BASEBALL COACHES UNPLUGGED

Celebrating 100 Episodes With Athletes and Coaches

• Ken Carpenter • Season 1 • Episode 100

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As we cross the 100-episode finish line, I, Ken Carpenter, invite you to a celebration of human spirit through the lens of sports. It's more than just a century of episodes; it's a mosaic of victories, heartbreaks, and the resilience that defines both the athlete and the coach. We're pulling back the curtain on the gripping ascension of Tim Dillard to the major leagues, where humor meets the gravity of a lifelong dream unfolding amidst the grandeur of a Washington D.C. stadium. And in the spirit of true self-discovery, we applaud the courage of a young football player who breaks from tradition to forge his own destiny, teaching us that the bravest play can sometimes be the one made off the field.

Turn the pages of our podcast's history book as we navigate through a spectrum of tales, from a scout's happenstance discovery to a community's perseverance following unimaginable loss. Hear from Bluffton University's head coach James Grandey on the transformation through tragedy, and witness the evolution of team dynamics with insights from strength coach Lewis Carella and head coach Tom Held. Their stories, rich with the wisdom of experience, remind us that the heart of sports lies not only in the game itself but in the indelible bonds and life lessons that echo long after the final whistle.

Ending on a poignant note, we transport you back to a time of national turmoil, revisiting the profound influence that the Kent State shootings had on a college baseball team and the season that almost wasn't. Recounting the triumphs and trials of a bygone era, we celebrate the timeless camaraderie and nostalgia that enshrine these athletes and their stories into the annals of the Athlete 1 Podcast. So join me for this centennial episode—a heartfelt homage to the beauty, humor, and enduring spirit of sports.

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Speaker 1:

Hello and welcome to the Athlete One podcast. I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and today we celebrate episode 100. What started out as an experiment on December 30th of 2020 is now a little over three years old. Looking back, I've realized that I accomplished one of my main goals, and that was to provide the audience with an understanding of what it takes to be a successful coach or an athlete. My guests have been incredibly open and honest about their experiences. They've taken us behind the curtain and share great stories from their careers. I thought I would put together a sampling of some of the great guests, who had tremendous stories and lessons they've learned as athletes and coaches. You can listen to the entire episode wherever you get your podcasts, and Season 2 will begin on May 8th.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Athlete One podcast. Veteran high school baseball coach Ken Carpenter takes you into life's classroom as experienced through sports. Go behind the scenes with athletes and coaches as they share great stories, life lessons and ways to impact others. Lessons and ways to impact others.

Speaker 1:

Today's episode of the Athlete One podcast is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The netting professionals specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. The netting pros aren't limited to just baseball and softball. They work with football, soccer, lacrosse and golf courses. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or you can visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Or check out Netting Pros on Twitter, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects.

Speaker 1:

Do you know somebody you think would be a great guest at the Athlete One podcast? If so, go to athleteonenet. That's our website, where you can find all of our episodes from Season 1. And you can register to be a guest and give us some feedback. Click the Reviews button, leave us a review and rate the show. That's athlete1.net. I have to start with my first episode with a good friend and someone who I coached with and against Chris Huseman and the great story he shared about being a player for legendary Audubon University head coach, dick Fishbaugh.

Speaker 3:

We used to go to Panama City, florida, for our spring break trip and we would be, you know, bed check would be at a certain time, whatever it would be 11 o'clock and Fish, uh, come in and um, for whatever reason, this night he came in in his underwear and, um, very windy night there on the beach in panama city and his hair you know, he kind of had the donald trump hair, you know went off to the side there and it was flying all over.

Speaker 3:

And you know, I look in the doorway and here's this man, heavy set man, and his underwear pulled up past his belly button and hair flying all over and I'm like I'm thinking my God, what in the world is this? And, uh, fish looked at me. Now you got to understand. Bed check was one of those things in division three college that you know you pretty much. You would, you would sneak out a lot and, uh, being on the beach and everything else, all my roommates snuck out.

Speaker 3:

And I was the only one in their room check and I remember Fish looked at me and said hey, Hirsch, you got them all there, you got everybody. And then they're looking in the same room I am and I turned to him and I said yeah, fish, we're all here. And he nodded, his head and his underwear and his hair flying everywhere, and said okay, we'll see you at seven o'clock at McDonald's we're.

Speaker 5:

you know I'm gonna get $7, $7.

Speaker 3:

That's all you got at McDonald's. And I said I'm just, this is all new to me. You know this whole Division III thing. And meanwhile my roommates are out on the beach somewhere, you know, chasing girls or whatever.

Speaker 1:

You never know how an interview is going to go, but this amazing story about a Little League baseball coach, league baseball coach bud ritchie, and the huge impact he had on the life of n-a-i-a national champion georgia guinette college head baseball coach, jeremy sheetinger, and he drafts me.

Speaker 3:

This is a true story. Um, man, this is, this is this is gonna hit me. So, uh, he calls me and says hey, jeremy, I just want to let you know that I drafted you. And uh, the reason I drafted you this is gonna hit me. So, uh, he calls me and says hey, jeremy, I just want to let you know that I drafted you. And uh, the reason I drafted you this is oh, man, I you're, you really are gonna make me, uh, shed one here. He calls me.

Speaker 3:

I'm, I remember standing in my kitchen and butter ritchie calls me and my mom answers the phone and she says hey, it's coach ritchieie. Hey, jeremy, hey, coach Richie. Hey, I just want to let you know we got practice tomorrow night. I drafted you for this team because I think you are the hidden gem inside the Frankfort Little League system. And I said, coach, what's that mean? He goes. I've watched you play since you were seven, eight years old. You've always been putting right field, they finding a bat for you here or there. I know you love basketball. He goes, but I'm telling you, son, you are a baseball player and you don't know it yet. And I just I'm like looking at my mom like who is like what is going on? And he goes, just just get to practice. This is, I can't make this up. This is, this is a book. So I hang up the phone. I'm jazzed out of my mind, I'm fired up from practice. Can we get out of school? My mom takes me to practice On our way home.

Speaker 3:

We're pulling into Tereralanda and we can see fire truck lights right over the hill and we turn down my street. My house is on fire. So, to make the story even deeper, my parents had divorced. My mom was working a lot and a lot of times was. I was literally myself unlocking the door, playing basketball, running in fixing my own dinner, start my own laundry, put myself to bed at nine o'clock and set my alarm to get up at 6 30 to get ready and go to school. Doing that all of my own. It from nine years old through 12, 13 years old. That's why my wife gets upset when I only do my laundry. I'm so used to doing my own stuff. That's baked into me. The fire started at 9.15. I would have been laying in bed hanging out by myself and the house would have been on fire. So baseball practice saved my life.

Speaker 1:

Winning your first state championship as a coach is special For Chris Casmar Walsh, jesuit baseball head coach. He relives the extra inning win for his first state championship and little did he know he was going to go on to have one of the most storied careers in the history of Ohio high school baseball.

Speaker 3:

I remember that day, coach, literally like it was still yesterday.

Speaker 3:

I can't believe, you know, two decades over two decades now have transpired since we won that game.

Speaker 3:

It was an amazing game, extra inning game uh, I still remember, uh, us at that final moment in the ninth inning, when we scored that winning run, uh, you know, it was one of those moments where, you know, it literally happened to me everything slowed down.

Speaker 3:

It was almost like I remember it all happening in slow motion, uh, and the thing I remember most vividly, coach and I I laugh about this with my assistants is that, uh, I jumped so high in the air in elation that, as I was at the peak of the height of my jump, I I remember looking down at the ground and, honestly, I had a thought that quickly went through my head, thinking to myself I can't believe I just jumped that high and then from there, when I landed, I proceeded to high step across the field like I just scored a touchdown and hugged my assistant coach. But it's a special, special moment to make it, to state, to be able to experience that. It's a special moment, of course, to win the championship. But all coaches that are as invested and put in the time like they do. I wish that everyone could feel a moment like that winning a championship.

Speaker 1:

Imagine getting the call to go to the major leagues. Tim Dillard recounts his experience with the Milwaukee Brewers and the hectic day and his first appearance in a major league baseball stadium.

Speaker 3:

I was playing for the Nashville Sounds and we were about to take a bus trip to go to Memphis about three hours and luckily I had a cell phone. This was 2008. I hadn't had a cell phone long. I said like a little flip, but hello, and anyway I was already up getting my stuff ready because we were going to leave out early. It was probably 5.30 or 6-ish and yeah, I get a call from my AAA manager. He's like what are you doing? I'm like, uh, just woke up trying to get my stuff together, about to make it to the bus. What's going on? He goes okay. He's like, hurry and come to the field, get your stuff and then go to the airport. You have a flight. You're flying to Washington DC, uh, to meet with the big league team, and I was like I getting called to the big leagues and uh, and she was a fleet. So she, she decided us. You know that's nice honey, like when the whack out, you know, uh. So yeah, I went grab my stuff and we both went to the airport and I flew to Washington DC on Memorial day weekend. So, um, to pay for her a flight was like a thousand dollars to get a plane ticket, like last minute to go, and we didn't have a thousand dollars but my visa credit card, though, it had a thousand dollars on it. So, yeah, we had to get a plane ticket for her.

Speaker 3:

Got to Washington DC and she got in a cab, went straight to the hotel. I got in a cab, went straight to the field and the cab driver I was wearing a suit too, you know, because if you're going to get called the big leagues, you right, you got to wear a suit. So, you know, I had a I don't know where I got the suit from, piece it together from like a bargain hunt. But I, yeah, I get to, I get to the field and and, uh, the, the cab drop, uh cab driver drops me off, and and, uh, I, I realized that he, he dropped me off on the wrong side of the whole stadium. So I had to weasel my way into the stadium because I had no credentials, like now that I think they kind of give you like a, like a pass or something, I don't know. Uh, but I didn't have anything. So I just weaseled my way in and I'm down underneath the concourse, like in the little city that's under those stadiums, and, uh, that was a brand new stadium to billion dollar stadium for the national. So it's, it's massive.

Speaker 3:

And here I am just sweating through my suit in may and I mean I'm just I got this big old bag on my shoulder and and, uh, by the time I got to the clubhouse, you know everybody was coming in for batting practice. So I changed real fast, go out, play catch with the bullpen catcher, come back in. It's immediately time to go back out. So I just basically changed my jersey into my game Jersey, went back out, made the Anthem, go to the bullpen. I sit there and I finally have a moment where I can just kind of like cool and phone rings it's like the fifth inning or whatever and they're like get dillard going. So I get up, start throwing and then they call down dillard's in the game. So all of a sudden I'm like this is unbelievable, 42 000 fans there. I just they open the gate and I'm thinking don't trip. Oh yeah, that's what. I did not trip. But I just was like I did. I was thinking don't trip. Left right, left right, get left right, get to the mound. I have no idea what happened, I know.

Speaker 3:

Later on I struck out Aaron Boone. I didn't know that at the time he went on to have a good career. He's managing the New York Yankees, not too bad, not too shabby. I'm sure he remembers getting punched out by me. But yeah, I think I got I don't even know maybe a ground ball, a pop fly, I have no idea what happened um, but anyway got off the field and I mean I my whole goal in that moment. You know, I don't really do long-term goals really. I guess I just I wanted in the moment to make it look like I'd done it before. The last thing I want to do is look out, you know, be out there, and all the other hitters on the other team are going oh dude, let's get to's, get to this guy. This is his first time pitching, this is his debut. Look at this guy. He's scared to death, has no idea what he's doing, you know. So I just wanted to make it look like I knew what I was doing.

Speaker 3:

And anyway, jason Kendall was my catcher, which is really funny because he came out to the mound. I mean, he's got 16 years in the spring training, I don't know. Hey, man, I got a couple cards I need you to sign, but uh, but kendall was awesome. He came out and you know, I mean I don't even know what the score was, it didn't matter, you know. And he's real laid back and he's like all right, what do you got? And I'm like one three wiggle, he goes all right, what do you want to do? The mail on second. I was like you know, first, sign, shake first. And he's like, okay, he's like all right, let's go. I was like yeah, let's do this like a real, like a real aggressive, like let's do this.

Speaker 3:

And he kind of took a double take like what is that? Like defending the world series, bud? But like for me, maybe it was, I don't know, oh yeah. So he was back there catching my warm-up pitches and like kind of talking to the umpire and the umpire is kind of laughing and he's like pointing at me and then laughing and I'm like he's he's making a joke of me. But after the game we're done.

Speaker 3:

Uh, head back to the team hotel and I'm walking through the lobby and jason kendall was in like the hotel restaurant area, and he sees me through the window like runs out there, grabs, he says, come on, I'm gonna buy you a beer. So we sit down. He buys me a beer and he goes man, tell you what. You went out there today and it looked like you had done it before and you knew what you were doing and I thought that's like the ultimate compliment, right. So it really came full circle. I mean just me being a catcher but then eventually going to pitching and then just kind of having that debut and having this, you know this bettering catcher. Um, I don't know. I'm saying nice things, it was a good day, it was a hard day. I don't think I ever worked.

Speaker 1:

That suit was completely soaked 600-game winner George Powell at Audubon University talks about the role of parents and how his dad had a huge role in his success as a player and a coach.

Speaker 3:

My dad just little things in the game. He was a guy that taught me how to handle things and when I didn't handle things he didn't let me off the hook. I think that's the problem today sometimes with parenting when parents get involved, I think, the negative side of it. I think parents' involvement is fine as long as they let the kids experience their experiences and not try to force the experience and within those experiences there's going to be negative outcomes, which is growth. So you want that, but sometimes parents don't.

Speaker 3:

But my dad was just so influential in sports he thought athletics was a mechanism that will teach you about life.

Speaker 3:

So whether I played growing up, football, basketball, baseball, I did high school at Westfield North a long time ago but his attitude was just that the athletics teaches you about life. So and he made a big point in that and especially when we had tough losses as little kids and when I would cry when we'd lose, because I hated losing as a little kid and you know you would say that's, that's part of this, that's, those are good things that happen. And little things in baseball that I still, you know, teach here and talk about all the time is. And I'm happy now cause we're, we're. We've been real successful this year as our two strike approach. My dad baseball wise was just was just a big guy choking up moving to baseball, and that was always something that stuck with me, even though I would be, you know, growing up in my high school and college career. I'd be a middle lineup guy, but it was always important for me to move to baseball.

Speaker 1:

Hall of Fame high school head baseball coach Phil Callahan, who had 200 wins at three different schools, talks about giving 100% effort.

Speaker 5:

And I said to him you're going on to Taylor University. Now I got news for you you are going to see great players at Taylor and you're also going to see a culture that makes healthy choices. I said how are you going to compete? He goes oh, I'm kind of worried about that myself, and we talked about it. I said here's a simple way I go.

Speaker 5:

When you hit the baseball, can you run as fast as you can? Well, yeah, yeah, can you do it every time? Yeah, yeah, I go, then do it. Why didn't you do it in high school?

Speaker 5:

Well, I mean a lot of times, and it doesn't matter if it's 2023 or if it's 1991, we can all do things to the best of our ability. We just got to make a choice that it's going to happen. So, maybe one of the most positive things of this year. I turned on the TV last night and was watching the regionals and watching Kentucky against Indiana, and I saw six ground balls in the 15 minutes and every single guy ran down to first as hard as they could and three of those were to second base. And you know, at the high school level now, whether it's the pandemic or the phones, I would say ground balls to second base maybe get ran out one out of six, zero out of six times, and that is something that every single person can control. We can't control how much talent we have, but we can control how much effort we give.

Speaker 1:

Coronado High School football coach, Kurt Hines, on players having passion and love for the game and how he was supportive and happy when a player quit his team. Listen before you judge, yeah so absolutely love that.

Speaker 3:

So I had. He and his older brother played for us. His brother was a stud, showed up early, a light of life, smiling all the time, just a great football player, a great human being. The younger brother and you're behind him. If he showed up on time, we were lucky. You know, he was showing up late and never seemed to be happy.

Speaker 3:

And we we have a sticker on the back of our helmet just says the word. It's a little circular sticker. Just says the word why all capital letters? Why and I talk about all the time like why are you the man you are? Why are you the man you are? Why are you the woman you are? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Why do you choose to study for your test and not just flunk out, whatever it is? And I think our Y drives us in all we do. And I always tell our players football's not for everyone, it's a tough sport. But if you choose to walk away, don't lie to yourself and say I want to focus on my grades, because no one goes home at three o'clock and does homework from three to ten. You're going to play video games. You're going to watch TV. You're going to be scrolling on your phone, whatever it is. But you know, come to me and shake my hand and look me in the eye and return all your gear and say, coach, my heart's just not in it and I'll never question you and I'll always love and respect you.

Speaker 3:

So the younger brother, the older brother, graduated and, uh, the younger brother came to one practice with his bag and he looked so scared and so apprehensive. And I yell and scream all the time on the football field it's never derogatory. We have no swearing policy. Kids can't swear, coaches can't swear. Um, there are consequences in players. All coaches do um, nothing big, just 25 push-ups and then, if it becomes a habit, then other consequences.

Speaker 3:

But he came into the office and it was about 10 minutes before practice and I said hey, sit down for a minute. I said just talk to him. Why are you going? He goes. Well, I just don't love it. I said thank you. He said I appreciate the honesty Talk bit more because I wanted to get to the why not just the blanket statement if I don't want it? And he's starting to say he goes.

Speaker 3:

Coach, my brother loves football, english. You know that my dad loves football, my mom loves football because we're a football family. And you just saw him when he said we're a football family. Just looked the weight of the world on him. No, it's just like you know, saying hey, we're a vegan family, but there's the one kid that loves things, like yeah, we're a vegan family, you know, um.

Speaker 3:

So I looked at him. I said I said are you a football family? He was well, the rest of them are. And I looked at him. I said I'm proud of you. And he looked at me like what are you proud of me for, like you know? And I said it takes courage to come in here and be honest and say I'm just not passionate about this. So I talked to him a little bit longer and I said hey, do you mind if I share this with the team? He goes, you can share this with anyone. And my message.

Speaker 3:

So I did a little video right when he left it, just as you mentioned. I had a little follow up, did a little selfie video and, with his permission, I wouldn't have shared it without his permission. He gave me permission and I said I said I love you, I'll always be here for you. If you need anything, please come by. Practice you can come to the game, let me know. And I I saw him smile for the first time in two years, a genuine smile, and so I got amped up, like for me that that would like to be a fun. So I'm gonna turn the phone over. Um, so I gotta do a little video and just say I'm so excited. You know, young man quinn, I figured that if I forget exactly what I said in the video or how I said it, um went out to post the video, went out to practice, talked to the team and praised him and said hey, so, and so just stepped away from the program and I got like emotional for a second and I said you dang well, better make sure you do not treat him any different.

Speaker 3:

Right, he was a member of our team and did it with class, walked away with class and character. So when you you see him at lunch, still sit with him. When you see him in the hallway, still befriend him. And you could see the players. They understood where I was going with that Got my truck after practice and I think I had something like I don't know it had gone viral.

Speaker 3:

I had a lot of tweets, a lot of comments. The funny thing about that was I mean, it was on like USA Today and News Maps, a few other different, whatever you know outlets. There were several people who read the caption, as you did, who didn't watch the video, who commented like you should get out of coaching, how dare you be happy, a young man just quit, and all that stuff. And then there were people who watched the video, who came after me and said, oh great, congratulations, coach. You just created a Twitter, you know, and I thought about that for a minute. I'm like wait a minute, did I? I was like no, and I'll never get into a Twitter war or social media war with anyone.

Speaker 3:

I don't want to fight with anyone, but I remember responding to several people saying, no, how many of us date young women throughout our lives? We don't quit on that, but we realize they're not the one, so we walk away from that relationship? How many of us have jobs in our lives that we, after finishing our contract, walk away from that job? We're not quitting, but that wasn't for us and we go take a better job somewhere else. You know, in my opinion, I feel like I empowered him to say hey, listen, it's okay to walk away from things you're not passionate about to follow your dreams. And that was my message, I guess, in the video was to say, hey, when you have players that are passionate about football, support them. When they're passionate about something else, support them in that, just the same.

Speaker 1:

Greg Burge on program and development and getting the right players on the bus.

Speaker 7:

One is get the right people on the bus. We can talk into detail on this. Obviously, people matter. When you're a coach, when you're a leader, it's a people business. I think it's easy for us to sometimes forget about that. The relationships and the people we have matter more than anything. I tell myself, as a principal, my most important job is to hire good teachers. If I hire good teachers, my job is easy. Same thing goes with players. We can develop good kids, good players, get good coaches working with us. That's step one. And then step two would be develop those people, develop those players. What is your plan to develop players in the offseason? Develop players in season? How do you develop and grow coaches? How do you develop and grow yourself? You know, and those are really the first two steps. And then you know step three once you have your people, you're developing your people.

Speaker 7:

It's all about culture in a nutshell. If you want to go deeper, let me know. But I define culture as what we allow as coaches each and every day, what we emphasize as coaches. We can't emphasize it all, so we have to pick what's important to us and then doing that each and every day.

Speaker 7:

I think sometimes, as coaches, we, you know, we think our culture is set and then we kind of just move on and worry about other things and all of a sudden our culture, you know, takes a turn and you know staying on that every day. Things happen with teams, but as a coach with a good program culture, we have to address those things in a very timely manner to keep our culture. And then, lastly, I think on that post, control the controllables. We get so caught up and pointing the finger at other people or blaming or complaining things that are outside of our control. And I think the best teams, the best programs, focus on their attitude, they focus on their habits, they focus on their habits, they focus on their effort and they just focus on getting better each and every day. And in a nutshell, those are kind of my four keys, I guess, to program development.

Speaker 1:

Going back, one percent better. Podcast host joe farrell on communication with today's athlete I think that deep down, coaches are lifelong learners.

Speaker 3:

So I get a little concerned when I see coaches dig their heels into the ground and say, well, I'm not going to change, this is the way we've always done it. I don't think that's the majority of coaches. Now, the other piece that we have to be careful about is there's so much wisdom, there's so much experience Even that quote that you opened the show with. The expert has made the mistakes more times than the beginner has tried. So we don't want to throw that out, we want to utilize that. But hey, listen, we go back to John Wooden. It doesn't get more old school than John Wooden, right? And if they don't learn the way you teach, you got to teach the way they learn. If Wooden's saying it, then heck, joe Ferraro better be saying it.

Speaker 1:

You never know who's going to come and watch you play Chris Jones on his recruitment and how he ended up at Ohio State University and a fourth-round draft pick later on.

Speaker 3:

Our high school was in a town that was right on the Ohio River, so we were just across the border from Ohio. So we were playing Bridgeport Ohio one day and, just out of the blue, coach Montgomery came up and said well, there's a college coach going to be here to watch you today. And I was like, okay, he didn't tell me what college, he didn't say anything and I had no idea who Coach Harbaugh was. So I had no idea who Coach Harbone was. So I remember just warming up for the game and I was ultra relaxed and I think he stayed and watched three innings I think it was nine up, nine down. Didn't really seem to strike that many guys out, but I felt really comfortable. I just remember I felt really comfortable. I just remember I felt, uh, really calm, um, even knowing that he was there to watch me and um, and then after those three innings he took off. So I'm thinking, oh and you know he didn't love it, like what he saw he just left. But um, it turned out that he was.

Speaker 3:

He was mainly coming to see a left-handed pitcher from St Clarenceville High School. His name was Joe Slavik. He was actually a good friend of mine and he was going to watch Joe pitch in West Virginia against Wheeling Park, which was the big school in Wheeling, west Virginia and very good baseball. So he left after three innings and went up there and watched Joe. And then, you know, after he saw Joe, he went back and reported to Coach Finn, who was the head coach of the Ohio State fan, and I think Coach Finn had the mind that, you know, joe was going to come back and Coach Grabova would come back and report to him about Joe Slavik. Well, he also reported that he'd seen me and that, you know, he thought I could help the program. And I remember Coach Cabone telling me that Coach Finn got real angry and said you're supposed to go see this guy and you're going to go and see this guy Now you think this guy is a world-beater.

Speaker 3:

So Coach said he was kind of angry but in the end I was able to come to Ohio State. I felt blessed to get that opportunity.

Speaker 1:

Team USA coach Butch Chaffin on moving players around and putting your best players on the field.

Speaker 3:

I'm playing and it looks like he's been doing it quite a lot. So we just built another catcher and he can play all of them. Well, I'm, with his bats a little short but I would not hesitate to put him anywhere on the field because I have that much confidence in him and it's all been quite honest. He was willing to do it. You know some kids are willing to do it. Practically come to us like when the short's up their whole life and we're like, hey, you know, flick over there and play second. You can just tell by the body length. They've never been there, they don't want to go there. And then you lay it out like, hey, man, you want to play JV ball for a few years, or do you want to play a year of JV and then maybe make the varsity as a second baseman, as a sophomore and boy? That opens up the eye. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. But you wish you could just have a rusker full of just multi-position players. You know I have to be in ken.

Speaker 3:

Sometimes coaches in practice are afraid to do it. You know they're afraid to move guys around and uh, we've had. We have a long tradition, a long tradition. Uh, taking that left side infielder whose arms a little short, and making a first baseman out of him. And defensively, I don't know why more guys don't put their back end shortstop as a first baseman. Also because those guys usually have good hands and make them fake it. And we did that this year. I took my third baseman from last year, who was really good defensively and his arm was a little short, and put him that this year. I took my third baseman from last year he was really good defensively and his arm was a little short, and put him at first base. And this guy, he's a natural over there.

Speaker 1:

Bluffton University head baseball coach, james Grandy, sat down to discuss the tragic bus accident that killed five of his players, the bus driver and his wife, while the team was traveling through Atlanta, georgia, on their way to Florida for their spring trip. He pays tribute to his players.

Speaker 3:

And really the aftermath. But I mean the takeaway. Yeah, it's been 14 years, but it's with me every day, it's with the university, every day it's with our uh, the leadership that was here at that time. You know, working through the, the aftermath, um, every day it affects us still with the players from.

Speaker 1:

I know you had a 10-year anniversary a few years back. Can you talk?

Speaker 3:

a little bit about the, the players that that were lost from that action. Yeah, so we lost five players. You know that team to go back, the 2017 was the first team of mine. It was my fourth year. It was the first team of mine that had all of my own recruits on it and we didn't have any seniors on that team either. And the year before we had finished in a four-way tie for second place in the conference. Uh and we we just missed out on the conference tournament to do to a tiebreaker. But, um, you know so that we had a lot of high hopes going into that season and three of the players we lost were freshmen and two of the players we lost were were sophomores. So I'll start with the sophomores.

Speaker 3:

David betts uh was a sophomore from brian, ohio. Um, he was uh man, he was like everything you wanted in a division three student athlete. He was a good student. He was involved in a lot of things. Um, you know, good family is his sister and uh had played softball here. His grandpa was a former president of the university. Uh, his his freshman year. Actually, he did not make the florida list, and so I tell the story a lot of al here's. Here's a young man who didn't travel to florida his freshman year, um, but then, not only was going to travel his sophomore year, but he was going to be our starting second baseman. Uh, in our first game I had already I announced the lineup before we got on the bus, just so so they knew what was going on. He was really excited. One of the things about him was he was going to wait to tell his dad. He was going to surprise his dad. That was really hard.

Speaker 3:

We also lost Tyler Williams. Tyler is from Lima. Tyler was awesome too. He had so much energy, one of the fastest players I've ever coached. Him and David both were our two fastest players. Both were probably like 6'7", 6'6" 60 guys that can run and steal and Tyler helped us. He played a little bit as a freshman as well and just a really talented player and also an unbelievable person. He was a musician also and just really good family, just really good family.

Speaker 3:

And then, from the freshman side of things, scott arman from elida. Uh, he was our strongest player as a freshman. So, uh, we were really looking forward to him eventually moving into the middle of our lineup, being a quarter infielder for us. Um, probably by the middle of the end of that year he would. He would really emerge into our lineup. So he was a. He was a good player too. Awesome family um.

Speaker 3:

And then Zach Aaron from Paulding Zach, uh, zach was like 6'4, he was a right-handed pitcher, could dunk a basketball pretty easily. Really good athlete he was. He was in the low 80s, uh, in the in the preseason and we were really excited about him um and uh and and his development growth. We don't get a lot of 6'4 right-handed pitchers that can throw in the low 80s and like we thought man over the course of his career, like he was really going to develop and and you know, obviously it was tough to lose all these guys, but you know, you know he's definitely one that would have been a really good player.

Speaker 3:

And then Cody Holt from Tri-County North. Cody Cody was awesome too. I don't know if I've ever met a person on campus that made an impact on campus quite like him. He had so many friends on this place in such a short time. His energy was unbelievable. He was due to pitch in one of our fall games that year and he got rained out, so his family never got to see him pitch. He got rained out at the end but his last three fastballs in his last bullpen against live hitters, before we got on the bus he was 88, his all three fastballs. So you know you get on dirt down in Florida. You know that's probably going to give another and some adrenaline. He would have been really good too, and again. So I think, besides the people we lost, the talent was there too, and those guys would have had really good careers. But going back, like all five of of those guys, their families are unbelievable. Um, they were unbelievable student athletes, they were awesome people and like that.

Speaker 1:

I mean it's a tragic in that in that way too, because they're chris fugate tell your derby head baseball coach on the challenges and difficulties of having your son play for you.

Speaker 3:

I would say, looking back, I wish I would have enjoyed it more. Sometimes I felt I was being overcritical or going out of my way not to show favoritism to my kid. And I know, sometimes to the point where even my own assistant coaches would say stuff like hey, listen, your kid should be in there, like when his younger years of high school, his freshman and sophomore years, I was almost to the point where like no, we're giving it, like he was going to be the last one to get an opportunity to play varsity. And I know sometimes Coach Wolf, larry Wolf and Jay Smith would make make statements like no, it's got to be your kid. But I did not want him especially.

Speaker 3:

You know he goes to school here I teach here he plays baseball. Sorry, there's the bell, I'm sorry, but I didn't want to be in a situation where all his kids only playing because his dad's a coach and I wanted to make sure he earned it. And looking back, I don't know if it was fair for him as a kid, but I don't think it hurt him in any way. I just think he understood that listen, I'm going to treat him, you know, like any other player and he's got to earn his time.

Speaker 1:

And sometimes that was difficult. Lsu National Champion Head.

Speaker 3:

Coach Paul Manieri takes you behind the scenes of the SEC tournament and an amazing story that happened. It's amazing how many people remember that. What year was that? Was that 2018, maybe, or 19? I can't even remember what year it was. So Todd Peterson was a pitcher and we were beating South Carolina and I brought him in to in relief. Maybe the score was tied, I guess I guess the score no, tied. I guess I guess the score no, no, I can't even remember. Wait, we were losing by a run. Excuse me, we were losing by a run. I think I bought him in in the eighth inning and we go to the top of the ninth inning or top of the tenth inning excuse me, I think we were in the tenth inning, losing by a run, and we get runners on first and third and Daniel Cabrera is coming up to bat for us. Well, earlier in the game. I think it was about that eighth inning or so.

Speaker 3:

I had to pinch run for our catcher. Well, when I pinch ran for the catcher, I had to put a forced baseman behind the play and I had to take our DH and put him at first base. So now we lose the DH. So now the pitcher's got to hit in the catcher's spot that I had taken out for a pinch runner. Okay, well, I know that if we don't score in the 9th or 10th innings, then his spot is going to end up coming up. The pitcher's spot's going to end up coming up in the 11th inning.

Speaker 3:

Well, sure enough, we get runners on 1st and 2nd or, excuse me, 1st and 3rd, and we have one of our best hitters up and Todd Peterson's spot is on deck. But I send out to the on deck circle a pinch hitter pretty good hitter, good singles, lined, live hitter okay. But I got Peterson in the in the in the runway in the dugout with a helmet and a bat, okay. But I don't let the other coach think there's any chance he's coming up the bat, because if they see see him in the on-deck circle, they're going to pitch around Cabrera, who's the hitter right To face the pitcher. So I'm making it appear as though I'm going to pinch hit for the pitcher, so they have to pitch to the guy that's batting. Well, now he ends up getting a base hit. Okay, the score is tied at this point.

Speaker 5:

He gets a base head to put us up by a run.

Speaker 3:

So I grabbed Peterson and now I said you're batting, because now we've got a lead and I want to leave him in the game to pitch the bottom of the 11th inning, so I'm going to send him up there. There's two outs runners and now there's runners on first and third again and the coach decides to change pitchers so I I'd bottle up the base runners and todd peterson.

Speaker 3:

And I tell todd hey, todd, listen, I I'm gonna send you up the bat, but I don't expect you to swing. Just stand there and take three strikes and then let's go out there and pitch the bottom of the 11th inning and save this one-run lead for us, okay? And he's like, ah, come on, coach, let me hit. And I said no, no, you're not hitting, just stand there, you're not swinging. Well, now the base runners had come in off the bases, you know, and the runner at third base was a kid named Austin Bain, who actually was a two-way player in high school, a really good one but then he focused just on pitching at LSU until his senior year which this was a senior year and he ended up becoming a great hitter for us. So now he's on third base, he comes in and he says something to Todd Peterson about get a good rip in there, you know.

Speaker 5:

And I said, no, austin, he's not even hitting, he's going to just stand there and Austin says, oh, come on, coach, let him dead. And I turned to Peterson and I said I don't even know, Did you even hit in high school? We recruited him as a pitcher, right? I said, did you?

Speaker 3:

even hit in high school Coach. I hit bombs when I was in high school. I said did you Really?

Speaker 5:

He goes yeah.

Speaker 3:

I hit bombs. So I said, what the heck? Okay, go ahead, let it rip, have a swing at it when he takes a pitch.

Speaker 5:

Then swings and misses a one and then he hits a line job off the wall for a two-run double. Now we got a three-run lead and everybody's going crazy. So I'm saying to myself yes, he did, he was a pretty good hitter, but I just didn't know it.

Speaker 3:

So after the game, we're at the press conference and one of the reporters asked him Todd, when was the last time you had a meaningful at-bat? Was it in high school? And he starts stumbling over his answer.

Speaker 5:

And then he finally just stops and says turns to me. And he says, coach, I've got to admit to you.

Speaker 3:

I never hit in high school, my God.

Speaker 1:

What do you mean? You never hit in high school. Everybody hits in high school.

Speaker 5:

And you told me you hit, he goes.

Speaker 3:

I lied to you you never hit in high school. Everybody hits in high school and you told me you hit, he goes. I lied to you I never hit. All I ever did was, once in a while, take pictures. Oh my God, that's funny. So I'd like to tell you it was some great managerial strategic move. But that's the true story of how it happened.

Speaker 1:

Head strength coach, Lewis Corella, who was at Georgia Tech at the time, on getting to know your players and earning their respect.

Speaker 3:

Every job I've had, I've interviewed every kid I've ever coached. So it all goes back to all right. So I'm the new guy on staff and I'm going to run the whole weight room now and be the culture guy. Well, if I'm going gonna have all this stuff from the kids, I better get to know the kids first. And I've told every kid I've ever coached like please don't respect me yet like I'll I'm just another guy to you.

Speaker 3:

Right now you don't need to respect me, but if, if you give me the time to get to know you and if you give me the time to be consistent and pour positive energy into your life, I'm sure by the end I'll earn your respect. But don't do it yet, and um. So yeah, I asked them 25 questions about their life and it takes, you know, maybe a month or two to get the whole team in my office for 20 minutes to pop. But, uh, man, is it so worth it? And such a helpful tool to break through with kids and get them past the mental wall and read their body language and help them through obstacles that they face and keep them in line with what they tell you. So, yeah, that ain't everything I mean. You, you expect to get a lot out of kids. If you're barking orders and don't care about them, think you're wasting your.

Speaker 1:

Defiance head baseball coach Tom Held on finding 90-mile-an-hour pitchers and how he believes there's one in every class at a high school 90 is not quite as cool as it was a few years ago.

Speaker 3:

It's 90. I don't know, but I really do. I believe there's an actually I believe there was a 90-mile-an-hour in probably every class in every school. The problem is there's a lot of reasons why maybe they don't get to $90. One, and the biggest, is a lot of your athletes that are capable don't play baseball. So you can wipe those guys right off the mat. Because there's some guys when they get to high school they were good baseball players with good arms, but they're basketball guys, and basketball guys usually become 12-month guys if they want to be good at basketball. So I think that's one reason.

Speaker 3:

Another reason is, which we believe in if we can keep in baseball, I really believe you have to have some athletic ability. I think athleticism always wins. Now the other stuff's important. But if you get an athlete that has pretty good arm action, um, uh, can get there, and then the bottom line is throttle, you gotta throw. You know, if you want to and obie mauser is a great cross country coach and he always would tell me he goes uh, you know, you gotta run if you want to be a good runner.

Speaker 3:

Um, in fact, law coach kurt lame, the legendary gospel coach. You want to be a good shooter, you gotta shoot uh and and uh. If you want to have a good arm, you gotta throw up and and and. So we throw a lot and we throw more, more than most people do, uh, not only during the season but out of the season, and we really don't. I've never stepped foot in a bullpen ken, so I I don't, I cannot stand bullpens. They bore me to death. And so we really work on just our progression, our catch play, learn how to spin it, take something off, and it's really not that tough. It's something we always tell our guys. You know what's the hardest thing in all sports to do In a baseball game, well then, what's the easiest thing in all sports? If the hardest thing is hit it, then I want to be the guy that throws it.

Speaker 1:

So it's got to be the easiest thing to do in all sports and now longtime assistant coach at Defiance High School, rick Weaver the man who replaced Tom Held talking about what they do to strengthen the arm each and every day to turn out 90-mile-an-hour pitchers.

Speaker 3:

Where you know we started with flips, torso, one knee, we have this whole thing, um and, and it takes five minutes to 30 minutes and then we finish um with, with long thoughts, so uh, where I think a lot of people think you know, after 10 minutes, hey, I'm getting warm. Where, where I think some, some people use their, the throwing just to get loose. Ours is a strength. We're building the arm every day. He will stand over you and make you cut loose on every throw.

Speaker 1:

Everyone remembers the replay of Robin Ventura charging the mound to challenge Nolan Ryan after being hit by a pitch and Nolan Ryan taking care of business with him. But I did not expect my guest. The Alabama Baseball Coaches Association head baseball coach, johnny Johnson, happened to be the bat boy that night for the Texas Rangers.

Speaker 6:

This one's easy, easy, and I think other people have heard this story before, so I'm so. I was the bat boy that provided the baseball that started the ventura fight. So, uh, I was running baseballs that night and sitting on the on-deck circle on my stool and nolan throws at ventura and here goes the big fight. You know, I'm watching bojacks, not their manhandle people or whatever. And and uh, and so we, we move over on the cooler and sit on the coolers on the top step and watch the fight.

Speaker 6:

And so it gets calm back down and everybody's back on the field and I go and sit on our bench and george bush who had wasn't even governor of texas yet and surely wasn't president, yet it's the owner. And, uh, he leans over to me and the other bat boys, like, did y'all get their bat boy? We're just joking with him, knowing that he was an employee of the Rangers, right, but it was just funny. For what an experience to be on the field when that happened. Number one, one of the most iconic moments in all of baseball. But then the turnaround in George Bush, did y'all get their bat boy?

Speaker 1:

Creating the right environment for all players to excel is one of the primary things that Mike Diggins does at Denison University as their head baseball coach.

Speaker 3:

We understand now that almost 80% of behavior is going to be dictated by the environment that you're in. When you think about that 80%. So when you think about that 80%. So in my world a lot of times and I've been guilty of this as coaches we feel like if we can recruit on the outside and bring this special talented person into our environment, then they're going to change everything. But if you look at the math, like 80% of behaviors think they did by the culture, they're more likely to conform to the environment that they're in and to change their environment, to conform to the environment that they're in and to change their environment. So to answer your question like that's where, you know, focusing on the environment you're creating, in the culture you're, you're trying to develop, is so important because that person then I don't cause I really don't care about their talent level in the right environment. Their focus is on trying to do something that's bigger than themselves, like they're just they're the most talented, talented, but they're just one part of this, of this system, of this ethos that's trying to achieve something great together.

Speaker 3:

So, yeah, sometimes when you come in that someone's really talented. They may, you know, they may hold themselves at a certain standard, but in the right culture, I mean I can look, you know, I in workflow. I want to be very clear, ken. Like, we have our issues, we have our troubles et cetera, but our best players, like they, they're not always our leaders. Like, we've had some really, really great players that I wouldn't really call leaders, and that's okay, like and that's.

Speaker 3:

I don't mean that in the wrong way, but they're cause, they're just like their job is maybe to be incredibly, to do the incredibly talented things that some other guys can't do. But then you have some other people that are the foundation, the cornerstone of the culture of the environment, that are equally, if not more, critical than those talented guys. So I think in a poor culture, in a poor environment, the situation you just described can be very, very challenging because that person holds all the power, but in a in the right environment, they don't hold all the power Like they. They know that they're just one piece of that thing and their talent is what they can often bring to the program, but but they're not everything to the program as well. So, um, I don't think I said, I don't think I have one like little bit to it, other than the fact that that's why I think it's so important and it's so underserved or undervalued is this idea of trying to get your culture and your environment right, because that's going to take care of 90% of those problems.

Speaker 1:

Every baseball fan enjoys when a player or manager gets ejected from a game. Brad Kaminsk, after eight years as a Major League Baseball player, became a minor league manager and he had several great ejections.

Speaker 3:

My best was in Altoona.

Speaker 3:

I was just talking to the GM about it. Not too long ago. I had a good one up in Portland, maine, where I got wound up in some stupid play. The umpires just totally gaffed and I was walking off the field and they had these little. They had a little game where they had these lobsters and you had to throw them on the field or fling them in a net or something, I don't know what. It was some stupid game of lobsters. I walked off the field and you had to walk through the stands and go to like another building for the clubhouse. So, man, those lobsters were right in my way. So I started firing lobsters onto the field. I had two of my hot lobsters out there. The place went nuts.

Speaker 3:

But my best one was in Altoona. I got thrown out of the game. I was drawn with the umpire. We had a major league rehab guy there had a long name up, you know, on a questionable call. So I finally had had enough, you know, and I, uh, I walked out there and I took my shoe, everybody's like. I took my shoes off and I took my hat off my hat on my shoes, everybody's like what's he doing? And I turned it down to my point and I've said, man, let him call the game, he'll do a better job. And then I just walked off. I put all my stuff there. I was like that was my best one.

Speaker 3:

Unfortunately it wasn't on video, it was on Arbel, and when I did it I said boo and stuff, I'd walk out. We had to knock down the light for a while and I'd always leave the gate open, always. And I'd tell them all. But I said do not shut this gate, do not shut the gate. And the owner was like hey, go shut the gate. And we're like no, he told Brad told us not to shut the gate, I am not shutting the gate. So they ran out and shut the gate or you had a bad way to do it. It was wow, just so I'm alive. Enough. The brain a little bit. You know I play as all. See my mom people getting grown out, you know the manner of play, and so it was always all new.

Speaker 1:

Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school head baseball coach, todd Fitzgerald, talks about the day after a mass school shooting that killed teachers and students at his school and how he brought his team together.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I mean we got them together the very next day, like I brought them all in with their families and we just we talked about the whole thing and we shared stories and we cried and you know they let it all out and I said, listen, man.

Speaker 3:

I said you know, you know we have to. There's two ways we can go about this. We can feel sorry for ourselves and sit in front of the tv and and, and you know, feel, feel sorry for ourselves, or we can pick our heads up and go out, maybe get these parents who lost some loved ones, something, something you know to, you know to smile about, even if it's for a few minutes. And you know we, we have to be there for for the, for the kid, for the other kids in school and, you know, support them and you know that that's our, that's our responsibility. And, and you know as well as I do like athletics, kind of make the school go round. You know, if you have good culture in the athletics, you know it usually makes for a really, really good school year.

Speaker 3:

So you know, I just told our guys you know, use baseball as your sanctuary when you're out on the field and use that two hours to be you, and then you know, let's just be around each other as much as we can and we'll get through it together.

Speaker 1:

Hall of Fame head baseball coach at Ohio University, joe Carbone, shares the story of his playing days when he played for Ohio University and they had a great team and they ended up making it all the way to the College World Series. But they had to contend with martial law on campus because of the protests for the Vietnam War.

Speaker 3:

You know, that was my senior year and we had a great team. I can't remember Ten or 12 guys played professional baseball. Three guys played in the big leagues off of that team. One guy's in the Hall of Fame. So we're having a great year.

Speaker 3:

We go and play, we leave campus and back then, you know, there were no air conditions in the buses or anything. There weren't interstates or cell phones or computers or anything. And when we leave campus we drive up through town, of course, the rest of our friends and the students. They're getting ready for the weekend. They're already hitting the bars and having a good time. We're waving at them, you know, from the bus and they're yelling good luck and everything. So we go to Bowling Green and we play Bowling Green on Friday and beat them. And then that night our manager is we're staying at the student union in Bowling Green on campus and uh, he's knocking. You know, no TVs in the rooms. There was a TV downstairs in the, in the main lobby, and so uh, he's knocking on the door and telling us his uh, coach wants everybody to come downstairs in the lobby. And so we go downstairs.

Speaker 3:

And that was when the Kent State shootings happened and the student protests on campus and that night high university students protested and campus was closed. And the president not only closed the campus down, he closed it down for the rest of the year, as did a lot of other schools, ohio State and a lot of other campuses in Kent State all closed for the rest of the year with the riots, and that's when the National Guard were hitting the campuses. Unfortunately there were shooting deaths at Kent State. I'm sure college presidents didn't want to see that happen on their campus, so they were just closing the campuses down through the year. So Coach Redden got us down there, talked to us we had a game to play with Bowling Green and they were having protests on their campus at the time and we played the game and then we were heading home and we didn't know what was going to happen. We don't know if we're having a chance to play or not.

Speaker 3:

So we get to the top of the top of the hill in athens on uh columbus road and the national guard had already been taken over was declared martial law on a university's campus in Athens, ohio. So the colonel or the general or the lieutenant, whoever it was he got on the bus and he said, coach, your college has declared martial law. He says that you and your, your boys, have one hour to get on campus and get all your things and get out of town. And so we ran to the dorms and we didn't know how to, you know, unpack that. So we'd throw our bed sheet down on the floor and throw all our stuff in a bed sheet and we drag it. We would drag it to the bus that was waiting out on the road for us.

Speaker 3:

And we just got outside of town and coach said just go, get with your buddies, go to their homes for three days. Let me figure this out, call me in three days and I'll know if we still have a season or no. So we were all pretty. There's no group text or anything. No, no, there's no text. You know nothing like that, right? So we call and he says well, I talked to the president and he's going to let us finish the season, which was I don't know how he got that done, but and so he said meet me at the Ted Kulczewski Baseball School in Bainbridge, ohio.

Speaker 1:

Every coach has great stories about umpires. Hall of Fame head baseball coach of Watterson High School in Ohio and current Capital University baseball head coach Scott Manahan shares stories of when we played each other and the fun times we had dealing with umpires.

Speaker 4:

So sorry, I'm so sorry, and I know your wife, I know your wife loves me. She does really like me. But there was a time when we were playing each other in the district tournament and I wasn't smart enough to figure it out, but we were playing Buckeye Valley and I would just look at whatever my assistant coach was and I'd say, man, I hope we get these two umpires today. And then I would be out there and you'd be doing your thing and here they would come I think it happened like three times and here they would come and you would just start shitting, you'd start getting mad and I would just walk away. And I mean that's not funny if it was me on the other side, which of course has been that way with some umpires. I totally get it and it's really not funny from your end, but it was just like your. Your actions were just priceless and you know, you knew you could say that to me.

Speaker 4:

We had a couple new guys my last year, and it's Tom Newbert and I from DeSales are at home plate and Tom's just spewing this stuff out of his mouth about me and I'm just shaking my head and these umpires are just looking at us like what is going on here and I'm telling them to shut the hell up and we're acting like we're going to get a fight and these guys are, and it was all. The game was over. He probably beat us like he did and you know you're hugging and shaking hands afterwards because it's just so much fun. I will totally miss that, you know. I will totally.

Speaker 1:

Yeah I had a couple rival coaches that I competed against in our league highlands coach travis, church and river alley coach randyach and they decided to share some of the funny stories competing against me.

Speaker 3:

It was freezing and we always had a rule here at Northmoreland or at Northmoreland Highland, like coach Hoyne, he was a big stickler on 40 degrees, so and it was, it may have been 40, so and it was. It may have been 40, but it felt like 25. And it was one of the new year. It was one of the first years at the new field at Buckeye Valley and I called Ken and I said I I don't know if I'm going to be able, we're going to be able to play, like Coach Hoyne isn't letting us come over, and he goes, we'll play it. And I'm like okay, and so I was able to talk coach wayne into letting us come over.

Speaker 3:

We show up to buckeye valley. There's no one, there's no one out there. Ken's got his guys in the school somewhere taking batting practice and they're in field and everything. It's freezing. My guys are wanting to keep their coats on and stuff. I'm like no, we came over here to get your stuff off, we're going to get warmed up and we're going to be ready to go. So, um, but those were, you know, ones that kind of stick out in my mind right from the get-go. As far as the three of you guys that, uh, uh, it was always, like I said, always great to compete against. You know your, your guys's programs and we always knew that we had to play well, uh, to be on the winning side or give ourselves a chance to win. Ken, I have a good memory of you. Um, it was down at Buckeye Valley and, uh, I forget what the call was, but it was a. It was a bad call by the umpire.

Speaker 3:

Uh, we were, we were, you know, hitting and you had been sitting on a bucket you were up and down off a bucket and you popped up off the bucket to yell at the umpire and you went to set back down and the bucket came out from under you and all the balls started rolling out the dugout. Um, it was hard not to laugh on third base, you know, because I was like I knew how mad you were and finally, my most listened to podcast to this point of the hundred episodes.

Speaker 1:

Great friend and someone I was in the army with, jeff letourneau, decided after getting out of the Army to attend Florida State University and for the heck of it, he tried out for Florida State's baseball team. He quickly realized he was throwing 90 miles per hour. He ended up having a great college career and seven years of professional baseball.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I shot on the ground some weekends and I could tell I was throwing the hell out of the ball. I think you knew it too, but I had no idea if it was 80 miles an hour. 80 miles an hour, I was clueless. So I go to Florida State University just to go to school, to have fun, go down south and join myself. And I'll never forget I was at an orientation and we listened to Bobby Bobham talk about football and we listened to Mike Martin talk about baseball and they said they were going to have a tryout. Or the alumni likes to have tryouts, even though they have. You know they just won a national championship, I believe in 86 or 85. And, just for giggles, I to try out, and there was about 30 of us and everybody was in their junior college in the form and I think they had. You know, their whole team was on the whole ride. But this was almost something the alumni wanted them to do just have these tryouts for good. You know good pr, but they really weren't going to take anybody.

Speaker 3:

So I went over there just to and I was so clueless I didn't know how I was going to try to have a shortstop or pitcher. So I'm watching all these guys hit field ground ball. I'm like I'm not thinking I'm a shortstop at this level, holy crap. So I said let me sign up for the pitcher. So I get out my name, just call. I get on the bullpen and it's like four bullpens and I'm throwing the ball and the ball's popping my mitt, my catcher's mitt, a lot harder than the guys near me. But again, I have no idea. Is it 80, 82? I have no idea. So I'm popping the mitt and I can see all the coaches coming over with their radar guns his four Florida State coaches and all of a sudden one of the guys comes over and he goes.

Speaker 3:

So what's your name, son? I said Jeff Laterno. He goes. He goes, jeff. You didn't. You're a freshman, I go. Yeah, he goes. You didn't get recruited to play anything yet. I said no. I said I'm, I just got out of the Army, I'm 19. He goes. No kidding, he goes. You know, you're throwing 90 miles an hour. I said, come on. I just wanted to get back to my dorm and call my buddies and say listen to this. Oh, shut up. I had no idea. I knew I had a good arm, but I had no idea. So they tapped me for the ball and let me work out with a team and red shirt in me.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's a wrap of season one of the Athlete One podcast 100 episodes. I would like to thank every guest that's taken time out of their day to join me and be a part of the show, and you, the listener, for tuning in on Wednesdays to hear from some of the greatest coaches and athletes around the country. I'm looking forward to Season 2, and be sure to check out our shows on Wednesday. If you know someone you think would be a great guest for Season 2, go to our website, athlete1.net, to sign up to register to be a guest on Season 2 of the Athlete One Podcast. Also, don't forget to follow us on X, instagram and Facebook at Athlete One Podcast. Today's episode is powered by the Netting Professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707 or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. As always, I'm your host, ken Carpenter. Thanks for joining us on the Athlete One podcast and take care, thank you.

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Ken Carpenter

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