Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Jan. 3, 2015
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
On the outside, Phil Datka had the look of a coach who would
crack the whip to get his players to do what needed to be done on the football
field.
Instead, he was a coach who cracked jokes to bring a light
mood to practice, making sure a player’s experience was one they would
remember.
And because of that he left an imprint on more than a
generation of people that’ll never be forgotten.
Datka died Tuesday, only weeks after having heart surgery.
He was 69.
“It was amazing how he connected with people,” said Jake
Davis, Germantown’s football coach.
A visitation for Datka is set for 2-6 p.m. Sunday at
Germantown High School, W180 N11501 River Lane. A private funeral service will
be Monday.
“Coach Datka was all business,” said Joe Kretlow, one of
thousands of former players for Datka at Germantown. “But in the end he was a
really funny guy.
“He started practice every day with a joke.”
For those who grew up in Germantown wanting to play
football, they dreamed of playing for Datka.
Datka moved to Germantown in 1969 when he was 23 years old.
He attended St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana — an all-boys school.
Then out of college, he taught at an all-boys Catholic high school in Milwaukee
— Francis Jordan.
His first class at Germantown was sociology, which had
marriage and childhood development as a topic. That also meant he had to teach
girls.
“It was a different world to me,” Datka joked in 2010. “It
was interesting.”
Also in 1969, he became the football coach for a newly built
school in a sparsely populated village outside of Milwaukee.
From there, he built a winning program coaches wanted to
emulate and kids wanted to be a part of.
“He was the kind of guy that he wasn’t going to take
shortcuts,” said Jason Piittmann, Kewaskum’s football coach and athletic
director. “He believed in doing things the right way. He got the best out of
his kids.”
“When you say his name, I just see him as a great
competitor,” said Aaron Paulin, former West football coach and a former
assistant coach at rival Homestead. “As a coach, you like to see that. It keeps
you fresh, keeps you young. He wanted to win.” Datka won 280 games in 42
seasons as a head coach, sixth-most in state history when he retired. He led
the Warhawks to four appearances in the WIAA state final, including winning it
all in 1998 and 2003.
He was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches
Association Hall of Fame in 1998. He will be inducted into St. Joseph’s
College’s (Indiana) Hall of Fame later this year.
“He is Germantown; he’ll forever be the cornerstone of our
football program,” Davis said. “He’ll be sorely missed.”
Datka retired as Germantown’s head coach after the 2010 season.
That season, Jason Townsend spent most of it on the junior
varsity team. But for the playoffs, Townsend, a sophomore at that time, was
moved up to varsity.
“It was great to play for him,” he said. “I was glad to see
how he coached and watched it firsthand. I was honored to play for him.”
Townsend was nervous to be on the varsity team. Then playing
for a legend elevated the nerves.
“Everyone knew who he was,” he said. “Even in sixth grade,
if he came to one of the games, we all knew who he was. We got a little
nervous.”
Kretlow was also a sophomore on the varsity team in 2010.
“He was a great coach,” Kretlow said. “He made sure all the
kids had fun, but make us better men and football players.”
Like it was for Townsend, it was a dream come true for
Kretlow to play for Datka.
“He was a celebrity in our eyes,” Kretlow said about how
young and aspiring football players in Germantown viewed Datka.
Every kid who played in the youth football program in
Germantown attended varsity games growing up and remembered how full the stands
were and how often the Warhawks finished a game on top.
It was a tradition at Germantown. “Those games were big with
a lot of people at them,” Townsend said. “I was beyond nervous.”
Kretlow and Townsend, among many others, were surprised to
learn about his desire to teach and coach kids under the rugged persona he
appeared to have, and just how down to earth he was.
“I was figuring he’d be a real stickler, drill after drill,”
Kretlow said. “He’s a stern coach, but he’s got room for a good time.”
Datka had a soft spot for kids, once saying he loved
coaching the kids. Davis said that’s what he will be best remembered for,
outside of the success on the gridiron.
“Once I got to know him better, he pulled me in his office
once and he told me that I was a great player and I got to keep it up,”
Townsend said. “It really encouraged me to keep playing. I wanted to play for
him.”
“Nobody didn’t like playing for him,” he added.
