Gary J. Vanderburg

Category
2007
About This Inductee

Gary played high school basketball in Plains, one year at Wilkes College and 2 years at East Stroudsburg State. He served three years in the U.S. Army as an infantry lieutenant. His first teaching position was in Plains (1967-1971) where he served as an assistant coach in basketball, football and baseball. Moving to Wyoming Seminary in 1971, Gary taught biology until retirement in 2001. Other position at Sem included associate dean of admissions and director of financial aid (1989-1994) and athletic director (1994-2001). Coaching positions were basketball coach for 28 years, track coach for 4 years, assistant football coach for 18 years and golf coach for 5 years. His overall coaching record at Wyo Sem is 473 wins, 418 loses and 2 ties. Upon retirement, Gary coached Penn State Wilkes-Barre basketball for four years. The total number of game coached in 38 years exceeds 1180. Team achievements in basketball include B Davison Champs – 1986, Division III Champs – 1994 with the 1986 and 1993 teams advancing to the Eastern Quarter Finals in state playoffs; in golf, the team won the first two Tom Tryba Tournaments, Conference Champs in 2001, Central Davison Champs in 2002 and 2003 and Central Co-Champs in 2004. Coaching honors in basketball include: Coach of the Year B Division 1972 and Division III Coach of the year in 1983, 1994 and 1995; in golf, Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2003. He was elected to the Plains Sports Hall of Fame in 1996. Gary and his wife Judy reside in Plains and have three daughters: Kayanne Barilla (Dallas), Susan Vanderburg (Upper Darby) and Gretchen Niggel (Elkton, MD).