(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports locally and nationally, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the newspaper. Today’s On This Date story ran in the July 3, 2002 edition).

By Emmett McCall

emccall@tnonline.com

Some people have to wait a lifetime to get their “dream job.”

Not Pat Crampsie.

The journey to landing a “dream job” for the recently named Panther Valley High School basketball coach was definitely navigated along the high-speed line.

Just 26 years old, Crampsie returns to his alma mater after serving one year as an assistant varsity/JV coach at Palmerton High School and two years as a basketball assistant at Easton High School.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” said Crampsie. “I think even back when I was in high school, I knew I someday wanted to get into coaching - and there is no place I would rather do that than at Panther Valley.

“I graduated from Panther Valley (1994), I live in this area. I really care about this place. I guess you could say it’s a dream job for me.”

Crampsie replaces Danny Matika at the Panther helm. Matika chose not to reapply for the job after compiling a 31-69 record in four years as coach. The Panther basketball program has had just one winning season in the last nine years.

“I have a number of goals for the program,” said Crampsie. “Some short term, some long term. I plan on being here for a while and turning the program into a consistent winner.”

Crampsie is aware that some people might question his age, but he’s confident that hard work and dedication can compensate for lack of experience.

“I look at my age as an advantage,” he said. “I know a lot of work needs to be done to get this program to where I want it to be - and I have the time and energy necessary to get it to that point.

“I also plan on surrounding myself with experienced basketball people as my assistant coaches.”

Crampsie said his coaching style will be a compilation of his own ideas and philosophies along with some of the things he’s picked up from the coaches he’s played for and worked with during the years.

“I have my own ideas of what I think will work,” he explained. “I also plan on taking things from a number of coaches I have been associated with as both a player and coach.

“Some of my high school basketball and football coaches while I was at Panther Valley like coach (Tony) Antinozzi, coach (George) Whary and coach (Cazzie) Kosciolek all influenced me. I also learned a lot from Dave Lutz while I was at Easton and Mike Snyder while I was at Palmerton.

“I plan on taking a little bit from all of those people.”

When asked about his basketball style, Crampsie didn’t hesitate to talk about what he thought the key element to a successful program was.

“Everything has to start with defense,” he said. “The defense has to be there every night. If that happens, you’ll always be competitive.”

Crampsie, a 1998 Moravian College graduate, thanked the Panther Valley School Board and administration for having the confidence in him and said he doesn’t plan to let them down.

“It’s great to come back to my alma mater as head coach. To get my first head coaching job anywhere would be very exciting, but to get my first opportunity at Panther Valley makes it extremely special.”

As far as the pressures of returning to his home school district to coach, Crampsie said that won’t be a problem.

“I’m going to demand a lot from myself,” he said. “So there won’t be any more pressure coming from outside of the program than I will ne putting on myself.”

(NOTE: Crampsie is still the head coach at Panther Valley, having guided the Panthers for 18 seasons. He has compiled 157 career wins, and this past season his team won the District 11 Class 3A title).