Contra Costa Times

November 1985

Obituary

Peter J. Kramer dies;

coach for 25 years

Times staff

CONCORD - Peter J. Kramer, a Mt. Diablo High coach and school district administrator for more than 50 years, died Wednesday [November 27, 1985] in Mt. Diablo Community Hospital after a long illness.

Kramer, 85, retired in 1964. He was a native of Colton, WA, and played football and basketball at Washington State University before he began his coaching and teaching career at Mt. Diablo High School in 1925.

During that era, the head coach handled the entire athletic program and one year coached six sports: football, basketball, track, baseball, tennis and swimming.

During his quarter of a century of coaching Red Devil athletic teams, Kramer emphasized the slogan "victory with honor."

"Pete Kramer pretty much represented a role model we all tried to follow in our work,' said Les Williams, retired district athletic director now living near Sebastopol. "Pete was dedicated and sincere and young people always were his top priority."

Retired athletic director and coach Hart Fairclough said, "It's obvious that since 1925 that Pete Kramer embodied the spirit of Mt. Diablo High. He was the coach for a quarter of a century and a vice principal and dean of boys 15 years after that."

Fairclough, now serving as Diablo Valley Athletic League commissioner, said "much of my pride and interest generated in sports at Mt. Diablo were inspired by Pete, and I speak for many other coaches and athletes who played under him."

Even after his retirement in 1964, Kramer continued to support athletic and social functions at Mt. Diablo High, Fairclough noted.

The California Coaches Association honored Kramer in 1967 by electing him to its Hall of Fame.

He was a past exalted ruler of the Pittsburg Elks Lodge and charter member of the Concord Elks.

Survivors include his wife, Dorothy; two sons, Peter J. Kramer Jr., a Concord insurance broker, and Dr. Thomas Kramer, an orthopedic surgeon in Dayton, OH; and four grandchildren.

Services under the direction of Bryant and Moore Funeral Home in Concord will begin with a recitation of the Rosary at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Queen of All Saints Church on Grant Street, Concord. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday, at the Queen of All Saints Church followed by interment in Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Lafayette.