KARNS CITY — An era is ending at Karns City High School.

Tom Wagner, athletic director of the school for the past 22 years, officially retired from that position this week. He retired as a teacher in the district last year and has been employed by Karns City since 1979.

“The thing I'll miss the most is the relationships,” Wagner said. “I consider myself a people person and I developed a lot of positive relationships with coaches and students.

“Anyone who came to Karns City — officials, opposing teams, etc. — I wanted them to feel welcome. I worked hard at that.”

While Wagner was athletic director at KC, the Gremlins won approximately 40 District 9 championships, covering nine different sports — football, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, girls track and cross country.

He taught social studies at Bruin Elementary School, driver's education at the high school, coached boys and girls basketball and girls track for the Gremlins.

Wagner also served on the PIAA District 9 Committee from 2000 through 2012. He was soccer chairman for the district and game manager for numerous sports.

“That guy wore a lot of hats,” Gremlins boys basketball coach Chris Bellis said. “But he was always able to balance his different schedules.”

Wagner was also heavily involved in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Director's Association. He has been on the PSADA Executive Council since 1997 and was president of the organization from 2008-2010.

“I always enjoyed my work with District 9 and the state athletic association,” Wagner said. “I wanted to be involved and do what was best for our school.”

Wagner attended many national conferences as a member of the NIAA Strategic Planning Committee ad received the NIAA state Award of Merit in 2007. He was named Pennsylvania State Athletic Director of the Year in 2010.

Brian Markle, an assistant football coach at Karns City for 31 years and head coach Ed Conto's longtime defensive coordinator, was hired Monday to replace Wagner as athletic director.

“It's a position I've had interest in for a long time,” Markle said. “I've always wanted to pursue that avenue.

“Tom did a great job here. He was instrumental in helping to get our different athletic programs to where they are. I hope I can fill his shoes.”

Markle and Wagner have been working on the transition for the past week.

“He's a smart choice,” Wagner said of Markle. “This will be a smooth transition and that's what I was hoping for. It's a nice hire from within.”

Markle will no longer be an assistant football coach. He worked on staffs under head grid coaches Mel Semenko, Lon Hazlet and Conto at KC.

“This is bittersweet for me,” Markle admitted. “I'm excited about this new opportunity, but when football season rolls around, it's going to be strange not being out there.”

Wagner plans to stay away from Karns City home sporting events next school year, except for Senior Nights. He may frequent a few road games.

“It's time for me to ween myself away,” he said. “I'll attend the Senior Nights because I know a lot of those kids, but I've been going to games there for 36 years. Karns City is my home. My wife (Cindy) and I chose to raise our children here.

“Watching my boys (Jeff and Steve) play sports in high school, their successes and failures ... That was very meaningful for me.”

Wagner was able to present the District 9 boys basketball championship trophy to his son Steve, who was captain of the Gremlin squad that season.

The consistent success of Karns City's athletic teams comes through stability in coaching, Wagner said.

“If you look at our teams that have had consistent success — Larry Deal was coach when our girls basketball team won the (2000) state title. Chris Bellis, Steve Andreassi and Dave Kerschbaumer were on that staff. They all became head coaches.

“Ed Conto's been the football coach for 12 years, Don Black has 30 years in as boys track coach, Joe Meshanko, Roy Parker in soccer ... I'll never forget Joe telling me after Lisa Castiglione's first year as an assistant that 'she's going to be a good one.' We've been fortunate that way.

“As an educator, you want to help develop kids who will go on to become quality, caring people. We've had so many former athletes move on to get college degrees, then come back here to coach or help out because they want to give back,” Wagner added.

Kerschbaumer said Wagner was always “a good sounding board” for the coaches.

“He always lent a good ear when we needed to vent,” he said. “After games, Chris and I could go in his office, visit for a half hour or so, cool down ... Tom had a great relationship that way with all of the coaches.

“He will be missed around here. That's for sure.”