Kistler coached at Penn for 31 years

April 6, 1927 George Kistler, or as he is known at Weightman Hall -- "George," is the oldest member of Pennsylvania's coaching staff. He has been at the University since 1896 -- a total of 31 years. George was born at Penzance, in Cornwall, England. He was the son of a wealthy family of watchmakers, long established in that country. This was in the 1860s (George always refuses the exact date.). When he was about 12 years old, he took to swimming in the waters along the Cornish coast -- a sport in which he has remained pre-eminent for half a century. As a young man he was attracted by the glamour of the army, which struck many a British youth in those days when there was always a recruiting sergeant going with a file of men through the provinces of merry England. George confesses that he enlisted in the First Volunteer Battalion of the Duke of Connaught's Light Infantry. However, his soldiering days would not last long; he soon passed them up and came to America. Many are the famous coach's recollections of youthful swimming in this country. One remembered day in 1901, he was the victor in a swim to Chester, a 37.5-mile jaunt down the Delaware River. His time was 11 hours and eight minutes which is no mean performance to be sure. Incidentally this was the same day that President McKinley was assassinated. Some years before this, 1887 to be exact, he had been world's champion in the one mile swim. His greatest event in England was the winning of a 1,000-yard swim open to all comers, in which over 30 natators of fame were entered. Before he entered the service of the University, coach Kistler was a victor in many more races. In fact he proudly remarked the other day that he had kept records of 67 races in which he had taken first place. Such a winning swimmer was an asset to the University. Coming to the coaching business as a winning athlete, he became a winning coach almost at once. George Kistler has lived and grown in the University service. He is never a "hard" coach until occasion absolutely requires it. He has found that fair treatment will go further with an athlete than harsh words. He has an eye for every man on the team, from the captain to the lowest aspirant, encouraging them in improving them all. · April 7, 1927 Averaging over three runs per inning, the varsity baseball team opened the season yesterday afternoon by overwhelming Drexel Institute, 20 to 2. The game was limited to seven innings on account of approaching darkness, but in the shortened session, the Pennsylvania team made 19 hits, and held the Institute team to three. Foster Sanford started the game on the mound for the University tossers and, in the four frames he pitched, held his opponents both hitless and scoreless. "Hook" Walker displaced Sanford in the fifth inning, and Drexel, aided by an avalanche of errors, scored two runs. In the sixth inning Walker gave way to Knoblauch, who held Drexel hitless. Coach Cariss made numerous other substitutions, including Tashjian at second and Perlman at first. "Gene" Connell did well behind the bat and caught the only Drexel man who tried to steal second. He got a single, a double and a triple, walked once and took first on an error by the Drexel catcher. This gave him five opportunities to run the bases in as many appearances at the bat. The fact that the game was the opening contest of the season caused many errors of commission and omission which coach Cariss will attempt to eliminate before the season gets well underway.