District 11 held its annual media event on Tuesday at the St. Luke’s SportsPlex and the once-a-year mingling between district board members and administrators and media types was something Dennis Nemes always enjoyed.
He loved the interaction he had with people, whether it was with his colleagues from other schools, his fellow District 11 committee members or the guys and girls with cameras, tape recorders or notepads.
Nemes was the principal at Northwestern Lehigh for 30 years and at Allentown Central Catholic for three years, all after he started as a middle school principal at Southern Lehigh and had a stint as a guidance counselor at Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill.
But his interaction with local sports came through his involvement on the District 11 committee and PIAA Board of Control. He was on the district committee for 30 years and served the PIAA Board for 27 years as the principals’ rep and two years as the private school rep.
Even in the most tumultuous of times, something that has happened with frequency in local sports over the years, Nemes had a unique perspective and provided a calming, influential voice.
Nemes died earlier this week after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 76.
Many members of the current District 11 committee worked with Nemes at some point and while news of his passing wasn’t a total surprise, it brought a sense of sadness.
“When I started as the athletic director at Catty, he was the principal at Northwestern Lehigh and was a great mentor to a lot of us younger guys and someone we all looked up to,” said Catasauqua AD and longtime District 11 committee member Tom Moll. “Later when he became principal at Allentown Central Catholic we were on the district committee together and he remained someone we looked up to. When I left Catty and became the AD at Nazareth he was one of the first people to call and congratulate me. So there was always a lot of respect there, even between us as schools.”
Nemes was a Liberty High and Muhlenberg College graduate and was always a supporter of all local teams. He was honored by the PIAA for his longtime service prior to Parkland’s 6A boys basketball championship game against Central York at Hershey’s Giant Center last March.
But even if he wasn’t being honored, Nemes would have likely been there as a fan rooting on one of the District 11 schools.
“He was a great ambassador for District 11, not only locally but as a member of the PIAA Board of Control,” said Whitehall athletic director and District 11 chairman Bob Hartman. “He was incredibly passionate about the student-athletes in District 11 and cared a lot about their successes. He was a good man.”
Hartman said that Nemes, having been in charge at both a public school and a private school, had the perspective of working at two very different places. So much of athletic strife over the years has fallen on the public/private school line and how the schools got their kids. Nemes had the ability to see things from both sides.
“Dennis worked hard to gain consensus,” Hartman said. “He did a lot of his best work behind the scenes and tried to bring people together. He was really passionate about the kids he served and he served a ton of them. He served public school kids at Northwestern and private-school kids at Central Catholic, but he really did work as an ambassador for all of them. He tried to get everyone pulling the rope in the same way and gain consensus. He was always professional and handled himself in all the right ways.”
Jason Zimmerman, the Northwestern Lehigh athletic director and district football chairman, said that it was Nemes who helped to hire him as the athletic leader for the Tigers and got him involved with the District 11 committee.
“I think when he and our superintendent David Fallinger hired me, I was the youngest athletic director in District 11,” Zimmerman said. “He took a shot on a snot-nosed kid fresh out of college. I remember all the questions they asked me and how they brought me back three times during the interview process. Those guys gave me a start and I will forever be indebted to them for that.”
It was Nemes’ vision that helped to make Northwestern Lehigh one of the most vibrant high schools in the area with top-notch facilities and athletic programs.
“He was a fixture at Northwestern Lehigh and much of the stuff you see at our school in the athletic and academic realm can really be attributed to him,” Zimmerman said. “He was there at Northwestern Lehigh for 30 years and the guys who knew him over the years at Northwestern ribbed him pretty good when he traded the black and gold of our place for the green and gold at Central Catholic. But he still bled black and gold even after he left us and we knew that.”
Zimmerman added that the district committee benefitted from his knowledge and experience.
“Dennis was very good at what he did … he was a great people person,” he said. “He would analyze things and make you look at things from different perspectives when you were making decisions. And it’s important to do that.”
Nemes’ time on the District 11 committee dated back to the early 1990s when Easton High School’s Bob Kearn was the chairman and strong-minded people such as Bethlehem Catholic’s Dick Culver, the Bethlehem Area School District’s Dom Villani, Dieruff’s Mike Meilinger, Southern Lehigh’s John Squarcia and Blue Mountain’s Jack Wabby were on the committee along with strong girls sports advocates Elaine Dowd Arnts and Betsy Wilson.
It was a different era with different challenges, but Nemes was able to provide guidance as the changes came swiftly with area leagues and concerns.
“He would tell us some great stories about those days and those people,” Zimmerman said. “The bottom line is that wherever he went he gave 110%. He cared about the academic component of his schools, but he also cared about the athletic and extracurricular side as well. He was involved in everything and always supportive of his students.”
A memorial mass for Nemes will take place at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Thomas More Church, 1040 Flexer Ave., Allentown. Visitation will be from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the church. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Northwestern Lehigh Educational Foundation or Allentown Central Catholic Angel Scholarship Fund in care of Keller Funeral Homes, PO Box 52, Fogelsville, PA 18051.
Kim Davis
The Lehigh Valley also recently lost another fixture in local sports with the passing of longtime Northampton boys and girls tennis coach, public address announcer and teacher Kim Davis. He died Sept. 18 at the age of 72.
The 1970 Northampton graduate excelled in football, basketball, baseball, and track but his passion was in education and for helping people.
Those closest to him know he made a lasting impact on countless students, especially for those with special needs. He played a pivotal role in developing the Peer Helper program and served as an adviser for several student organizations, including Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD), the National Honor Society, and the Powder Puff games.
In addition to Northampton, his sports-related jobs included being the PA announcer for Lehigh Valley Steelhawks indoor football team, working games at both Stabler Arena and PPL Center.
“Kim is someone I knew as far back as when I was in high school,” Moll said. “He was the SADD organization for Northampton and I got to know him through that. And then I got to know his family because Steve Gabryluk [a longtime area basketball coach] is married to Kim’s sister. Then when I took over as District 11 tennis chairman, I saw him a lot at the tournaments and he was always a friendly, good and helpful guy who just loved being around and helping kids. He was just another good guy who will definitely be missed.”
