Being at Warren there's a large chance to hear the name “Gary Roberts” at least once a day, but many students haven't gotten the opportunity to meet him yet. Gary Roberts, Algebra ll teacher and girl’s lacrosse coach, holds so many interesting facts. Roberts, 71, has been teaching for 48 years and has been teaching in the Warren district for 46. He was a teacher in Australia for two years in 1976, and he taught at Creston for 15 years, making this his thirty-second-year teaching at Warren Central.
Roberts makes his room feel like a safe place for any student who steps foot in the door, and he knows the struggles of not understanding math very well. He struggled with his understanding of it until he was a senior in high school, and now he takes those feelings he had and works to make sure every student has an open place to understand and develop. He says his students are what make a difference in him. That's one of the reasons he keeps coming back. He doesn't see himself not being a teacher, and he has fun meeting so many new kids and being able to teach with the students he had in the past.
“The people who run this place allow me to [teach],” Roberts said. “And as long as that's the case, I think I’ll probably keep doing it just because it's what I like.”
Last year, Roberts finally got his knee surgery, which now helps him continue to teach and move around. Before he got it, the bones were just rubbing together due to there being no cartilage, and the surgeon found that he had worn off a quarter inch of the bone. He’s pretty close to back to normal, being able to walk around without pain like he was.
One little-known fact about Roberts is that he wrote a book called “Double Your Money” in 2021, and he keeps copies in his “bookshelf” in the back of his room. He plans to write a new one soon with students to review beforehand. “Double Your Money” is about a man named Marty Ramsey, after he learns he shouldn't have trusted his lifelong and shady friend Frank Loomis. Trusted with the money belonging to the high school basketball team they both coached, Frank ends up losing it all and much more to a crooked casino owner. This causes Marty to go search for him when he heads to a small Lake Michigan resort town to get the money back. He learns Frank has him mixed up in much more than just the gambling debt. Marty is faced with a wild lakeshore storm, a series of murders and a reunion with the woman he once loved, Frank's sister Emily.
“It’s kind of a hobby, and I had been working on that story for a while,” Roberts said. “I don’t think my wife thought I would actually finish it, so whenever it was published, I finished it just in time to give her the first copy for Christmas, and she was very shocked I had actually finished it.”
Twelve years ago, Roberts was asked if he wanted to coach girls lacrosse which would replace gymnastics. Without knowing much about the sport, he took it on. It was the second year with lacrosse being a sport at Warren, and it was a varsity sport. Thanks to his surgery he can be out on the field with the girls.
One of the girls he has made an impact on is Hannah Nicholas, who has been on the team since her freshman year, said Roberts is very easygoing and makes it very clear he loves his athletes a lot.
Roberts has shown Warriors decades of love. Being in the district for 46 years, he’s been able to make a difference in many generations while also being able to teach with some of them. Assistant lacrosse coach and geometry teacher Ryan Blythe has been coaching alongside Roberts for many years now, seeing firsthand the differences he makes in his students’ and athletes’ lives.
“Coach Roberts, for being possibly one of the oldest in the district or the oldest in the school at least, is probably the most innovative teacher and coach that you will ever encounter,” Blythe said.