Malverne's new sports hall of famer

A student athlete and 1948 graduate of Malverne High School, Dr. Robert Kahrs is back in the game.

Kahrs, who grew up in the area and participated in the school’s football, basketball and track teams, was inducted into the Malverne Sports Hall of Fame during the first round of the Hank Williams Basketball Tournament on Dec. 29.

“It was a pleasant surprise to be invited and an honor and a privilege to be inducted,” Kahrs recently told the Herald. “There were many fond memories of high school sports, including being the only non-half-miler on the long-standing record-setting two-mile relay team at the 1947 Long Island Relay Carnival. Sports kept us out of trouble and made us sleep well each night.”

His athletic career began one afternoon in 1946, as Kahrs was coming in from the outfield. The high school track coach, Fred Foreman, ran up to Kahrs and asked him to join his older brother, John Kahrs, in the track meet because they were a quarter-miler short. Kahrs agreed to run and finished in third place. The coach then handed him his baseball uniform and told him, “Tell your coach you’re on the track team.” And that settled it. From that point on Kahrs ran for the track team.

The man who had started him on the sport, coach Foreman, also had a significant impact on his academic achievements. Foreman pulled Kahrs out of practice one day and said, “I’m worried about you,” Kahrs recalled. “The guys you’re hanging out with are heading for trouble.” He recommended that the teen excuse himself from uncomfortable situations — advice Kahrs took to heart. He focused his attention on studying, particularly biology, chemistry and Latin in preparation for his career in veterinary medicine.

Although Kahrs admitted the football team of which he was part hadn’t been all the great in those years, he has fond memories of the time he spent on the field and with his teammates. He recalled one game in particular where the coach was so angry with the players that he pulled out all the seniors at half-time and replaced them.

“He called everyone by name,” Kahrs said. “He paused when he go to me.” Turns out Kahrs had played every minute of every game that season and had no replacement. “The coach told me to go out and pretend I was captain,” Kahrs said, adding that the team still lost the game 30-0.

Excelling in his role as co-captain of the track, football and basketball teams, Kahrs earned the Cornell High School Athletic Award on behalf of Malverne High School. The recognition was awarded to the high school with the best combined football, baseball and track record of that year.

Keeping himself active throughout summer vacations during his high school years, Kahrs worked on dairy farms in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and upstate New York. He had been, briefly, a member of the 4-H Youth Development Organization and of the Cub and Boy Scouts. On Sundays, Kahrs attended the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Rockville Centre, and to this day remembers its pastor, the Rev. Carl Nutzhorn.

After high school, Kahrs attended Cornell University, where he received his doctor of veterinary medicine in 1954, a master’s degree in veterinary virology in 1963 and a Ph.D. in veterinary virology and biological statistics two years later.

Kahrs married Evelyn Payne Kahrs, his college sweetheart, and today they have four children and six grandchildren. Post graduation, Kahrs worked a year in a mixed animal practice in Interlaken, N.Y., before opening his own large animal practice about 100 miles away, in Attica, where he stayed for six years. He then returned to Cornell University to teach veterinary medicine for 16 years, at the same time serving on the university’s Admissions Committee for eight years and as chairman of the committee for four years.

The veterinarian, now 80, went on to become a department chairman at the University of Florida in 1977 and served as dean at the University of Missouri’s College of Veterinary Medicine from 1982 to 1992. He negotiated import and export requirements for animals and animal products for the United States Department of Agriculture and, after seven years, became part-time Coordinator of International Affairs for the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.

“I enjoyed teaching,” Kahrs said, adding that he was more fond of the administrative position he held at the University of Missouri. At the time of his employment there, the school was in financial crisis and Kahrs is credited with saving the school from possible closure.

Further adding to his achievements, Kahrs has written more than 100 scientific papers and published several books on writing and veterinary medicine, receiving several honors and awards for his work. He currently resides in St. Augustine, Fla., and boasts, “I’m looking out my front door at the ocean.”

The Malverne Mules won the first round of the tournament the day Kahrs was inducted, but lost the championship round to Elmont. It wasn’t a complete loss for Kahrs, though. “One important lesson was that you can’t win them all, but you sure can try,” he said.

The Hank Williams Basketball Tournament is named after the first African-American player in the Midwest Basketball Conference, which is now the National Basketball League. Williams played as the starting center for the Buffalo Bisons during the 1935-36 conference, which was also his last season.