Arnold Shiffrin (205) may be retired from Central and full-time teaching going on 18 years, but he’ll never retire from coaching high school track and field. Officiating either.
“They’re gonna have to carry me out of here,” Mr. Shiffrin said last week as he prepared to substitute teach a social studies class at Central. He was also there for a track meeting later in the day.
While substitute teaching for the School District of Philadelphia is occasional, the track work is not. Mr. Shiffrin has just begun another season guiding competitors in field events for Central’s indoor track team — shot put, long jump, high jump. etc. He has the pleasure of assisting head coaches Fred McCray Jr. (246) and Nick Kosiek (255), former Central athletes themselves.
“I love Central,” Mr. Shiffrin said. “Next to my parents and my wife it was the biggest influence in my life.”
As a student he played guard for Central basketball, once sharing the floor for four minutes against the late, great Wilt Chamberlain as the Lancers visited Overbrook. “I even saw him in track,” Mr. Shiffrin said of Chamberlain. “He wasn’t as great as they said.”
Mr. Shiffrin grew to become an expert in track and field, coaching at one time for Temple University and at Central from 1978 until he retired at the young age of 59 in 1997. The list of accomplished athletes he helped develop is long and impressive– including Olympic long-jumper Dawn Burrell; national 400-meter record-holder William Reed and shot put record-holder Sam Reid.
“I’ve had four state championships, indoor. We’re the only team sport at Central to win state championships — ’85, ’86, ’87, ’89,” he says with pride. “It was almost five but a kid dropped the baton in the last event. The opposing coach was ready to give it to us (before the race) but I said wait.”
Oh well.
He’s also in demand as an official for indoor and outdoor track events and working on getting his Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association certification.
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