In almost every season of Ocean City High School girls tennis since it became a varsity sport more than three decades ago, Wendy Nickles has been part of the program.

She was the head coach from 1975 through 1985, except for one season that she took off for maternity leave. Dixie Howell stepped in for her that season.

Phil Birnbaum became the head coach in 1986 and directed the program through the 2000 season. During most of that time, Nickles was an assistant on his coaching staff. Then, when Birnbaum retired to become the head coacxh of women’s tennis at Richard Stockton College, Nickles took over again for eight more seasons.

Nickles, who retired after the last fall season as a coach and stepped down as a teacher in June, had a great deal of success in her 19 seasons as head coach.

Her teams won 223 games and lost 120. That is the most girls tennis wins in OCHS history, two more than Birnbaum had in his 15 seasons. Nickles’ teams qualified for the NJSIAA Tournament 14 times in her 19 seasons, reaching the South Jersey championship match seven times. They won the South Jersey title in 1983. In the Cape-Atlantic League, she finished with a champion, taking Division Two of the American Conference last fall. Her teams also won five other championships in the National Conference, all in succession.

Nickles leaves with the 10th most wins by an OCHS coach in a single sport. Recently re-married, she also leaves with the knowledge that over the last three decades she had a major impact on the most successful period of sports success in OCHS history.

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Also stepping down this year as a teacher in Ocean City was Gary Degenhardt. Retired as football coach three years ago, Degenhardt won 101 games during his career, the most by an OCHS and Cape May County coach. He was also an assistant coach for decades before taking over as head coach in 1991.

Degenhardt is expected to continue with his new game night responsibility at Carey Stadium – guarding the press buffet from Butch Gleason.

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Earlier this month Dave Simpson died at age 89.

Simpson coached in the Ocean City Youth Athletic Association. He was an avid golfer, leading him to design miniature golf courses on the boardwalk. He was a big fan of the Phillies and the Red Sox, owning a collection of memorabilia that he occasionally loaned to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY. You would see him outside the post office regularly in his beloved station wagon wearing a Phillies or Red Sox cap. And he was more than just an idle fan. A student of the game, he’d talk about the way a certain player needed to adjust his swing or a manager needed to be more selective about when teams his veteran pitcher faced.

Throughout his life, Simpson served on many boards, as an officer with many clubs and was an elected official who helped change the community for the better. He was a great guy to work for, frequently going out of his way to make life better for his employees.

Going to the post office will not hold the same anticipation it always has, the chance to run into Simpson and have a great conversation about baseball or whatever else was happening.

There are probably only a dozen or so individuals who made Ocean City what it is today. Dave Simpson was one of them.