As a longtime high-school basketball coach, of both boys and girls teams, Win Palmer won hundreds of games and many championships, including multiple state titles.
To many, though, Palmer, who died Aug. 31 from cardiovascular issues, meant so much more than just being a coach and wins and losses, like how he had such a positive manner in handling and developing student/athletes.
In Northern Virginia, Palmer made a name for himself, first as the boys basketball coach at then St. Stephen’s School in Alexandria, and later for 11 years at Flint Hill School in Oakton, where he was the boys hoops coach and athletic director. Palmer led both private-school teams to state championships in boys basketball.
The 1995 state title his Flint Hill team won stills stands as the only Virginia basketball crown in school history, for boys or girls teams.
For the last number of years, Palmer, 65, had been the athletic director and boys head basketball coach at Sewickley Academy near Pittsburgh, where the Notre Dame graduate also coached golf, girls softball and girls basketball.
Overall, his boys basketball teams at the three schools won a total of six state championships, three at St. Stephen’s and two at Sewickley.
Jody Patrick was one of the last hires, as the girls head basketball coach, Palmer made at Flint Hill before he left for Sewickley.
“Win always had such a great spirit and he understood the big picture about high-school athletics,” Patrick said. “We had great conversation about coaching and how to prepare players for a game, and about his perspective on life.”
Longtime Madison High School baseball coach Mark Gjormand often attended Flint Hill’s basketball games to watch Palmer coach. As a young coach, Gjormand said he learned tons from those observations. Gjormand’s Madison’s teams also have won multiple state championships.
“Win Palmer gave a clinic every time he coached,” Gjormand said. “I learned from how he handled players in such a positive manner during games. He could ride a player hard, but be positive and motivational at the same time. He wanted them to be having fun. He had a gift.”
As a player under Palmer at Flint Hill, Eddie Gill experienced such coaching.
“He was such a great leader and he helped me with way more than just basketball,” Gill said.
Dennis Guiliani was a longtime assistant coach under Palmer, first at St. Stephen’s then at Flint Hill.
“Win really cared about the kids, more than just them as athletes, and he did so much good for them,” Guiliani said. “Win had a strong passion for everything. When he was an English teacher, he really wanted kids to learn the language the right way. As a coach, he was very good about adjusting and changing with the game. He was so impactful in a lot of different ways.”
During the time Palmer coached at then St. Stephen’s, the squad’s biggest games each winter were against Alexandria city rival Episcopal, led by another young coach back then in Tony Shaver. He left Episcopal after a few seasons to coach in the college ranks for many years, first as the head coach at Division III Hampden-Sydney College, then in the same position at Division I College of William and Mary.
Retired from coaching now, Shaver recalls those high games against Palmer and St. Stephen’s.
“I remember how well his teams were always prepared, and how they always competed hard,” Shaver said. “A lot of his former players have reached out to me since his death, and that means a lot.”
Flint Hill and Potomac School also had big Northern Virginia rivalry games when Palmer coached there.
“There was no love lost between the coaches, but those were some of the greatest games. We were true rivals,” then Potomac School coach Matt Carlin said. “The teams were ultimate competitors.”
Palmer’s son, Matt Palmer, said his father enjoyed people.
“When he was in the hospital recently, he made friends with some nurses and the night janitor kept stopping by to talk and get advice,” Matt Palmer. “They all enjoyed talking to him.”
NOTE: A celebration of Palmer’s life will be held Saturday, Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. at Sewickley Academy and will be live streamed on the school’s athletic Website . . . A remembrance of Palmer is being planned for possibly sometime in early October somewhere in Northern Virginia.
