Denver Public Schools coaches look back at impact made in decades of service

As Denver Public Schools welcomes students and teachers for another year of school, two longtime coaches are going down memory lane and looking back at the impact they've had in the district for decades.

Steve Finesilver from George Washington High School and Daniel Medina from Abraham Lincoln High School have served the community as coaches and teachers.

Finesilver, says he bleeds green and white, and it makes sense as he graduated from George Washington High School in 1974. After a short stint in CFL and teaching at Montbello High School, he returned home to his roots and has been coaching and teaching at George Washington since 1987.

"This is my roots, my foundation. And now, three generations deep, I'm teaching and coaching grandchildren whose grandparents I taught and or coached back at Montbello and some even from George Washington during the early years. So, it's a community that I haven't left, and I won't leave," Finesilver said.

In his office, he has two posterboards filled with pictures and memorabilia dedicated to the students he poured his life into over the decades.

The same can be said for coach Daniel Medina who for the last 23 years, he used the softball fields at Lincoln High School as his teaching ground for his "life lessons through sports." He taught his players the importance of hard work, being passionate in everything you do, never giving up, and keeping your head up high.

"I was able to get kids that were struggling in my community and bring them on this field and teach them valuable life lessons. So, it was a lifeline that they were able to survive and come back and give to their community," Medina said.

The highlight of Medina's career was coaching his daughters on the field and having them coach with him on the softball diamond. He also won two Denver Prep League titles in his 23 years of coaching and teaching his life lessons through sports. Medina's time as a coach ended last fall, but he still working at Lincoln High School helping at-risk youth.

Finesilver is still teaching and coaching at George Washington High School, but he's also become an author, writing the book "Hard Knocks and Dirty Socks," which talks about how he looks to implement changes through DPS to encourage and demand educational reform.