Aug 27, 2023 By John Sacco for The Observer-Reporter newsroom@observer-Reporter.Com 7 min read

Tim and Tanner Garry chase a legacy that is a life-long pursuit.

What they strive for is being helpful to others, to serve as positive role models, to be nice and reliable guys and be willing to give to the Fort Cherry School District community and the area at large.

And now to the high school football part.

The late Jim Garry – Tim’s father and Tanner’s grandfather – established a presence as Fort Cherry’s longtime football coach.

Jim Garry is the winningest football coach in Washington County history with 265 victories.

He was respected throughout Western Pennsylvania as an excellent football coach and a better man. He showed his human side to a young reporter early in the 1987 season when he reminisced about his wife postgame after an early-season battle. Barbara Garry passed away the previous February. He recalled his life with her and not the game.

Family was first.

Tim followed his father’s footsteps coaching with his father and then having his own stint as head coach of the Rangers. Tanner played follow the leader, taking over as the Rangers’ head football coach late in 2019. His first season was 2020.

“It was a way of life,” Tim Garry said. “It’s all I have ever knew since I was a little kid. We went through all the ups and downs. I helped get the equipment out for practice and games.

“After my playing days were done, I coached with my dad. I thought I might have a chance to be the head coach one day, but you’re never sure. I knew it was a good run for him.

“It’s funny sometimes hearing Tanner say things I said and they were things I heard my dad say. My dad was always a basic guy. He stuck to the fundamentals. That’s what I tried to do and what Tanner does. My dad always wanted it to be a good experience for the kids. He wanted them to enjoy it.”

By many accounts, they have followed to the letter dad’s and grandpap’s football and life legacy. That is no easy task with so much to live up to and emulate.

“I have so many memories,” said Tanner Garry. “There’s no way to explain it. Fort Cherry is all I know.”

Tanner Garry played quarterback at Youngstown State and then Slippery Rock before circling back to Fort Cherry, where he starred as a quarterback.

Tim Garry now assists his son on the Rangers’ sidelines.

“I talked to my dad before I took the job. All the sudden, it’s me being asked to coach the Fort Cherry football team,” Tanner Garry said. “I didn’t know if it was the right time. I did know I needed my dad with me. I told him that I wouldn’t take the job unless he promised to help me as a coach.

“It was and is a big thing for me. My grandfather was my hero growing up. I was everything from ball boy, water boy, player, fan and now coach of this program.”

Jim Garry coached 432 games – one season at the former McDonald High School and 44 seasons at Fort Cherry before retiring in 2003.

Like other coaches, he had his detractors time and again. His 265-153-14 record (.627 winning percentage) speaks for itself.

Fort Cherry won 10 conference championships under Garry, who was a guard at Wake Forest.

He led the Rangers to two WPIAL Class A championship games, losing to Riverview in 1997 at Three Rivers Stadium and to Rochester in 2001 at the former Heinz Field. Fort Cherry advanced to the semifinals three other seasons (1987, 1994 and 1999).

“I would simply say that Jim Garry is Fort Cherry football,” said Brad Tokar, a standout running back for the Rangers and multi-sport athlete. “He was the first coach for the program and his influence continues today through his two sons and his grandson.

“I think it is safe to say that every player who ever played at FC, from the Schottenheimers, Marvin Lewis, and players today, have been influenced by him directly or indirectly. He has coached players and then their sons. His impact on the program and the surrounding communities is beyond measure.”

The WPIAL title was elusive and the loss to Rochester stung. Garry, however, never obsessed with winning the championship.

What he said before the game summed up his philosophy: “I enjoy this game and I enjoy winning. I am really proud to be associated with Fort Cherry. The players are the ones who have made this a good program, not me. The way some of those guys have gone on to college and the NFL makes a good reflection on Fort Cherry.

“Heck yeah, I want to win. We had a chance four years ago against Riverview and we lost. This year, we’d really like to go in there and win it. I want to win it just to see what it’s like. If we don’t, I’m not going off to the side and go crying. I’ll be satisfied if we play a good game.”

Garry passed away in 2007.

“We’ve been blessed here with so many people and such great athletes from athletic families,” Tim Garry said. “The names are recognizable and synonymous with Fort Cherry: Kemps, Iverys, Tokars, Caldwells, Vernillos, Bennetts, Lewis’, Schottenheimers and Siegs. I could go on and on.”

“He was larger than life,” Tanner Garry said of his grandfather. “You don’t outgrow his legacy. You honor it and try to live the way he did.

“I try to lead like he did. He is someone I try to do the best I can to exemplify. Obviously, I didn’t see his whole life or coaching career. But I saw enough and have heard enough to know all about it. He is known for football. But he did so many things outside of the game that he, and the whole family, was and is proud of.”

Tokar’s father, Ed, was a longtime assistant to Jim Garry. He added that his father and Garry coached together for nearly 25 years.

“Because my dad was an assistant coach, I grew up with the program,” Brad Tokar said. “From the time I was very young, probably 5- or 6-years -old, I was a manager and so were Mr. Garry’s sons (Tim, Kevin, and Shawn). We grew up together with FC football. When I was young, I would dream of the day that I could play for FC and Mr. Garry, so his influence on me started at a young age and continued through college and beyond.

“He would attend my college games when he could and he attended many banquets when I was receiving awards. I just always knew that he cared about me as a person and not just a player. Mr. Garry was a great coach, but an even better person. He knew how to treat people and he was always a gentleman.”

Tim Garry said the Fort Cherry community has been fortunate to have some of the men who have led their student-athletes through the years, pointing to the late Jim Yanosik (baseball coach) and others including current boys’ basketball coach Eugene Briggs.

“There are many others,” he added. “I enjoyed coaching for my dad. I am more nervous being an assistant to my son. Being with my dad each step was special for me. As he got up in years, we talked about me taking over. It was kind of weird thinking about someone else coaching Fort Cherry football.”

It still does. But the Garry name endures.