Dennis Ramella is in the first month of retirement after 32 years as a high school athletic director, but his legacy will continue on thanks to several ADs who learned from him.
The latest member of the Ramella AD tree is Marc Zimmerman, who has been hired as Southern Lehigh’s athletic director.
Zimmerman, who had worked the last two years as Ramella’s assistant at Emmaus, was appoved by the Southern Lehigh school board on June 25 and will officially begin his duties on July 17.
He replaces Chad Remaly, who also had been an assistant AD at Emmaus before becoming Southern Lehigh’s AD the past two years.
Ramella also had connections at Nazareth where his son Ray is in charge and at Northampton where current AD Shaun Murray is another former Emmaus assistant AD .
“Being able to spend time with Dennis, and getting the opportunity to learn from someone who has been incredibly successful, really helped to build my resume and put me in a position to earn this job,” Zimmerman, a 1999 Emmaus High graduate, said. “I am extremely excited about this opportunity.”
Zimmerman played football at Emmaus and for Scot Dapp at Moravian College.
Prior to becoming assistant AD with the Green Hornets, Zimmerman spent 12 years as an elementary and middle school teacher in the Bethlehem Area School District and he has coached football and track at various schools including Allen, Freedom, Bethlehem Catholic and Emmaus. He was the head track and field coach at Freedom for two years.
Zimmerman got to meet a few Colonial League members in his time at Emmaus, but plans to get know all of his new colleagues as soon as possible.
“There’s a good amount of newness there, but I want to start building those new relationships as soon as possible since I never coached in the Colonial League,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman knows Southern Lehigh has been one of the most successful overall programs in the Colonial League.
In the 2017-18 school year, the Spartans tied Saucon Valley for the Colonial Cup, which is awarded via a point system measuring the overall excellence of each athletic program. Southern Lehigh also won the Colonial Cup in the three prior school years.
Zimmerman knows the value of sports transcends win-loss records and championship banners.
“I treasured my high school experience so much that I always knew athletic administration is the field I wanted to get into,” he said. “I love high school sports. It provides opportunities for kids to develop and learn life lessons.
“Having been in the classroom for many years, I know athletics are just a piece of the educational picture, but an important piece.”
Zimmerman will become the fourth athletic director at Southern Lehigh in less than a decade.
Don Harakal had been the school’s AD for 22 years before retiring in September of 2011.
Kate Miller replaced Harakal, but left in January 2016 to become executive director at The Miracle League of the Lehigh Valley.
Harakal returned to finish up the 2015-16 school year as interim AD and Remaly was hired in time for the 2016-17 school year. He announced his resignation in May to take a position in the human resources department of St. Luke’s University Health Network.
