'There will never be another Spike': West York community remembers Joseph 'Spike' Bahn

It may be an understatement to say that Joseph Bahn was one of the most recognizable figures involved with West York High School athletics.

Even if only a handful of people knew his real name.

At every Bulldog home game for the past two-plus decades, “Spike” was usually somewhere to be found. The school’s longtime athletic manager, his love for all things West York endeared him not only to fans but to opponents as well.

Bahn died Tuesday at the age of 58, prompting an outpouring of emotion from the entire Bulldog community.

“There will never be another Spike,” former West York girls’ basketball coach James Kunkle said.

“He was definitely committed to West York, 24-7,” said Joe Ramp, the former Bulldog girls’ volleyball coach. “He’s definitely a person that they are going to miss tremendously in many facets around the building as well as the students. Just a great, great human being.”

There was plenty of sadness in the halls the day after Bahn’s passing, which nobody in or around West York expected to happen so suddenly. But the memories of Bahn were anything but sad.

Every story involving the embodiment of high school athletics at the school was filled with either positivity or inspiration, but usually both.

“I will always think of Spike as somebody who had such a kind heart,” current Bulldogs boys’ basketball coach Garrett Bull said. “He was such a good person. Never heard him complain or say a negative word about anything. He always had a smile on his face.”

“He always wanted to be involved,” Kunkle said. “Going to the sporting events and especially districts and states, he always wanted to be there."

Those who knew him, loved him. Even those who didn’t know him all that well were inspired by his presence.

“One of the funniest things about him is just the amount of people that know him,” West York athletic trainer Meaghan Wildasin said. “Everywhere we would go, someone would know him and say hi, and for the most part, he would know who they were, but sometimes he wouldn't remember them.

“I think one time we were went away on a state baseball game and it was like 2 1/2 hours up north. After the game we stopped at a Burger King to get food and the lady working at the counter knew him. She knew his name and talked to him and everything, and after we got back on the bus, I asked him if he knew who that was and he just said, ‘No.’ … It just seemed like everywhere he went, people knew him."

NO COMPLAINTS

Through numerous health and physical challenges, Bahn always wanted to be there for each and every West York athletic program. He felt a solemn duty — even when he was less than 100 percent healthy — to give it his all every day he stepped foot on the campus.

“He had a big impact on everybody — he really did,” former West York field hockey and track coach Julia Haynes said. “I used him one time at a talk that I gave at our track banquet about the perseverance. High school kids tend to complain a lot — ‘Oh, my legs hurt,’ oh this and oh that — and I said, ‘All of you guys know him. You see him every single day, and I promise you that not one person in this auditorium has heard that man complain about anything. He comes and does his job and a lot of times you don’t even appreciate it. … I said that he goes to dialysis treatments three times a week and he's got some health issues going on, yet he’s here every single day without a complaint.

“It was silent when I was talking, and the kids were very impacted by it afterwards. They never saw that he had some handicaps. They never really thought about it, but when you think about somebody that has to go to dialysis three times a week and walked with a limp, that’s why he has the golf cart. … After that, I would actually see kids stop and thank him — ‘Thanks for getting this for us, Spike,’ and things like that. I was thankful that they started to recognize what he did and they noticed that he didn't complain one time. He loved what he did and he did it to the best of his ability.”

Sometimes finding the energy to carry on meant taking a nap before a big game so that Bahn could muster the energy necessary to be there for the Bulldogs.

Usually, however, it meant getting a swig of his beloved drink of choice.

“He loved his Pepsi,” Wildasin said. “I remember when we would be (at school) on long days and he would just be like, ‘I need a Pepsi.’ And he was always kind of specific on what type of Pepsi. I think one time we bought him Pepsi with real sugar and he didn’t want it. If it looked different or if it was diet … it had to be original Pepsi or else he didn’t like it."

Bahn wasn’t shy about leaning on his closest friends to procure his favorite beverage.

“He never missed my birthday and I didn’t miss his,” Haynes said. “He just turned 58 (on Oct. 11). He called me up a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could bring him some Pepsi and I said that I would after I cleaned up and I would run to the store and get him the Pepsi and bring it over. I brought it over and we were talking and he just goes, ‘I can't believe I'm 58.’ And I said, ‘I know, because that means I'm 59. We're getting old, buddy.’”

Haynes had a particularly special relationship with Bahn. With neither one being married, the two had a long-running joke that they probably should be husband and wife.

“He called me his wife one day and I just said, ‘I don't see a ring on this finger!’” Haynes said with a laugh. “So he got Eric Rodgers, who was the trainer at the time, to fashion a ring out of athletic tape. And Joe comes over to me and hands me this athletic tape ring and asks me if I’ll marry him. And I go, 'Are you kidding me? I've waited this long and I get a taped ring!' But we joked about it. When he called me, he would be like ‘Hey, wifey.’ Those are the memories that I will hold dear.”

RESILIENCE

One memory that Haynes will never forget is the unfortunate accident this past April that landed Bahn in the ICU before a stay at a local rehab hospital. The golf cart that Bahn was driving around the high school campus unexpectedly crashed into a pole near the tennis courts and sent him flying onto the grass. Haynes, who was walking nearby after finishing track practice, saw it happen and was rushed over to help.

“I was there,” Haynes said. “I saw it and it was horrible. It was horrific.”

“I looked over and all of a sudden the cart hit this pole and he literally flew out of that cart. He didn’t try to break his fall and didn’t try to hold on, which made me think that he had some kind of medical event like a seizure that forced his leg onto the gas. So he flew out of the golf cart and the sound was horrific. I was pushing the stroller with my 1-year-old niece in it and I just left the stroller and ran. … I get over there and he was sort of half-conscious. I thought there was going to be blood everywhere, but nothing. Just one spec of blood on his hand because it scraped the driveway. Then he opened up his eyes and he looks at me and just says, ‘Hi, hon.’”

After Bahn’s niece picked him up, he started having seizures in the car and an ambulance was called. Haynes said she was worried the community would lose him then — “that head injury was just so severe,” she said.

Bahn, however, made a remarkable recovery, and nearly one month after his accident, he left the Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital of York to a standing ovation of doctors, family and friends.

In true Bahn fashion, he dropped a “go Bulldogs” with his departure.

“He was a classy guy,” Ramp said. “He would always put a smile on your face. Always would ask about family and how things were going. He always went above and beyond with the kids. If the kids needed ice in their water, he would just do it and nobody even asked him to do it. Just a lot of little things that help you get prepared for matches.”

As for the nickname Spike, not many around him know its full origin. Not even Haynes, who was first introduced to Bahn when they attended Lincolnway Elementary School.

“I don’t know how he got his nickname Spike because I don’t call him that,” Haynes said. “I call him Joe. I refer to him as Joe and people look at me like ‘Who?’ and I'm like, ‘Oh yeah, Spike,’ because everybody calls him Spike. I never called him that, not even when we were kids growing up, not when I was in high school … I’m not even sure that he knew where it started.”

But it certainly stuck, and the name won’t ever be forgotten.