Fred Dohrmann to Coach His 1,000th Game Wednesday for Widener Softball

Fred Dohrmann, one of the most influential people Widener University Athletics has known, on Wednesday will coach his 1,000th game for the softball team.

Taking over the program on an interim basis in 1981 before being named the squad's permanent coach in 1983, Dohrmann has left a legacy that is tough to beat on any level in any sport. He has a 536-462 career record over 33 seasons entering today that includes PAIAW titles in 1990 and 1991, the Middle Atlantic Conference Southeast Division co-championship in 1992 and the ECAC co-championship in 1998.

One of the most personable and affable people on campus, Dohrmann has led the Pride to 10 20-win seasons, a school-record 30 triumphs in 2008 when the squad shared the Commonwealth Conference regular-season title and guided the team to the 2009 league finals.

He has coached countless all-conference athletes that include four league players of the year. He also guided a Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Player of the Year in Mallory Meyer (2008), a second team All-America in 2000 and 2001, and saw his team lead the NCAA in slugging percentage in 1992.

Dohrmann has notched 95 percent (536-of-566) of the program's victories and coached 93 percent (998-of-1077) of the team's games.

Success with the squad goes beyond the playing field. Dohrmann put together a team which in 2013 had a 3.433 GPA for the 24th-best among reporting Division III schools to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Academic Team. That squad also had nine players named All-America Scholar-Athletes.

The 2006 team had a 3.248 GPA and was 37th in the country. The 2007 squad ended 49th and had seven tabbed All-America Scholar-Athletes. The 2008 squad also saw seven of its athletes named to the team with the 2009 and 2010 groups each placing nine.

During his 34 years on campus, Dohrmann also has served as Widener's men's soccer, wrestling and men's tennis coaches.

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