Monday, October 19, 2009 10:21 PM CDT
COLUMN: 'Priceless' memories of Coach Baker
By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor
blair@jg-tc.com
I want to use this space today to make some sports-related comments.
I served as sports editor of the Times-Courier the first six years I was in Charleston so I was saddened this weekend to learn of the death of longtime Charleston teacher, coach and athletic director Merv Baker.
And I thoroughly enjoyed all the festivities around Eastern Illinois University’s homecoming game.
First, Coach Baker.
Everyone called him coach, even long after he had retired.
He retired from coaching three years before my family moved here in 1973.
He still was the athletic director at CHS so I had plenty of contact with him.
Three things about Coach Baker stand out in my mind.
In those days, I worked at the paper until about 1:30 in the morning. But I usually started about 2 p.m. to get some work done so I could have dinner with Cheryl and my young children before getting to the office about 7:30 p.m.
There were some days, however, when I didn’t get much afternoon work done because I ran into Merv Baker at the high school while looking for a coach.
We usually spent a couple hours visiting. Often he reminisced about this game or that player or another opponent.
I heard the same stories about his coaching skills at Dupo over and over. But he told good stories.
And he always wanted to hear about my family or my life as much as I enjoyed hearing his stories.
Cheryl always knew where I had been when I came home late for supper. She and Coach became good friends a few years later.
Second, I guess Paris High School was Charleston’s bitter rival in the years Coach Baker played and coached at Charleston. That rivalry doesn’t seem as intense in 2009 as it must have been in the 1930s to 1960s.
I was impressed that in the fourth year of the Charleston Holiday basketball Tournament, after the first three honorary tournament managers were from Charleston, that Coach Baker selected Bud Wittick, the longtime Paris Beacon-News sports editor, to be the first non-Charleston resident as honorary tournament manager.
And the third memory that stands out was watching him in the Tiny Tots summer baseball program.
Coach Baker, along with Bob Beavers, managed the city’s youth baseball program in those days.
From Tiny Tots to Babe Ruth, Merv and Bob ran the program year after year.
I understand that Coach Baker was a great athlete, winning 12 or 13 letters at EIU. He was elected to the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame, just like Tony Romo and Henry Domercant, to name two other standouts, were inducted this weekend.
He was a winning coach who is in state halls of fame for football and basketball.
Charleston High School’s Baker Gym and a trophy case are named for him. Baseball and softball fields on the north side of town are named for him.
His accomplishments are many.
But I got as big a kick out of watching him work with kids in the city’s Tiny Tots program as any Charleston Trojan fan got in watching him coach high school sports.
He obviously had so much fun playing with 4- and 5-year-olds who may or may not have had any coordination or concentration.
But he was gentle with all of them and helped them enjoy that first taste of sports on a playing field.
It was an hour of smiles, laughter, applause and cheers that I still remember.
You can measure wins and losses, compare his record to those of other coaches but those summer evenings with little boys (and a few girls) are priceless.
Congratulations to Barbara Burke and everyone in the EIU athletic department for the huge banners hanging above the entrance to O’Brien Field.
Since O’Brien Field opened in the fall of 1970, the west side main entrance entrance has been open.
As you approach the entrance, you see the steel girders and braces. It’s all open air and not especially attractive.
The stadium look was enhanced a few years ago with some one-story brickwork.
But just before Saturday’s homecoming game, eight huge banners were hung that feature current coach Bob Spoo plus former EIU athletes who made their mark in the National Football League.
The banners feature two-time Super Bowl-winning coach Mike Shanahan, Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Ted Petersen, Oakland Raiders punter Jeff Gossett of Charleston, lineman John Jurkovic, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo and defensive back Ray McElroy.
Rich Moser, the EIU sports information director, said it is part of Athletic Director Barbara Burke’s initiative to improve facility appearances without a great deal of expense.
“She did a lot of wall graphics at the University of Wyoming (prior to coming to EIU),” Moser said. “It changes the whole look of things.”
Moser said Burke is a facility “front door person.” She wants to give visitors a good first impression of the university’s programs.
Moser said other banners likely will be placed in Lantz Fieldhouse and at other venues.
The banners are permanent and should stay up year-round.
Moser wasn’t sure of the banners’ size. He estimated they are 18-20 feet wide and 30 feet tall. He said there is room to add a few more.
It’s a great touch and definitely upgrades the look of the O’Brien Field exterior. Not many universities of EIU’s size have as many former students in the NFL.
Add the banners to the brick facade from a few years ago, the field playing surface and new scoreboard, and O’Brien Stadium is a much better looking football/track arena than it was in 1970.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
|
|
|
