The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
ON THE SIDELINES
Gary Greiner has spent 51 years on the sidelines with Amherst football
About 30 to 45 minutes before game time, Gary Greiner and his field crew head to Marion L. Steele High School’s Memorial Field in Mercy Health Stadium to make sure the field is properly measured and marked for Friday night football in Amherst.
Greiner, 69, an Amherst native and 1967 Steele High graduate, has served as the downmarker operator at Memorial Field, 450 Washington St., during Comet varsity football games for 51 years.
When preparing for football games, Greiner said he and his crew have to lay the down marker chain out to measure each 10th yard and check to see if the down marker works before getting the
“The crew I have, we have a great time and we all work together.”
— Gary Greiner, downmarker operator
OK to play by referees.
They also make sure equipment for other portions of the field are ready, such as the helmet the Amherst players run out of before kickoff.
As down-marker operator, Gary’s position requires following the ball and players from the sidelines during games as plays are run.
He then places the down marker from the sideline where each play ends and a down is made; making sure all know where they are play by play.
A 1, 2, 3 or 4 will then be marked to specify which down was made or he will decide what down is double-stakes if a team has lost yardage, he said.
Being on the sidelines during each home game for 51 seasons is a great feeling, he said.
“It’s great,” Greiner said. “I’ve seen a lot of good kids come through here from all kinds of teams. Especially (Amherst schools).”
He said what he loves about being on the sidelines is hearing things like the hitting or contact between players.
Greiner mentioned he’s thankfully never been hit or run over by players, but knows to always pay attention and be alert because it easily happens frequently.
“It’s really great to be on the sideline,” he said. “The weather isn’t always the greatest, but majority of the time it’s not too bad.
“The crew I have, we have a great time and we all work together.”
Greiner said he got the position shortly after graduating and enlisting in the U.S. Air Force for only 10 months.
He said he was heavily involved in sports as a student — baseball for four years and football for one year.
Greiner said his love for sports and his community and helping out young athletes at his alma mater is what encouraged him to take the opportunity.
“It was a good chance to get on,” he said. “The best place in the football game is on the sidelines where you can hear everything and watch everything.”
Greiner spent most of his career as a crew member at Memorial Field while working for the Ohio Turnpike until he retired in 1996.
He then became more involved at Steele High as a junior varsity softball coach, summer softball umpire and game announcer.
Greiner coached softball for over 20 years and worked as an umpire, but remains to announce games for girls volleyball and boys basketball, today, he said.
His wife, Rita, a 1970 graduate of Steele High, and daughters Kelly Simo, 45, and Dawn Workman, 42, also graduates of Amherst, have fully supported him through his involvement with the district.
Greiner said he has two young grandsons currently enrolled in Amherst Exempted Village Schools and a sister-in-law who also announces, with son, Pat Bray, as head basketball coach.
Greiner said he and his family has been extremely involved in the community and he hopes to continue for as long as he can and as long as the district allows him.
“I love it,” he said. “I do things for the kids. People don’t understand how good it is do (be there) for them.”
He said the most he’s gotten out of his experience with Amherst is getting to know some of the students, who have become parents and getting to know their children in the district.
Casey Wolf, athletic director at Steele High, said in his six years, he’s realized every school needs someone like Greiner.
“He is about as Amherst as they come,” Wolf said. “It’s people like him that make Friday nights what they are.
“Someone that you can always know when you look over, they’re always going to be there.”
Wolf said Greiner was recognized for his 50 years with the district during last year’s senior night football game.
Erich Frombach, former Amherst athletic director, now of Avon City Schools, said he’s known Greiner for at least 28 years when he began teaching in Amherst in the early 1990s.
“Greiner bleeds green and gold,” Frombach said. “He’s the kindest human being ever who loves Amherst more than anyone. I can’t think of Amherst without thinking of his family.”
Fans can watch Greiner mark downs at 7 p.m. Oct. 19 as Amherst faces Avon High School at Memorial Field.
“Greiner bleeds green and gold. He’s the kindest human being ever who loves Amherst more than anyone. I can’t think of Amherst without thinking of his family.”
— Erich Frombach, former Amherst athletic director, now of Avon City Schools