Parkway South Starts School With a New Athletic Director

With much respect to Brett Favre, there was no drawn-out decision when Steve Oldenburg came out of retirement.

“Athletic director is one position I had always aspired to have at some point in my career,” Oldenburg said. “It just so happened I was able to become an athletic director a year after I retired, and that’s fine.”

Former Parkway South athletic director Chip Allison announced his retirement at the end of the 2011 school season—just one year after Oldenburg hung it up as South’s vice principal. It didn’t stop him from jumping at the long-awaited opportunity. He will act as a temporary fix to the position vacancy until the school can fill it permanently next year.

The Parkway retirement system allows retirees to work in public schools for up to 550 hours in a school year. When those hours are completed—some time in February—an interim athletic director will step in to finish out the school year. Jim Leibel, another South retiree, is slated for that transition.

Oldenburg taught social studies in the Fort Zumwalt School District for 15 years, head coach for the baseball team and assisting with football and basketball. He took on the same coaching roles at Parkway South, taking over as assistant principal in 2000. Leibel was former head golf coach for the Patriots and retired from the school five years ago, but has kept ties with the Patriots through assistant coaching in both golf and soccer.

“This past year, I was assistant baseball coach at Washington University, I worked at two different golf courses and worked directly with a tutoring company,” Oldenburg said. “(South High principal Gary) Mazzola knew I’ve always been interested in this position and asked if I’d be interested in helping out. It wasn’t a hard thing for me to accept.”

*Check back to Town and Country-Manchester Patch next week for more on Chip Allison and his decision to retire.