By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

No coach in Portage County history has coached for as long as Mary Tarka.

The fall 2024 season will push her past half a century, yet her coaching career began in the simplest of ways back in 1974.

Her lunch break became an unexpected job opportunity.

“I was sitting in the teacher’s lounge and (former teacher) Bonnie Dailey asked me, ‘What do you know about volleyball’?” Tarka remembers.

Her answer was as innocent as the question.

“Not much.”

That was about to change, though.

The program’s first-ever coach, Cindy Jarrett, was beginning her maternity leave and Mary Tarka was about to become Coach Tarka.

It was step one in a voyage that has become one of Ohio’s most prolific coaching careers.

Tarka has spent her career dodging the spotlight, allowing her players to find that deserved attention, but her numbers are legendary and some of the most notable the state has ever seen.

Entering the 2024 season, Tarka has amassed 750 career wins and 20 league championships.

“When I started, I definitely didn’t know that I would still be here doing it now,” said Tarka, who graduated from Valley Forge High School. “We have great kids here at Southeast and they have always worked hard and done a good job. They are a big reason why I am still coaching.”

And while Southeast and Tarka being together have been the definition of consistency, there have been plenty of changes in the sport along the way.

Countless coaches across the league have come and gone.

League names and league members have changed.

Even for the Pirates.

Beginning this fall, the Pirates will exit a Portage-County based league for the first time in school history, moving into the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference.

There have been rules changes, too. From the ball being able to hit the net and still go over for a point to not being able, then back again to being allowed.

Other changes in play have included no longer allowing players to block serves, the introduction of the libero and the move to rally scoring for all games.

In Tarka’s first year, there was no state tournament.

What she has had throughout her career, and something she is always quick to recognize, is a staff of coaches, most notably at the middle-school level, that have prepared players to arrive ready to contribute to the high-school program.

Coaches like Bill Gilmore, Paula Macchiarella and Ted McDivitt.

Volleyball has not been the sole spotlight for Tarka during her long career at Southeast.

She has taught math and Spanish, while also serving in many advisory roles, including yearbook, cheerleading, quiz bowl, prom and the junior class.

Her days at school are long and can commonly be 14-hour days, but her passions for her classroom, training and playing in the gymnasium, her students and colleges and the entire Southeast school community still make it her fun place to be.

That’s when time can fly. Even for 51 years.