Sharon & Dave Gurtcheff
Over the years, parents of some famous athletes have gained notoriety for their obnoxious and self serving behavior. At the opposite end of that spectrum stand tonight’s honorees for community service, Dave and Sharon Gurtcheff.
Starting with HTAA, Sharon and Dave immersed themselves in Haddon Township sports with goal of promoting team behavior and trust between the athletes. They started by coaching, organizing transportation and working the concession stands in the HTAA program to support their sons Glenn, Gary and Jeff. As the boys moved on to HTHS, Dave and Sharon’s activities expanded. They began to take four to six rolls of film for each football game, develop the pictures and bring them to school on Monday morning for display. By the time of the annual banquet (which Sharon helped initiate) the best of the pictures would be framed and given to the athletes, a practice all the more impressive in that they strove to make sure that every player was in the photos. They also helped initiate the tradition of football spaghetti dinners to help in team building activities. Not limiting their contributions to football, they also originate wrestling “parties” for wrestlers and their parents following big meets and they provided similar support to the baseball program. Even after the boys graduated from HT, they continued to support Hawk athletics.
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