Bio

Meet

Director of Athletics

Dale H. Plummer

Meet

Director of Athletics

Dale H. Plummer

     When he was hired as the school’s athletic director back in 1988, Williamson viewed the hiring of athletic director Dale H. Plummer as a transformational choice.  Hired to breathe life into an athletic department that was severely lacking, he was able to do just that right away.  Now in his 36^th year at the helm, under his guidance and the entire athletic department continues to have a national presence in the world of collegiate athletics.  

     The 2023-24 school year was one for the record books for Williamson athletics.  The college had a school record 35 USCAA Academic All-Americans and six All-Americans. In addition, three teams were nationally ranked during last year. Williamson also had 14 first team all-conference selections, two Player of the Year winners, one team qualify for national play-offs and one of its wresters finish second in the nation in his weight class-for the second straight year!

      In total, many changes have occurred since Plummer took over as athletic director during the 1988-89 school year.  The year prior to his taking over, Williamson’s athletic teams went a combined 14-68-1.  Since then, Williamson’s athletic teams have combined to have winning seasons in 23 out of the previous 34 years of his tenure and have won over 55% of their contests during that period.  

     Perhaps the success Williamson athletics has achieved under Plummer can best be summarized by the fact that prior to his arrival, Williamson had not won a single team title, nor had they had a single All-American or all-conference player.  Since his arrival,

Williamson has won 26 team titles, has had 298 all-conference players, has had 84 All-Americans, had 246 Academic All-Americans and has won two national championships, while playing for a national title six times!

     During the 2003-04 year, Williamson’s sports teams combined to win a school record 79 contests including national championship appearances by both the basketball and lacrosse teams.  In 2008, Williamson’s basketball team stunned the basketball world by winning the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division II national championship, the first national championship in school history.  If the basketball world was stunned in 2008, then it was knocked on its ear in 2009 as Williamson defended its national title, winning their second straight USCAA national championship.   The team followed that up with a third national championship appearance in 2010 coming just short of winning a USCAA record third straight national championship.  Not to be outdone, the school’s baseball team won the Eastern States Baseball League championship in 2011 for the second year in a row.  During the 2012-13 school year, both the soccer and baseball teams won their respective conferences

     Raising the bar for Williamson’s student-athletes has also been a hallmark of Plummer’s tenure as the school’s eight varsity teams have combined to have a Grade Point Average of over 2.75 in each of his years including 3.00 or higher in 23 out of the last 25 years.  The highlight of such academic excellence came in June of 2009 when Williamson’s lacrosse team was named the National Academic Team of the Year by the National Junior College Athletic Association.  They were the only men’s lacrosse team in the nation with a combined team GPA of above a 3.0 (3.27).

     During his tenure at the school, Williamson has added a new football/soccer game field, new outdoor lighting for both its game and practice facilities, a new baseball backstop and complex, an expansion and upgrade to its weight room, several electronic scoreboards and numerous other improvements.  In the spring of 2000, he oversaw the addition of lacrosse as a varsity sport at Williamson and in 2010 he oversaw the addition of tennis as the school’s eighth varsity sport. The school also added a new on-campus tennis court in the spring of 2001 and in 2003 the gym floor design was completely re-done.  During the 2012-13 school year the school added all new energy efficient lighting for the school’s Restall Sports Center and in 2014 saw the addition of a new weight room floor.  In 2013, he oversaw the implementation of a new Williamson athletics webpage that continues to be a showpiece for the school.  It contains anything and everything related to Williamson athletics and its sports teams and is on a par with any NCAA Division I webpage.  The site can be accessed by going to www.williamsonathletics.com

     In 2023, the school’s new Wesley Student Center was unveiled in January, a gift from Joseph and Marion Wesley that overlooks the school’s game field.  The project also included new bleachers and new state-of-the-art field lighting.  The building has a phenomenal new Esports room, which has allowed Williamson to add Esports to their roster of activities. 

     Last June, in recognition for all he has done during his career, Plummer received the distinction of being inducted into the United States Collegiate Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame.

     Aside from his duties as athletic director, Plummer is the Building Manager for the college’s Restall Sports Center.  In addition, he is also a mathematics instructor at the college and also teaches thermodynamics.  He is the founder and director of the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame.  He currently is (and has been for 21 years) co-chairman for the school’s Student Activities Program, which ensures that each student at Williamson is involved in at least one extra-curricular activity per year during their three years at Williamson.   He also is currently a long-standing member on the school’s Cultural Diversity committee. He is a past member of the school’s Substance Abuse Council and Capital Campaign Committee.  He previously served nine years as chairman of the school’s Conduct Code Review Board and is currently a member of the school’s Strategic Planning committee.  In 2013-14 he served on the school’s Emergency Response committee and in 2015 served on the college’s Physical Activity development team.  

     Currently, Plummer is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association’s (NJCAA) Region XIX awards committee.  He was the chairman of the lacrosse committee for seven years and previously served on the baseball and track and field committees.  He oversaw the school’s admission into the National Junior College Athletic Association in 1992 and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association in 2002.  In 2007 he was named to the USCAA national selection committee for the organization’s national basketball tournament.  He founded both the Eastern States Baseball League and the Eastern States Soccer League and is currently the overseer of both leagues.  During his 34 years at the school, Williamson has made the transition to having each of its sports teams in a national organization and/or conference.

     In June of 2017, Plummer received a tremendous honor, as he was elected to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Board of Directors, the first time anyone involved in Williamson athletics has earned such an honor.  

     During the past 20 years alone, Williamson has had 90 All-Americans, 281 Academic All-Americans, 312 all conference players, 27 conference Player of the Year award winners, 8 tournament MVPs, 21 league championships, 1 state championship, 2 national championships, one NJCAA Academic Team of the Year award winner and one NCLL National Team of the Year winner.

      Currently, he is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), National Association of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) and is the school’s representative for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), leading a weekly Bible study for Williamson athletes.

     In March of 2015, Plummer was inducted into the prestigious Collingswood High School Athletic Hall of Fame for his exploits as a high school basketball and tennis player, collegiate tennis player, collegiate coach and collegiate athletic administrator.

     As far as education goes, Plummer holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree, both from Widener University.  In 2002, he added an additional Master’s degree becoming the first graduate (and only graduate at the time) from Neumann College’s graduate program in Sports Management, graduating with a perfect 4.00 Grade Point Average.  Neumann’s curriculum was 1 of only 13 in the nation at that time to be approved by the North American Society for Sports Management (NASSM), the foremost sports management organization in the world.      An outstanding high school tennis player from Collingswood, NJ, prior to Williamson, he was the Tennis Administrator/Head Men’s Tennis Coach for 3 ½ seasons at Widener University.  During his time at Widener, the school set the school record for wins going 33-22.  A former player at Widener prior to becoming the Tennis Administrator, he holds the school record for career victories with 41.  He also was the voice of Widener Pioneer (now Pride) football as the team’s play-by-play announcer for radio station WDNR, 89.5 FM for 11 years and the radio voice of Widener basketball for 4 years.

     During the 2004-05 school year Plummer was a finalist for the prestigious NACDA Athletic Director of the Year award.   In the spring of 2004, he was presented with a leadership award by the Southeastern Chester County Leadership Association for his work with young people. In May of 2022, Plummer was awarded the inaugural National Junior College Athletic Association Region XIX Champions of Character Humanitarian award for his work in Kenya, Chester and through the YMCA 

     Active in community service, Dale is an Board member for CityTeam, a drug and alcohol rehab facility in Chester, PA that also serves meals to the homeless 365 days a year. In addition to his work with that organization, he sits on the national Board of Directors of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association and in 2018 was named to the Advisory Board of theRocky Run YMCA Advisory Board.  He also served for 10 years (2011-2020) as a Board of Trustees member for The Christian Academy school in Brookhaven, where is also served on the school’s Education committee. 

     Dale currentlyis the chairman of the Mission’s Committee at Bethlehem United Methodist Church. He also leads a weekly Life Group Bible study for adults at the church. He previously taught Sunday School for adults for seven years at Middletown Presbyterian Church, was a volunteer youth soccer coach with Nether Providence Athletic Association’s youth soccer program for nine years and was the Major Girls Division commissioner for a year. He is a former Merit Badge counselor for Boy Scouts of America, Troop 85.  During the past twelve years, he has spent time in Kenya each Summer distributing compact water filter kits to villagers who are dying due to lack of clean water.  

     Dale and his wife Debbie live on the Williamson campus. Their son Ryan (298) has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Sport Management from Liberty University and currently works as the Director/Coach of Esports at Indian Wesleyan University.  Their daughter Laura (26) is a Clemson University graduate and has a graduate degree from West Chester University. She works full-time as missioanry in Kenya for Start With One Kenya.  Debbie, a 2-time Pennsylvania state gymnastics champion in her own right, volunteers her time running the football merchandise stand for the school.