Keller stepping down from SV athletics

Sue Keller is stepping down as St. Vincent de Paul High School athletic director after two decades of making sure the school’s sports programs functioned smoothly.|

After two decades as athletic director at St. Vincent High School, Sue Keller has decided to step away from her position.

“I’m tired,” she said. “It has nothing to do with any changes going on at the school. I made this decision months ago. I find that I am making some mistakes now that I didn’t in the past.

“Being Athletic Director here is difficult work and it is very time consuming,” she continued. “I don’t have the acuity that I did years ago. I’m just getting older, and the days seem longer. It’s burnout. I’m more of a hands-on person than one who cares strictly about public relations.

“There is also three times as much paper work required by the CIF, including many small-school league changes than when I started here. Dealing with those few upset parents concerning athletic issues can be a headache as well.”

Keller could only smile when reminded that she was the one who immediately raised the baskets and dimmed the lights in the gym seconds after the horn ended the final basketball game of the night. Suddenly missing was her public address microphone in addition to many sideline chairs for both teams. “It was probably one of my 13-hour days, and I wanted to go home and relax a bit,” she said.

The announcement of Keller’s retirement as athletic director has nothing to do with her teaching assignment at the school. The Petaluma native joined the St. Vincent faculty in 1979, and plans to continue teaching for a few years. “I would like to stay with girls physical education until it’s time to quit,” she said.

During her watch, the facilities on the Keokuk Avenue grounds have evolved dramatically from the cramped space on the original campus. There was limited room for physical education and practice in sports, but games were another matter. Space for football games was very limited, and at the end of season, the natural turf was overused. Softball, on the edge of the playing surface, was played on a mini-diamond with a short left-field porch.

Since the turn of the century, the introduction of the DeCarli gymnasium has remained the proudest addition on campus in the mind of Keller. “Our boys basketball teams played at the old Kenilworth Junior High when we could rotate into the facility schedule. Even at that, we had to share with other schools, and St. Vincent wasn’t the top priority. I understood that.”

Girls basketball and volleyball teams played at the Coast Guard facility west of Petaluma. Scheduling there got complicated as well, but it was still another chore on the desk of the athletic director.

Keller introduced competitive volleyball to St. Vincent in 1981, and she coached the Lady Mustangs until 2010 after claiming several league titles and four NCS championship banners.

“I had to give the coaching up because I had lost all my patience,” she said before pausing. “Come to think about it, I didn’t have that much patience even at the beginning.”

More changes followed recently at the school as an all-weather surface was rolled out, and much needed space added which accommodates not only football, soccer, lacrosse and softball, but also a much needed diamond for the Mustang baseball team.

No longer does the highly successful baseball team, coached by veteran coach Gary Galloway, have to pack up and move across town to McNear Park for home games. The present facility has been expanded just enough to provide space for baseball and softball games at separate times.

Along with the expanded facilities came new responsibilities for the athletic director. The all-weather surface must be kept clean and without litter. With no support staff for the sports program, Keller and her staff have worked diligently to keep soft drinks, food, pets, sunflower seeds off the surface along with their most notorious enemy, chewing gum. Students in physical education might even be asked to step in and help.

The new facility has been configured to fit the precious space allowed, and it is always ready for weekend rental which can be arranged through Keller and facilities coordinator Gary von Raesfield.

When the softball team finishes a game, it takes only minutes for the portable outfield fence to disappear as the girls, at the urging of coach Don Jensen, quickly take it down and fold it up. On one end of the fence is a group of Mustang players. On the other is Keller, who is not reluctant to jump and clear the surface for a game played later by the baseball team.

“Sue even helped me line the softball field for games before the new surface was in place,” said Jensen.

Galloway put everything in perspective in reflecting on the contributions of Keller to his football program. “Sue got to school as early as nine on Saturday morning to put the pads on the football goalposts and put out the sideline markers,” he said. “She has done a tremendous job in keeping our gym and playing fields in great condition.”

Saturday mornings were just the start of a long day for Keller as she helped put out tables and got volunteers in place for ticket selling, concessions and security in addition to greeting the game officials. With all that, she could still spot any interlopers who dared challenge her security system by sneaking in the back way.

Multi-tasking doesn’t seem adequate to describe everything that goes into the job as athletic director at a small school like St. Vincent. Sue Keller has managed it all very well.

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