Longtime KSRM sports director and former acclaimed Soldotna High School coach Dan Gensel died Sunday night, the radio station announced Monday. Gensel joined KSRM in 1999 after nearly two decades of service as a coach and teacher at Soldotna High School.
While at SoHi, Gensel taught language arts and coached multiple championship teams in football, basketball and track and field. He also served as the school’s athletic director from 1981 to 1983 and then as activities director from 1995 to 1999.
According to previous Clarion reporting, Gensel’s career highlights included coaching the Soldotna girls basketball team from 1987 to 1999. The team clinched a state title in 1993 and Gensel became the winningest basketball coach in the school’s history with 202 wins.
Gensel in 2018 received a lifetime achievement award from the Alaska High School Hall of Fame, who recognized him for his coaching tenure, and as a three-sport letterman from Kenai Central High School in football, basketball and track and field. Gensel was also named Kenai Central’s Male Athlete of the Year in 1975 and was the Region III 100-yard dash and 180-yard hurdle champion in 1974 and 1975, according to the Alaska High School Hall of Fame.
KSRM President, CEO and General Manager Matt Wilson said in statements shared by KSRM that Gensel helped train him on how to do morning news after Wilson started working for the station in 2007.
While working as KSRM’s sports director, Gensel produced more than 5,450 live sports broadcasts and was named broadcaster of the year in 2020 by the Alaska Broadcasters Association.
“Coach was very special to me,” Wilson wrote. “More than just a co-host, but a friend, and a mentor. Anytime I needed advice or to run an idea by him, he was there.”
SoHi’s 2023 graduating class on Monday observed a moment of silence during their graduation ceremony to honor Gensel.
“Mr. Gensel opened up Soldotna High School in 1980 as a teacher here and taught in the KPBSD for 20 years, retiring in 1999,” said Principal Sarge Truesdell. “Mr. Gensel continued to coach as he transitioned his career to a broadcaster at KSRM where he became the voice of peninsula athletics. I would like us to honor Coach Gensel tonight with just a brief moment of silence.”
There also was a moment of silence for Gensel at Tuesday night’s baseball game between Kenai Central and Soldotna at the Soldotna Little League fields. Soldotna head baseball coach Ken Gibson said he had known Gensel for years due to going to church with him and talking sports with him.
“That’s a big deal for this community,” Gibson said of Gensel’s death.
Kenai Central head coach Luke Oliver agreed.
“First, I’d just like to offer condolences to Coach’s family,” Oliver said in opening in postgame interview. “It’s tragic what happened.”
Soldotna High School announced Wednesday that a memorial service and reception in Gensel’s honor will be held on Tuesday, May 23, at 6 p.m. in the high school gymnasium.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.oahra@peninsulaclarion.com.
Coach Dan Gensel gets his ear pierced to celebrate Soldotna High School’s first team-sport state championship on Friday, Febr. 12, 1993 in Soldotna, Alaska. Gensel, who led the Soldotna High School girls basketball team to victory, had promised his team earlier in the season that he would get his ear pierced if they won the state title. (Rusty Swan/Peninsula Clarion)
Coach Dan Gensel (left) prepares to get his ear pierced to celebrate Soldotna High School’s first team-sport state championship on Friday, Febr. 12, 1993 in Soldotna, Alaska. Gensel, who led the Soldotna High School girls basketball team to victory, had promised his team earlier in the season that he would get his ear pierced if they won the state title. (Rusty Swan/Peninsula Clarion)
