CINCINNATI — A legendary Cincinnati-area high school swimming and water polo coach is starting to step away after more than 40 years.
What You Need To Know
- Gary Tameris coached water polo and swimming for more than 40 years
- Tameris is most known for building the Milford water polo teams and winning two state championships there
- Now, Tameris is taking a step back starting next school year no longer coaching swimming and taking water polo year by year
- Tameris said it's tough to step away, and he's enjoyed teaching life lessons to his athletes
Gary Tameris of Princeton High School takes his job as a water polo and swimming coach very seriously. In fact, it’s all he wanted to accomplish in his life.
“Being a teacher and being a coach was my aspirations of life," Tameris said.
While he’s retired from teaching, now, after 43 years, Coach T as his athletes call him, is stepping away from coaching.
“After doing it for so long, you never really know when to say I’m leaving this group behind because you know you always got a group of seniors that you’re going to be leaving," he said. "Now, when you pull the plug? I don’t know. Right now, it feels like the time to start stepping back and out of it.”
But not entirely — he couldn’t do that. He’s giving up coaching swimming and sticking around as the water polo coach for at least one more season because it’s tough to say goodbye to a sport that’s shaped his life.
“It’s very rewarding to me to be able to watch these kids learn, develop and become outstanding citizens," he said.
Tameris started coaching in Indiana and came to Milford High School in 1989, where he built the program from the ground up, winning two state championships,and nearly winning more — one girls' water polo team at Milford comes to mind.
“That still haunts me today," Tameris said. "We definitely had a better team, per se, but not on that given night. But yeah, you look back on those types of things and say what could have been but that’s sports.”
He’s now been at Princeton high school since 2014, a place he’s also seen success. But when told he’s a legend, he’s not so sure.
“Well, I don’t know about legend and all that," he said. "I’ve just been involved. because I fell in love with the game, too.”
Tameris said the greatest joy of coaching has come from the life lessons his athletes have learned over the years.
“Hopefully, if they do get in jams, they can look back to see we had difficulties here, but we made it through and we came out on the other side, and hopefully it just makes them a better person," he said.