by Julian Routh and Michelle Bruni

When 24-year-old David Spahr entered the doors of Highland’s Tarentum High School in 1961, he was ready for change. His previous aspirations to be an engineer were under delay, and after suggestions from colleagues, teaching appeared to be his fate.

A half of a century later, ‘Davey’ is still putting chalk to chalkboard, pen to paper. This time, gas prices are over $3 a gallon, and the Chicago Cubs are still dreadful (okay, so maybe not everything is different.)

Still, as he enters his 50th year of teaching, one thing stays the same: his unorthodox style and dry humor are still captivating student audiences every day.

His legacy took its roots in an amateur chemistry set.

“At around elementary age, my neighbor and I got a chemistry set and we would do experiments. I loved it. From that point on, I was really interested in chemistry,” Spahr said, reminiscing.

Several years later, his love grew deeper when he was assigned to do a non-fiction book report in his English class. He chose a chemistry book he had found in his attic. With his newfound knowledge, he took a voluntary chemistry final examination.

“I scored the highest. I beat all the seniors who had taken the course, even though I hadn’t had a year of science under my belt,” Spahr chuckled.

As high school graduation was approaching, he considered a career in chemistry, while his father wanted him to consider a career he could fall back on. He chose chemical engineering as his major, studying at Penn State for his undergraduate degree and the University of Pittsburgh for his graduate. Over the course of many summers, he took science classes at four different schools around the country.

“I wouldn’t have passed up my Penn State experience for anything. Still, I wasn’t very good at physics,” Spahr said. “Believe it or not, I even got some Cs and Ds on report cards.”  

After his schooling was complete, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving for two years. Because there were no wars at the time, he had a good amount of free time, so he asked his mom to send his physics book down to him. This is where he perfected the solutions to the physics problems that challenged him years previously.

Through one of his jobs in engineering, he was directed towards teaching. For four years, he roamed the halls at Tarentum, then decided to take his curriculum to the South Hills.

Since then, the kid who was once fascinated by a chemistry book in his attic is now one of the most celebrated teachers the district has ever had.

“To me, Mr. Spahr is more than a teacher. He is an inspiration. When he taught me, the knowledge I gained was unfathomable,” senior Cory Phillips said.

Spahr is an iconic figure at Baldwin, his phrases remembered and his actions honored. He is even the subject of a student-created Urban Dictionary page.

“I don’t mind the attention, but I’m really not that smart.  I look like I’m smart, but I’ve done these calculations hundreds of times,” Spahr said. “I do a job that my colleagues do, but I don’t think I do it any better.”

As for his approach, it has stayed consistent all these years.

“If kids don’t want to learn, then I’m not going to push them. Yes, that caused me some trouble in the ‘80s, but not so much today,” Spahr said.

Those “conflicts” with the administration almost caused Spahr to leave the district, even prompting him to consider Mount Lebanon. Still, he walks the same building today, 46 years later.

The relationship he has built with faculty and students has created a “level of comfort,” which has given meaning to his tenure.

“He certainly started out as a mentor and maybe even a father figure, but quickly became a best friend,” physics teacher Elizabeth Giles said. “When he talks about the students he’s taught over all these years, I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the lives he’s touched and the wealth of knowledge he has passed on to so many young minds.”

 Even though his future remains a mystery, one thing is for sure. Fifty years is an accomplishment to be proud of, yet Spahr lives “month by month, week by week.”

“If I were to retire, there would have to be something I would want to do. I don’t want to travel the world or race horses,” Spahr said, referring to the late years of Ulysses S. Grant. “I want to read more. I want to write more. I want to get up, think about classes, and think about what I’m going to teach.”