OATCCC Hall Of Fame
Julie Cole

Julie started her coaching career at Wintersville HS in 1983 before moving to Berkshire HS the following year – and since then, the Badgers have made a habit of going to the State Championships in both cross country and track & field. An outstanding runner in high school and college, Julie brought her expertise to Berkshire and created a running environment that epitomizes success and annually turns out champions at all levels. In cross country – boys and girls programs combined – her teams have been dominant! After winning 33 East Suburban and Chagrin Valley Conference Championships, Julie’s teams have gone on to win 14 District Championships and 26 District Runner-up titles. The Badgers have qualified to the Regional Meet 51 times with four of those winning Regional Championships and twelve winning Runner-up titles. Berkshire teams have qualified to the State Championship 24 times with the girls’ highest finish coming in 2009 (3rd) and the boys highest finish also coming in 3rd (1994). There have been 47 individual state qualifiers, 16 of whom have earned All-Ohio honors. In track, the success has been the same. Twenty-six league championships have been followed up by 14 District Championships and 13 District Runner-up titles. The Badgers have won one Regional Meet and they have been Runners-up on five other occasions. In 1999, Julie’s girls’ track team won the State Runner-up title. Individually, 90 individuals have qualified to the State Meet and Berkshire relays have qualified 42 times. There have been five individual State Runners-up and five State Champions including Kelly Green (800M), Patrick Buddenbaum (800M), and two-time 800M winner, Debbie Duplay. On the boys’ side, Dan Taylor won the discus in 1998 and set a DIII all-time record with a throw of 200-11 before going on to a world-class career in the shot put. Three State Champion relays and four State Runner-up relays round out an impressive resume of State Championship performances. The winner of numerous awards at all levels, Julie was the 2003 Fred Dafler Career Coach of the Year. In 2011, she received the OHSAA Sports, Ethics, and Integrity Award and in 2012, she was inducted into the Berkshire HS Hall of Fame. She continues to coach at Berkshire and lives in Chardon, Ohio.