For the community he served, his legacy stands as “the gold standard.”

McElrath, who spent 26 years in service to JPS — most notably as Principal of Jamestown High School from 1976 to 1994 — passed away on July 25 at the age of 89. The JPS Board of Education held a moment of silence in honor of McElrath prior to the July 28 meeting.

“Anyone who chooses to spend their career in education aspires to leave the type of legacy that Mr. McElrath left on the Jamestown community,” said JPS Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker. “His service as an educator, administrator, and school board member reflected a lifelong commitment to students, families, and the betterment of our schools. The naming of the JHS ‘new gym’ in his honor in 1994 is a testament to the impact that he made. We are deeply saddened by his passing and our hearts are with his family and loved ones.”

McElrath arrived in Chautauqua County in 1957, spending 10 years at Panama Central School before becoming an English teacher at Washington Junior High School. After spending a year as an administrator at Cassadaga Valley Central School, he returned to JPS in 1970 as principal of Jefferson Junior High School. He became the principal of Jamestown High School in 1976.

James F. McElrath, Sr. addresses the gymnasium on the night it was dedicated in his name in 1994 with students and administrators onlooking. McElrath, who spent 26 years in service to JPS passed away most notably as JHS principal, on July 25 at 89. Photo courtesy of The Post-Journal.

Overnight, he went from leading a building of 300 students to leading a building of 1,800 students.

In a 2024 interview with the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame, McElrath remembered: “I met with the faculty and said: ‘I’m here, and I want the best for my school. This school is good. It’s going to remain good, and it’s going to get better.”

And it did.

Over the course of 18 years, McElrath helped bolster the school’s academic, athletics, and arts programs. During his tenure, he helped the high school earn accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. He supported — and even chaperoned — the national and world travels of the JHS Marching Band and A Cappella Choir programs, worked with former JHS athletic director Komo Tane to bring Jamestown into the Erie County Interscholastic Conference, collaborated with the Chautauqua Striders to develop Strider Field, and assisted in the development of the “new gym” in 1986.

Upon his retirement in 1994, a student-led effort helped rename the building “McElrath Gymnasium.”

“The senior class president went to the school board to ask if the board would not consider naming the gymnasium after me — I did not know this … It was an honor,” he recalled through tears in 2024. “The next day I had gone down to the gymnasium and they had already started painting the gym with my name on it. It was a thrill and to have something like that dedicated to you meant a lot to me. I love Jamestown High School.”

Following his retirement, he spent three years as a member of the Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education and eight years as an at-large member of the Jamestown City Council.

In 2023, McElrath returned to Strider Field for a special ceremony with members of the JHS Class of 1980, which unveiled two new benches in honor of McElrath and his late wife Marianne, who served as the clinic director for Chautauqua County Mental Health.

“It is so nice to be here with you,” McElrath told the group. “I am honored and humbled at the same time. … I feel as if I could still be your principal. It was 43 years ago that I spoke to you at graduation at Chautauqua, and I said to you: you will be successful. And every one of you has been successful. I remember you very well as evidenced by tonight and what’s more important: you remember me by this. I thank you.”