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For the records: Board dedicated to coach, mentor Warmbrodt

By Braden Carmen 5 min read

Going as far back as 1969, the record board at Dunkirk High School has achievements from track and field athletes listed for all to see at Karl Hoeppner Field.

This week another name was added to an updated version of the board, but rather than for one specific achievement, it was added because of the many others its namesake had a part in mentoring throughout the last half-century.

A new Dunkirk record board was revealed on Tuesday afternoon in honor of Kurt Warmbrodt, a Dunkirk Track and Field pioneer who was surprised with the honor. Warmbrodt was in attendance to serve as a Section VI referee for the contest between Dunkirk and Jamestown on Tuesday.

"I didn't expect it, of course. You don't anticipate it. I'm not dead yet -- usually things are dedicated afterwards," Warmbrodt joked.

AJ Burnside, Warmbrodt's partner officiating the meet on Tuesday for Section VI, spoke to honor him as the new record board was unveiled. Burnside was a track and field athlete for Warmbrodt as coach when he was in high school, then also followed in his footsteps as a Dunkirk track and field coach.

"Kurt, I've gotten to know you so well over these last 25 years. You were one of my first high school coaches when I started on the team as a scrawny eighth-grader. Your team had a culture where I instantly felt like I fit in. You created a positive atmosphere that made us all feel comfortable to be ourselves," Burnside said.

Warmbrodt was a high school cross country team captain and a track and field athlete in the early 1970s. He recalls many of the records set at the time which still stand today.

After finishing school, Warmbrodt eventually returned to Dunkirk as an earth science teacher and accepted the duties as the track and field coach in 1998. Warmbrodt later founded an indoor track program during the winter and also took on coaching the girls track and field program, as well as the boys program, all throughout the three seasons. He coached until his retirement in 2015, at which point he began regularly officiating for Section VI.

"In 2007, you and I became colleagues," Burnside said to Warmbrodt. "I learned how to love the sport in a completely different way, as you mentored me in creating workouts, making lineups, and understanding that teenagers are far from perfect -- and that's OK. Now 16 years later, we're still working together on a track in a different capacity, but your ability to make an impact on young athletes' lives still hasn't changed."

Warmbrodt even played a major role in helping design the athletic track at Dunkirk High School. Warmbrodt also founded the Lakefront 5K race and led the efforts to make Point Gratiot a race site for cross country athletes.

"He was always willing to advocate for the good of the sport," Burnside said.

Warmbrodt also kept records of athletes throughout the school's history. "He handed me a whole folder of all the athletes to go to state in Dunkirk history," Dunkirk Track and Field coach Adam Woelfle said.

Warmbrodt explained his love for the sport after the board was dedicated in his name.

"In track, everyone gets to try. Everyone gets to participate. In a lot of other sports, you're a bench warmer or not even on the team. Track is a wide open sport for everyone," Warmbrodt said. "We had kids that improved week after week – it didn't matter if they were last, they improved, and that meant something to them. Sure, it's great to take a kid to the state meet or to win a competition, but everybody gets their chance. A lot of sports, that's not so true."

Warmbrodt's wife, Lisa, shared his dedication and love for the sport. At nearly all of his meets as a coach and even still as a referee, Lisa is watching from the crowd as the area's athletes leave their mark on the sport that was so dear to the Warmbrodt family.

"He's just so dedicated to seeing kids do good and get better," Lisa Warmbrodt said. "The kids were fun, gosh we had a lot of good laughs."

Warmbrodt coached both of his children, Tom and Lucy, when they attended Dunkirk High School. Lucy Warmbrodt, now a Staff Sergeant with the Marines, still holds the female record for the discus throw at Dunkirk High School, set in 2007.

But after Tuesday, Kurt Warmbrodt joined his daughter, many of the other athletes he coached, and former teammates of his on the record board himself.

"As a coach, it was great to work with the students, and as an official, it's still great," Warmbrodt said. "If you have the opportunity to work with kids, keep doing it."

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