Jacob Adler, a junior lineman and middle linebacker for Franklin High School, walked into Dan Sylvester’s office to ask about meeting his community service requirements while also having a commitment to the football team practice before a big game against Raymond.

As he’s done for many years as an athletic director, Sylvester guided him in the right direction to balance his time.

“He’ll knock the snot out of you on the football field, but now he helps you up and pats you on the back on the way back to the huddle,” he said about Adler. “He’s a kid that’s a pure example of how we’ve kind of turned that around to say, ‘Hey, go out, knock the snot out of a kid, tackle him hard, but help him up.’”

The Franklin AD, known as “Mr. Sly,” has been credited with transforming Franklin athletics into a more competitive, respected and successful program. With a tax cap and tight budgets in Franklin, the school district doesn’t have the resources of more affluent communities, which can present an uneven playing field.   

“The biggest challenge here was getting everybody on board sportsmanship-wise. I got it because I grew up here and I fought for this town, we’re low socioeconomic, we all know that there’s a handful of low socioeconomic towns and school districts in the state. So we had always been fighters,” said Sylvester. “We had to fight for our reputation, for everything that we got, but we didn’t always handle adversity well, and I grew up that same way, so I tried to learn from my mistakes.”

David Levesque, the principal of Franklin High School, said it was clear Sylvester was making a difference.

“We’re consistently looking at how we can make the school a better place, and how the athletes are our role models often inside the building,” he said. “We’re seeing improved attendance. Here, we went from 83% to 89% last year. We’re seeing discipline drop. We went down over 500 discipline referrals. The work that we’re doing, that Dan is doing, in the school and outside of the school and in the community, is evidenced within the building.”

Sylvester has worked at the school for 23 years – his first 12 were spent as a teacher, and the latter 11 as athletic director – but it’s felt longer than that. He graduated from Franklin High School in 1983, met his wife Reneé while a student there, and his sons graduated from the school.

Every member of his family represented Franklin’s athletics at some point. His wife was a softball player and he was on the baseball team. His youngest son, Dylan played soccer while his eldest son, Derrick, was a star pitcher who went on to play five years at Southern New Hampshire University. He was inducted into the SNHU Hall of Fame, was drafted by the LA Dodgers in the 2014 MLB Draft and played three years in the minors.

“My wife graduated from here, we were high school sweethearts, we’ve been together for 42 years, and she’s been my rock,” he said.

He explained how he emphasized the importance of education first before athletics as an athletic director as he did as a parent.

“We always tell kids, it’s student-athlete. You don’t ever say I’m an athlete-student, I’m a student-athlete,” he said. “Nobody ever says it the other way. Doesn’t sound right. The emphasis is on school and respect and sportsmanship, first, integrity, all the things we teach from the SALT team so you can become a good citizen.”

SALT, or Student Athletic Leadership Team, is one of the various programs that Sylvester started that focuses on promoting and living a healthy lifestyle plus community service. The team promotes activities and events over the radio, collects donations through cash and cans, and works with local partners to fight food insecurity while boosting school spirit through athletics.

Since becoming athletic director, the school has won multiple sportsmanship awards, including back-to-back in 2021-22 and 2022-23 from the NHIAA – accolades that make Sylvester proud.

“It was tough. I fought and fought and fought and said, ‘Guys, we can still be competitive, play hard-nosed sports, ball games, but still be good sports,’” he said.

Now, he says students know what the expectation is for sportsmanlike behavior at Franklin.

“They know. All I do is look at them. If I give them a look, they know that Mr. Sly said calm down,” said Sylvester.

There was once a time when game officials dreaded games at Franklin. The attitudes of coaches, athletes and fans were not up to par. Sylvester said he used a top-down approach.

“It starts with the coaches. That’s what I did learn, it took me a while, because you think, ‘No, it’s the kids,’ and it ultimately comes down to the kids. But you got to start with the coaches because the kids are going to follow the lead of the coaches and how they act and react to things,” he said.

Another program he implemented is “My Jersey, Your Impact” where student-athletes give a teacher or other school staff member who has had a positive influence on their life a jersey to wear at a game. Sylvester aimed to foster stronger relationships throughout the entire school.

“That is such a high honor for our students to recognize a teacher or an educator in the building that means something to them,” said Levesque. “Nice building block and a connection within the school that he’s brought and has made a difference. To see the teachers walk around with that jersey has been extraordinary.”

Sylvester has also won the Athletic Director of the Year Award for Division III in 2018, and again in D4 this year.

“He’s just a guy that goes behind the scenes and goes above and beyond to make sure our kids have all the supports and resources they need to be successful,” said Levesque.

That award was given to him, in part, because Franklin recently completely renovated its gym, and will be playing volleyball and basketball in-house for the first time in 30 years after playing at the middle school during that time.

“People hate when their taxes go up. We can never bond for enough money to pay for a new school or a new gym. It just wouldn’t happen,” he explained. “So, I was relegated to the fact that this is the way it’s going to be.”

That was until a grant opportunity came along from the Pat Connaughton Foundation. Pat Counnaughton is an NBA shooting guard for the Milwaukee Bucks and an Arlington, Mass. native. The year-long process for the grant resulted in $117,000 of the $170,000 price tag being covered, allowing Franklin to build a new court.

He attributed the success of the project to community fundraising. Others say the success was in no small part due to Sylvester and his efforts.

One of his mentors, and a former Franklin softball and basketball coach, Skip Dubois has known Dan since he was a student at Franklin. Dubois said the support and work he put into Franklin had been incredible.

“His impact on Franklin is beyond words,” said Dubois. “So many people, so many alumni, are beginning to return to the high school to be part of that, sharing it, the donations that came in were phenomenal, and a lot of it was for feelings people had for the high school but a lot of that was also the support of Danny’s efforts.”

The gym is an immense source of pride for Sylvester — who is the all-time highest basketball scorer in that gym — because of the revitalization and re-centering of school spirit. He scored his one-thousandth point in the last game of the season in 1983 and is now responsible for bringing basketball back on campus so that athletes can pursue their own 1,000 career point marks there.

“I’ve been able to stay here, and it’s been just a great experience for me,” said Sylvester. “I feel like I’m giving back. Every day that I come into work, I feel like I’m giving back, and I’m not working a job, because I had so many good mentors and teachers and coaches here that got me to the place that I needed to be.”

“Danny is not one who searches for recognition, but he certainly is one who deserves every bit that he gets. Because right now, today, he’s Mr. Franklin,” Dubois said.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.