Blue Valley NW athletic director Kevin Gerke has died. Coaches reflect on his impact
Blue Valley Northwest High School athletic director Kevin Gerke died Thursday, the school announced Friday. He was 47.
Gerke had been athletic director at Blue Valley Northwest since 2016. He previously served as assistant principal and boys basketball coach at Belton (Missouri) High for nine seasons.
Blue Valley Northwest did not report a cause of death.
Northwest boys basketball coach Ed Fritz, who won three consecutive Kansas Class 6A basketball titles from 2017-19 during Gerke’s tenure, remembered Gerke as someone who had a passion for working with both coaches and students.
“He was always there to help celebrate when things went well, and when things didn’t go well, he was always there to get you back and to help you,” Fritz said. “So I’m really grateful for everything he’s done for me and my family. He did the same for our whole school.”
The two first met when Fritz was the basketball coach at Center High in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I knew that he was great with kids, because I watched what he what he did at Belton,” Fritz said. “He didn’t have the best talent in the world all the time, but he was able to be competitive and really do a great job coaching. And so I really respected that.”
Blue Valley Northwest volleyball coach Molly Haggerty said Gerke made an impression on her from the beginning. Just after starting in his AD role, Gerke nominated Haggerty for the KC Metro Community for Coaches “Coach of the Year” honor. Haggerty later won the award.
“I just never really had been acknowledged by someone or something like that. And the words he wrote about me, just knowing me for that short amount of time, were really inspiring,” Haggerty said. “I think that that was just kind of him in a nutshell. He kind of liked to play that he was tough, but underneath, he was very thoughtful, very caring and would drop everything to help you out.”
Haggerty said one of Gerke’s biggest accomplishments was earning his doctorate from Baker University. The Blue Valley Northwest coaches surprised him at their coaches’ meeting by giving him a cake.
“Just a really fun, proud moment,” Haggerty said, “and I hope that he really felt how much we all love him and appreciated him and everything he’s done for Northwest.”
Tim Serbousek, Northwest’s wrestling coach, said he appreciated Gerke’s emphasis on both academics and athletics. He said Gerke promoted accolades like the Star’s Scholar-Athlete program and coaches’ association academic honors.
“He valued both sides,” Serbousek said. “A lot of times, you don’t get that in an athletic director.”
Haggerty and Serbousek both spoke to Gerke’s listening skills. Haggerty said one of Gerke’s strengths was taking in coaches’ thoughts, without interruption, before giving “sound, level-headed advice.”
Serbousek said his own interactions with Gerke were similar.
“You could always just run stuff by him, and he’d always give you a good ear,” Serbousek said. “I’m going to miss him a lot, that’s for sure.”
Gerke is survived by his wife, Carmen, and three sons: Zach, Brett and Braden.
This story was originally published April 10, 2020 at 6:39 PM.
