County track legend Dittmer inducted into Hall of Fame

In 1960, three teachers at Central Grade School in Snohomish created an elementary play day that include 50- and 75-yard dash races.

Dan Dittmer finished third in both events.

"Little did I realize those two races would be the beginning of a journey that finds me here 61 years later," Dittmer told an audience at the Washington Track and Field Coaches Association's Hall of Fame Banquet on Jan. 21 at Hotel Murano in Tacoma.

A veteran of 51 years of coaching track and field across Western Washington, Dittmer was inducted into the WTFCA's Hall of Fame this year.

"I was really humbled by the entire experience," Dittmer told the Journal in email. "I am truly blessed to have worked with so many great track and field coaches (and) most importantly, the 51 years of athletes (that I've) coached. Without them, none of these honors would have happened."

In his speech, Dittmer thanked his wife, Bonnie, and children Nathan, Trista and Ashley, telling them, "you understand the sacrifices a family makes when dad is a coach."

He also thanked longtime track and field referee and WTFCA Hall of Famer Lane Dowell for nominating him.

Dittmer, a 1966 graduate of Shelton High School, began his second season as a volunteer assistant for the Highclimbers on Monday. It is his 52nd season overall. He is also the head track and field coach at Hawkins Middle School in Belfair, and previously coached collegiately at Olympic College in Bremerton.

Dittmer's family moved to Mason County prior to his junior year of high school, and he competed for the Highclimber track team. As a senior, he was part of Shelton's first cross country team and earned a spot in the state championship meet at Green Lake, where he finished 141st.

As a senior, Dittmer won the 440 meters at the Tumwater Invitational – now called the Shaner Invite – and was voted the Highclimbers' Most Inspirational Athlete.

Two weeks after graduating, Dittmer joined the Navy and spent four years as a cryptologic technician, which included three years overseas stationed in Scotland and Turkey.

Dittmer attended Olympic College in Bremerton while working graveyard shifts at Shelton Lumber Mill No. 3, before moving to Central Washington State College – now Central Washington University – in Ellensburg.

After graduation, Dittmer began coaching in 1971, and had stops in Selah, Lake Stevens, View Ridge Middle School and King's West, before landing at North Mason High School and Hawkins Middle School.

In addition to track, Dittmer has coached middle school football, middle school and high school volleyball, middle school and high school cross country, middle school girls basketball, middle school and high school wrestling, T-ball, Little League baseball and fastpitch, and a summer age group swim team.

It has come full circle for Dittmer, coaching at the high school he once represented as an athlete. Dittmer has the 22nd best time in school history in the 400-meter dash at 51.7 seconds.

"I think it was the second day I helped out last spring because we had the shortened season," Dittmer said in an interview with the Journal. "I come walking out of practice and this one young lady comes walking by me and says to me, 'You graduated from high school with my grandpa.' I looked at her and Doug (Sells) starts giving me grief about that so that was kind of fun. Coaching where, hey, I'm number 22 on this list, kids, I've been there and done that. Trust me on this, this is what we did to be successful, listen to me. I will not do you wrong. I will give you my best, I want you to give me your best."

The induction into the WTFCA Hall of Fame means a lot to Dittmer and he said it's a testament to the coaches he's worked with, the kids he's coached.

"Hall of Fame is an honor, but again, it's not for me, it's for everyone I've worked with," Dittmer said. "They all have a piece of it because without them, I wouldn't have made it 52 years. I mean that sincerely. My wife, when we were dating the first time, I didn't call her for three or four days and I told her, 'It's track season.' She didn't speak to me for a week. I love track and field because you're running against stopwatches and tape measures. You get out of it what you put into it and that says a lot about you as a person and that's the biggest lesson."

Dittmer said what makes coaching fun is working with kids and the teaching part of coaching. He enjoys helping kids who work hard and earn personal records. Dittmer said he will continue coaching until it stops being fun.

"If it's tomorrow, then it's tomorrow," Dittmer said. "God's telling me when, I try to do what he tells me, he's smarter than I am."