Washington-Lee coach Bill Findler dead at age 58

 

William E. Findler
July 8, 1948 — June 18, 2007
 

William E. Findler, 58, of Arlington and Edinburg, VA, passed away Monday morning, June 18, 2007. He was an attorney by profession but a track coach at Washington-Lee HS by vocation. He is survived by his wife Alice; their sons Robby, Ted, Patrick, Peter as well as Hailemichael Teklai; his father Samuel; his sisters Meredith and Patti; and his three grandchildren. Services will be held on Friday at 10am at The Falls Church. In lieu of flowers, donations made be made to: Advocates International, C.S. Lewis Institute, Christian Stewardship Ministries, Wycliffe Bible Translators.

 

Very tragic news to report as Washington-Lee High School head cross country and track coach Bill Findler passed away Monday morning at the age of 58 from a heart attack. Just the night before, Findler was at the end of the season banquet for his track team where he was with his athletes and track parents reminiscing over the past year as well as the past four years with many of his senior athletes with picture collages and stories.  Findler, who had been assistant since 1994 before taking over the head position in 2004, had vastly improved the Washington-Lee program over recent years as shown by coaching Chris Tyson to a 1000 meter state championship this past indoor season. Findler ran track at the College of William & Mary in the late 1960's and went to high school in New Jersey. MileStat.com would like to extend its deepest condolences to the Washington-Lee track family in these very tough times. Please share your memories and condolences in light of Coach Findler's passing in the comments section of the article.

 

 

Personal note from MileStat.com's Brandon Miles:

 

I was very fortunate to get to know Coach Findler over the years. He was a very avid supporter and visitor of the site as it started initially from frequent emails back and forth to my first time getting to meet him at Buz Male's Ragged Mountain Running Camp, several summers ago as Coach Findler was a regular visitor to the camp in Charlottesville to check in on his Washington-Lee kids attending the camp. He truly was a great guy along as a great coach as it is obvious his love for the sport was there as he was an attorney by profession, but coach in his life's passion.  He took deep pride in the accomplishment of his athletes as well as their running afterwards. One of my last memories with Coach Findler is at this past spring's Colonial Relays during the collegiate races as I got to enjoy watching the races instead of covering them after the high school events were over. I spotted Coach Findler in the stands and we sat together watching the races. You could tell that he built a special bond with his athletes and was very proud to see them compete at the next level and especially at his almamater of William & Mary and several members of the current team at W&M ran for him at Washington-Lee.

 

The man was well over twice my age, but he treated me like an equal peer to him in the sport and I could see that he gave his runners the same level of treatment. Not only had Coach Findler produced great runners out of his program, but great kids as well. He definitely set a great example for them to follow after. Coach Findler is a face that I will missing seeing at the future Northern Region meets that I cover as he was one of the first faces that I always seeked upon rival to shake hands and chat up with.