Runners Remember Coach Kahn

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

If life can be measured by the impact someone makes on others,  Joel Kahn lived a full one.

The former Paul Revere Middle School teacher and Palisades High track and cross country coach succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 79 at his Encino home Aug. 24, but his spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of hundreds of athletes whose lives he touched.

One of those individuals is Peter Gilmore, who was coached  by Kahn all four years at Pali High, where he became the program’s top distance runner.

“He was a true leader in the old-school sense,” said Gilmore, who ran at UC Berkeley, won the Palisades-Will Rogers 5K a record eight times and became an elite-level marathoner. “We were a motley crew, an interesting mix of nationalities and backgrounds and he brought everyone together. He instilled in all of us that you can accomplish anything in life.”

Gilmore, who now lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two kids, grew up in Pacific Palisades and graduated from Pali High in 1995. He won the City Section 1,600-meter crown as a junior and the 1,600 and 3,200 as a senior.

“I would run through a brick wall for him,” Gilmore continued. “He had the loudest voice I’ve ever heard at a meet. There could be 10,000 people cheering and you’d still hear him from the top row. We kept in touch through the years. He told us we’re in it to win it and he made everyone believe.”

Kahn guided Pali High’s girls cross country team to the City title in 1994. Kara Barnard, Diana Epstein and Genevieve Cruise ran fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively. After finishing third as a junior, Gilmore won the individual title that season, leading the  boys to second place.

Along with Kahn’s beloved wife Sherrill and dog Bugsie, Patty Morales-Correa was with her former coach the night before he passed. She was on his first team at Palisades in 1991, graduated in 1994, and is now a massage therapist living in the City of Commerce.

“He wasn’t a drill master, he just wanted you to try your hardest and as long as you did that, nothing else mattered,” she said. “He treated everyone the same.”

Erik Larsen, who graduated the year after Gilmore and was one of Palisades’ best runners, is the son of former UCLA track coach Bob Larsen.

“I’ve been around coaches my whole life, I know what a good coach is and he was one of the best,” recalled Larsen, who  now lives in La Canada-Flintridge and works in real estate. “Across the board he was extremely knowledgeable. He knew about every event and whether you were the star athlete or just a beginner he gave everyone the same respect and attention. He was a genuinely caring person and a great human being.”

Kahn was a P.E. and health teacher at Paul Revere Junior High [it later became a middle school] for 32 years before accepting the coaching job at Palisades, where his was wife was an art teacher.

“He coached me at Revere and then at Pali from 1991-93 when I ran the  mile and two mile,” remembered Yvette Bucio, a mother of two living in Pico Rivera. “As a coach he was very inspiring, very encouraging. He cared about you as an individual, he took interest in your family life and what was going on at school. He retired a few years after I graduated and I hadn’t seen him in 20 years until a few years ago when I saw him at Pali. His warm and loving personality is what I’ll remember most.”

Joel and Sherrill met in 1967 and were married almost 48 years. Born in 1936, he played football and ran track at Manual Arts High, graduating in 1954. He went on to earn his bachelor;s and master’s degrees from UCLA and began teaching at Revere in 1959. He was on the national ski patrol for 26 years and was also an avid bike rider.

“He never complained about his condition – he was very positive,” Sherrill said. “He was a phenomenal motivator, a very loving husband and a courageous man.”

A memorial service will be held Sunday at 11 a.m. at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino (15739 Ventura Blvd). Afterwards, Pali High Assistant Principal Russ Howard will host a reception at 2 p.m. in Mercer Hall.