dieruff head job in 1992,” Isaacson said. “Because I learned how important his mentorship toward me was and how instrumental he was in shaping my future, I helped former students, players, teachers, and friends attain various jobs through my recommendations. Every one of them thanked me, and I told everyone of them that someone taught me how to pay it forward. That someone was Terry German. He made me a better person, husband, and father. He was the man I always looked up to and admired as a great role model. It was a privilege to have him in my life.”
Isaacson’s classmate at Dieruff, Gene Legath, had a similar story of German’s impact. Legath also became a physical education teacher and football coach. He was the head coach at Emmaus and has coached at schools throughout the Lehigh Valley and was an assistant on Parkland’s 2002 state championship staff.
“Without a doubt, he was the guy I looked up to when I was at Dieruff,” Legath said. “I respected him because he was a no-nonsense guy. He didn’t take any crap. I mean, we were kind of unruly back in the 1960s, but he handled us well and was a role model for us. He was the kind of guy that, what you saw was what you got. He was an honest guy. He treated everyone the same and wanted everyone to be respectful. We had coaches like Dick Schmidt and John “Jeep” Bednarik at Dieruff at that time, but Terry was just a constant mentor and a builder of men.”
Like Isaacson, Legath said German inspired him to become a coach and a teacher.
“He was instrumental in getting me into West Chester,” Legath said. “He made a phone call, and the next thing you know, I was accepted into West Chester. And when I got there, I saw all of the awards he received. He was a Little All-American at West Chester, and when he was at Dieruff, he never talked about it. We never knew what a big deal he was because he was so modest. I came to realize that this guy was really something, but Terry was always very quiet. He never boasted about himself. But no one was ever more helpful to me, and I stayed close to his family. I taught his three kids at Emmaus, and they were all great kids, too.”
Another generation of Dieruff athletes was also influenced by German.
Rich Sniscak, who went on to become a championship baseball and football coach at Dieruff and Allen, respectively, and an athletic director, principal, and superintendent at Parkland, said: “Coach German was an extremely influential person in my life. He was not only my coach in high school, but a mentor in my professional career. He guided me as a young educator at Dieruff and served as a tremendous resource when I applied for the Parkland head football position. My Dieruff classmates and I were fortunate to have excellent role models and mentors in Coach German and Coach [Bruce] Trotter, Coach [Billy] Wood, Coach [Joe] Leonard, and our principal, Mr. [Mike] Meilinger. We truly participated in a golden era for Dieruff with these educators, and Mr. German was a central figure in molding our success.”
Bob Zeky, a teammate of Sniscak’s at Dieruff, went on to become German’s assistant director at Camp Olympic and later ran it with his wife for two years after German left.
“I was fortunate that he hired me and I got to work side-by-side with him and learn from him,” Zeky said. “I had him as my basketball coach at Dieruff and then I got to see a different side of him at Camp Olympic. There are so many stories I could share about all of those years, but one thing that always stood out was that he had a softer side. He was firm as a basketball coach, but at Camp Olympic, we had a lot of little kids, some as young as 5 or 6. And some of them were a little scared, a little apprehensive when they came to camp. They were away from home for the first time, and they would be crying when they arrived in the morning.
“Coach German had that booming voice, and when he’d yell, everybody jumped. But with those kids, he’d pull them over individually and talk to them softly and on their level. He’d show them a trick or two, get them laughing, and he’d give them some candy, and their eyes would light up, and they would forget they were scared. That’s the kind of guy he was. He was just a great man who knew how to reach kids and get the best out of them.”
Eric Snyder, the longtime Catasauqua boys basketball coach, worked at Camp Olympic for years.
“Terry always had a joke and they were always very dry and subtle,” Snyder said. “He always had self-deprecating humor when he talked about his own career. He never bragged about himself. It was because of how well he related to people that many of the best coaches in college and high school would come to Camp Olympic. They all loved to work for him and we especially enjoyed the Friday night cookout for the coaches and everyone would sit around and listen to the older guys tell their stories. When we won the league and district championship in 1997 at Catty with Tim Superka and Matt Andrews, Terry sent me a note which I still have hanging at the playground. He was a special guy.”
Tommy Young became a teaching and coaching colleague at Dieruff, but first knew German as a coach.
“If not for him, I never would have gone to college,” Young said. “He was at Camp Olympic and when the coach from Delta State stopped by and asked Terry if he knew any players who were not set in their college plans, Terry called me and asked if I could get to the camp quickly. I did and met the Delta State coach and things worked well and five weeks later, I left Pennsylvania and had five great years in Mississippi. After graduation, I came back home and Terry helped me get a teaching job in Allentown and I ended up teaching and coaching for 32 years. He was just a joy to be around. He helped so many people and will be missed, but never forgotten.”
