Dave McKinnis

This is the first in a series of four articles profiling the 2017 inductees into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of FameBUTLER TWP — Forget about the actual numbers.Dave McKinnis considers his career record as gymnastics coach at Butler High School to be 0-1.“I inherited a program that had 107 wins and zero losses,” McKinnis, 73, said. “I put the first blemish on that record. So as far as I'm concerned, I'm 0-1.”The real records, of course, speak otherwise.McKinnis was 126-23 in 20 years as boys and girls gymnastics coach at Butler. He coached the boys to a pair of undefeated WPIAL championship seasons. He sent 65 individuals on to NCAA programs, some of whom became All-Americans.It's that body of work and then some that is landing McKinnis in the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame. He will be inducted with former Golden Tornado athletes Gwen Murray, Josh Barthlow and Jeff Diehl during a 6 p.m. reception Dec. 22 in the high school cafeteria.McKinnis was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.“It's an honor, of course,” McKinnis said. “I never expected this because I never really hit my stride until after high school.“I was on the JV basketball team, ran track and only had one year on the gymnastics team. That was my senior year.”That one year was enough for McKinnis to be recruited by the University of Pittsburgh, where he lettered for three years as a gymnast. He was team captain his senior year and led the Panthers in scoring with 17 first-place finishes. He made All-Eastern Intercollegiate Gymnastics League on the pommel horse.During his collegiate career, McKinnis took a first place against every EIGL team except Temple. He finished second three times against the Owls.McKinnis received his masters degree at Pitt while serving as assistant gymnastics coach under coach Warren Neiger.“When I was looking for a job after that, I never applied at Butler. They came and found me ... I'm not sure why,” McKinnis said. “I started out as a health and English teacher before teaching physical education.”And he succeeded the legendary Paul Uram as Tornado gymnastics coach.“We always had numbers because Coach Uram laid the groundwork and built the tradition there,” McKinnis said. “All the years I coached, our smallest roster was 25. For my first five to seven years, we had 40 kids or more.“I never cut anybody. I just let them work and I came around and helped as many kids as I could.”McKinnis spent 43 years as a teacher in the Butler Area School District. He coached eight members of the Collins family — Mel, Tim, Jeff, Kevin, Terry, Lou, Scott and LeRoy — to all-state status.Other brother acts he coached included Bob and Bill Stanley, John and Joe Gracik, Wendel and George Tomasovic, Eric and Dave Swanson. McKinnis also spent 18 years coaching at Heasley's Gymnastics Club, where he helped nine more gymnasts compete in NCAA programs.He wound up doing some private coaching out of his garage at home as well.“I've always stayed involved in gymnastics,” said McKinnis, who still coaches young kids at Heasley's twice a week. “I've coached at clubs, YMCA's, camps, I've done writing about the sport, judging ... I've always kept my hand in it, never wanted to get away from it.”He's also done flexibility and conditioning work with the Washington Redskins and St. Louis Cardinals of the NFL, Montreal Expos and Pittsburgh Pirates in baseball, Detroit Red Wings in hockey and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL.“Flexibility in pro sports was a virtual unknown back then,” McKinnis recalled. “Paul Uram wanted to document his flexibility program and I wrote things down and did illustrations for him.“We wound up working together on it and I learned so much from him. I learned the program and added some things. I owe so much to that man.”