Longtime Kellam track coach steps down after making indelible impact
The Kellam High cross country team is set to begin practice on Aug. 9.
But for the first time in 33 years, longtime coach Bill Bernard won’t be there.
Bernard announced this week he was stepping down.
In a Facebook post Monday, he wrote: “Dear Kellam XC and Track, athletes, alumni and friends, I have decided not to return to high school coaching next year. I started coaching at Kellam in 1989! 33 years ago! It’s been a great run! I will miss working with high school athletes! I am continuing on as leader of BDP (Bernard Distance Project), so you will still see me on the trail!”
Bernard spent the rest of the day responding to text messages and phone calls from shocked parents, athletes and fans.
“I knew I had to make this decision, and there’s no good time,” said Bernard, who received nearly 200 comments on his post by Monday night. “I’ve been getting text messages from kids I haven’t heard from in awhile. They’re adults now.”
Bernard, 72, admits the pandemic played a part, but he stressed he wants to spend more time with family.
“I just thought it was time, especially with my wife, Debbie. She has really supported me,” he said. “Five years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer, but she’s good now and cancer-free. But we went through that together. I just want us to spend some time together.”
He can actually thank his wife for getting him to relocate to Hampton Roads.
Bernard ran track at Cuyahoga Falls High in Ohio, just outside of Akron. He also ran at Baldwin Wallace University near Cleveland. He returned to Cuyahoga Falls to become a teacher and coach junior high cross country. It was there that he met Debbie, who also was a teacher.
Debbie’s parents moved from California to Virginia Beach. During a visit to Hampton Roads, Debbie — who was tired of the rough winters in the Midwest — went to the courthouse and got two teaching applications and filled them out for both her and her husband. But she didn’t tell Bernard.
As it worked out, the Cuyahoga Falls school district laid off both Bernard and
Debbie, and two weeks later, he received a call from Virginia Beach.
“I had never heard of Virginia Beach until I was an adult,” Bernard said laughing.
Within several weeks, they were both hired.
He applied for the job as cross country coach at Kellam.
Thirty-three years later, he’s guided the Knights to more than 43 Beach District and conference titles. He won three region titles, and his girls outdoor track team finished runner-up in 2004. He’s also produced more than 10 individual state champions.
Two of those athletes are Natalie Sherbak-Hall and Jud Sarver.
Sherbak-Hall was a four-time state champion and the 2004 Virginian-Pilot’s Female Athlete of the Year. She went to Virginia Tech, where she was a threetime NCAA qualifier in the 10,000 and earned All-ACC and all-region honors twice. She also was an All-American in the mile.
She said she owes all of her success to Bernard.
“Beyond being able to plan workouts and track seasons to develop me and my teammates to our potential, he always cared about developing our character and growing us as people,” she said. “Whether we had amazing races, winning state championships, or we had poor performances, we always knew that he cared for us beyond the race result. He helped me manage the pressure of being a high-level competitor because I knew that at the end of the day, I was not defined by my performance.”
Sherbak-Hall still has a framed photo of her and Bernard from the 2003 state cross country meet.
“I look back so fondly on my time under his coaching,” she said. “I am so grateful to be a part of his amazing track legacy at Kellam.”
Sarver was a Beach District and Eastern Region champion. At Appalachian State, he was All-Southern Conference in
1994 and an NCAA qualifier in 1996.
He has been the Hickory High cross country coach since 1999.
“Coach Bernard has meant everything to my athletic and coaching careers,” he said. “He is to me, and so many others, the reason I ran as successfully as I did in high school. I wanted to coach because I wanted to be like him.”
Sarver was surprised to learn how demanding it was to be a head coach.
“I was shocked at how much preparation, time and paperwork went into being a head coach,” he said. “Good coaches never let their athletes see that part of things. They just allow the athletes to focus on their efforts in training and teach them how to compete at their best.
“When I am stumped with training programs or uncertain what to do with teams or athletes, he is my first call or text. One of my best moments as a coach was Bill telling me he was proud of me after my cross country team won the region.”
Bernard won’t give up coaching entirely. He will continue to coach privately, including Ryan Carroll, who he has coached for nearly two decades.
“The guidance he has given me as an athlete, as a fellow coach, and more importantly on how to be a better person is irreplaceable,” Carroll said. “He has been by my side through the good and bad. He was there through the birth of my daughter, Taylor, and never left my side while my wife battled cancer. You cannot talk about the history of Hampton Roads running without mentioning Coach B.”
Bernard admits it’s going to be hard when Aug. 8 rolls around.
“What I’m going to miss most are the relationships that I developed with teenagers because I’m not going to have that anymore. And I’m going to miss the relationships I’ve had with other coaches,” said Bernard, who was inducted into the Tidewaters Striders Hall of Fame in 2014. “It’s still hard for me to give up, but I didn’t want to go too long to where I would regret it.”