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Jeren emerges as track guru by accident
By Greg Gulas
BOARDMAN
For 38 years, John Jeren has overseen a successful law practice on the city’s West Side.
As he prepares to celebrate his 65th birthday on Wednesday he shows no sign of slowing down.
A native of Campbell and a 1964 graduate of Memorial High, he played both football for the late Johnny Knapick and ran track and field for then Red Devils’ coach Dennis Katsaras.
Little did he know then that he would put himself on the cutting edge of the local track and field and cross country scenes as a scoring guru.
Jeren told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s weekly luncheon meeting at the Blue Wolf Banquet Center that his involvement came by accident.
“I have four children and while my oldest, Lisa, did not gravitate to the sport, my other three children did and that is what originally got me involved,” he said.
“My twin daughters, Chrissie and Suzi, were in seventh grade at the time when they came home from school to tell me that they were going out for the track team. After they graduated, my son, Johnny III, followed and from 1993 to 2000 I found myself at track events several times a week,” Jeren said.
Ken Grisdale, current Poland boys basketball coach, served as coach of Jeren’s daughters and at the end of the season approached him to see if he would serve as chairman of a committee to raise funds for an all-weather track.
“I was minding my own business and then Coach Grisdale approached me with that offer, so I blame him for my initial involvement,” said Jeren.
That involvement led to the Poland Invitational, which will be held for the 16th time in April.
Chrissie and Suzi later qualified for the NAIA national meet while they attended Malone College, and Jeren saw a company called HyTek run all the scoring computers.
“When I got back to my office the following Monday I contacted the company to inquire about the program’s availability and before you knew it we were using it to score our meets.
“We actually started with the program before the [OHSAA] did,” said Jeren. “We later got together with Austintown Fitch and Boardman to purchase a FinishLynx camera, which integrates with the HyTek software to give you a photo finish.”
Jeren and his staff will work many cross country and track and field meets again in 2011, including district meets at Fitch and Salem, and the regional in Austintown.
They will also work the first day of the Ohio Athletic Conference championships at Mount Union in April.
“It has been and continues to be fun for all of us. You get to like something and want to continue contributing,” said Jeren.
“The coaches, athletes, officials and meet managers have been absolutely fantastic.”
Next week, Jim Ferrara, WRTA director and local football official will serve as guest speaker.