822 wins!
That total is absolutely unbelievable for any high school coach. Tyrone native Elmer Zimmerman has achieved more wins than many coaches ever manage games to coach, let alone win.
Elmer Zimmerman graduated from Tyrone High School in 1961, and Shelton College in New Jersey in 1966. He further pursued his education, getting a masters degree plus 30 credits before he began his teaching and coaching career at West Milford, New Jersey.
Zimmerman is married with a son and daughter. His wife is a first grade teacher and his daughter teaches kindergarten. His son runs his own computer business. Elmer has been a guidance counselor for the past 17 years and has taught every grade from fourth grade up during his 36 years in teaching. The 59-year old thinks he will probably teach one more year and then go on perhaps to coach on a college l girls basketball, but still intends to coach the boys tennis team in the fall and the girls in the spring.
Elmer started his coaching career in Little League baseball and starting basketball programs and baseball programs in middle schools in his local area. Then he got into high school coaching, where this will be his 29th year as the head coach in boys tennis. He picked up his 300th win in the boys program last fall and currently has a 303-250 record. He has coached girls tennis for 24 years, picking up his 300th win this spring and currently is 302-177. In basketball, he coached the freshmen girls team for several years and then moved up to take over the varsity, where in 14 seasons, his teams won 217 while losing 117.
Do the math! It adds up to 822 wins. His boys tennis teams have won seven Passaic League titles, the girls five more and between the two, they have also taken seven North Hills titles as well. The girls basketball program has brought home three Passaic crowns, three North Hills championships and a state champ.
“Coaching for me has been a lot of fun,” said Zimmerman, who was home to visit his mother over the holidays in December. “It has given me the opportunity to work with a lot of great kids over the years.”
In a tribute to coach Zimmerman, Ken Gerlach, a parent who has a daughter on the West Milford tennis team, stated “Coach Zimmerman has offered our children and neighbors more than just victories. A true gentleman and sincere mentor, Coach Zee has a generous and kind heart besides a drive to win. He has dedicated countless hours on and off the court educating his players on the critical skills within their sport. His philosophy of being able to win games or matches while maintaining respect for the opponent is a trait that has become a trademark of his. Regardless of the situation, Coach Zimmerman has instructed his athletes on how to be respectful not only to their opponents, but also to one another. He has the unique ability to encourage his players to play as a team, not as individuals.”
His longevity as a teacher and coach is a testament to Zimmerman in this era when many young teachers get hires as a coach and then coach for a few years only to plead burnout and leave coaching to raise a family, to continue education, to get a second job, etc.
“I get an opportunity to do a lot of things,” said Zimmerman. “I am tennis director of our township of about 25,000 people in the summer. It’s kind of a rural area with very little industry. It has streams and valleys and mountains. Our school is pretty big as schools go, about 1,550 kids, but we play schools that are up to around 3,000. We are in Group 4, that’s the largest classification in New Jersey and that’s where we are. When we won the girls state basketball championship in 1995, I believe there was something like 358 girls teams in the state of New Jersey. It was quite an honor. We got to play in the Meadowlands where the New Jersey Nets pro team plays and got a lot of special treatment. It was great for the girls.”
Zimmerman fell in love with tennis, the first time he picked up a racquet. He’s been devoted to helping others use it ever since.
“I fell in love with the game,” Zimmerman said. “It was like being your own engineer. You had to come up with a plan and execute it well.”
