Hall of Famer Sherman offers diamond wisdom

By STEVE KRAH
http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Don Sherman won more than 600 high school baseball games during his 38 seasons as a head coach, beginning with Tipton and Hamilton Heights.
In 23 seasons at Huntington (Ind.) North, Sherman’s Vikings went 441-211 with 15 sectional championships, three regionals, one semistate and one state runner-up (1993).
His final season was 2001.
“I’m so proud of this,” says Sherman. “It didn’t end. The people are following me. They’re doing the same things.
“We have a community here.”
Sherman still finds himself serving as a substitute teacher nearly every school day and is a regular at Vikings practices and games and often talks baseball with current Huntington North head coach Jarod Hammel.
He even goes to the field solo and plays “fungo golf.”
Sherman, whose 23 is the only number retired for the Huntington North Athletics/Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer and a former Tampa Bay associate scout for, loves to share his wisdom about the game.
A few years ago, he crafted a list of “Things kids need to know in order to give them the best chance to make their high school baseball team.”

• Respect the game.
• Practice hard because you play the way you practice.
• It doesn’t take any talent to hustle.
• Be a student of the game of baseball. Study the history of baseball.
• Help your team win … whether you play or not.
• Don’t tell people how good you are, show them.
• Your parents love you; but, they don’t more than your coach loves baseball.
• Body language screams. It never whispers.
• Defense wins more games than offense.
• Work on your game every day: throwing, hitting, fielding.
• You don’t have to be a great athlete to be a good baseball player.
• When you jog to warm up, finish first.
• When you do a drill, do it perfect every time.
• Never walk on the baseball field.
• Maintain the grades that keep you eligible.

Sherman was kind enough to expound on some of these points.
“Respecting the game — that goes back a long way,” says Sherman. “It’s just playing the right way. It’s just how you put your suit on; how you take your infield drills; how you act after your strike out with the bases loaded; how you act after a game you lost versus when you won the game; how you act when you’re 0-for-3 versus 3-for-3 at the plate.
“You put all that together and it’s called respect for the game that was set up by a lot of people in front of us that played it and coached it.
“I can spot disrespect for the game. A kid might not run out a ball or throws hit glove or his bat. Or he gives the third base coach flak who puts on a bunt when he wanted to hit away when the bunt was in-order.”
And there’s more.
“It’s when the game finishes to put away equipment. It’s how you ride the bus. How do you go to South Bend to play a game and what’s your conduct?”
Sherman grew up in central Pennsylvania as a catcher.
“My coach stood right behind me,” says Sherman. “I heard everything he said when he hit infield. I heard every detail, every comment he made.”
After two years of junior college ball in California, Sherman earned two letters (1962 and 1963) at Ball State Teachers College (now Ball State University) in Muncie, Ind., for head coach Ray Louthen.
Sherman talks about “Helping the team win … whether you play or not.”
He recalls a coach telling him how he was impressed with his second- and third-string catchers (Sherman had a starter and two other receivers).
“They accepted their roles,” says Sherman of the backups. “They weren’t going to get in the game, but they did the important part of getting my starters ready.”
Starters — plural — because Sherman took the advice of Ken Schreiber (winner of 1,010 games and seven state titles) about warming up two pitchers before a championship game in case the starter doesn’t have it that day and could lose the contest in the first inning.
“The hardest part of coaching today from what I hear from younger coaches is parents complaining about their kids not playing,” says Sherman. “That’s why it’s important for the kids to buy in early and accept their role. It might be as a late-inning pinch hitter. It might be as a pinch-runner. It might be as a relief pitcher. You might be playing third base when you came up as a right fielder or something like that.
“I’ve found that kids accept their roles better than their parents do. I cut a senior one time. He wasn’t going to get to play. I told him practice was going to be his gameday. We parted amicably. I was honest with him.”
Sherman had some players tell him they came out every year because they “liked being a Viking and being part of the team.”
These kind of players never gave the gave any problems. He never kept a “clubhouse lawyer.”
“The season’s long and those kids in the dugout while you’re coaching third (base) are politicking about ‘why am I not playing’ and that spreads. I could always spot them and I would have a sit-down and ask ‘can you accept your role?’”
Sherman contends “You don’t have to be a great athlete to be a good baseball player.”
“You can have a kid that’s 5-foot-6 who can run a little bit and put him at second base,” says Sherman. “He might lay down that bunt that gets the winning run moved over.
“In so many other sports you’ve got to be a physical specimen. You don’t in baseball.”
While conducting tryout camps for Tampa Bay, Sherman saw a sorts of body types. Oftentimes the best players did not have the best bodies.
Sherman explains where he came up with “When you do a drill, do it perfect every time.”
“You never know who’s watching,” says Sherman. “The pros time you when you come out of the (batter’s) box during batting practice.
“I thought pregame was so important. I copied (Mississippi State coach) Ron Polk’s pregame and had two balls moving at the same time. We’re just getting after it. We go around the horn and turn double plays.”
Sherman had what he called “negatives” more muffs and missed cut-off men.
If there was less than perfection during the drill, the whole team might have a do push-ups or some extra running.
“It’s the old military way,” says Sherman, who saw players begin to hold each other accountable. “They coached each other.”
It’s also on Sherman’s checklist to “Never walk on the baseball field.”
“Kids know that when they get inside that gate, inside that foul line they know to hustle,” says Sherman. “That’s when practice starts.
“You’re going to practice now and the purpose is to get better.”
There also the principle of “Don’t tell people how good you are, show them.”
“Show me with your effort and your skill set rather than what somebody else said about you (in a showcase setting),” says Sherman. “It’s humble being humble. If you wear your emotions on your sleeve, scouts and college coaches will look at that and say you’re a ‘front-runner.’”
To Sherman, “Body language screams. It never whispers.”
“It’s how you conduct yourself,” says Sherman.
There was one game when his best player struck out and threw his bat. The umpire did not eject the player, but Sherman took him out of the game.
“I’ll leave games today if I see that kind of stuff (including a lack of hustle),” says Sherman. “I hate bad baseball.”
The IHSBCA long ago began a tradition of giving on “Dinosaur” T-shirts to those hitting the 20-year mark. Sherman says he has worn out a few of his.
He is proud that he got to coach against and serve with Hall of Famers Dave Alexander, Bill Jones, Jack Massucci, Bill Nixon, Jim Reinebold, Chris Rood, Ken Schreiber, Dick Siler, Chris Stavreti and Jim Turner Sr., and so many others who have made the game what it is today.

Don Sherman. (Steve Krah Photo)

Huntington North was IHSAA baseball state runner-up in 1993.

Huntington North Vikings.

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Grove appreciates how Churubusco values baseball

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Mark Grove retired as head baseball coach at Churubusco (Ind.) Junior/Senior High School in 2015.

But that hasn’t stopped him from being a regular around “Turtle Town” diamonds.

Grove has helped out with the high school program, now led by 2011 graduate Jordan Turner, and has crossed Churubusco Community Park to watch youth league games.

“Baseball’s important in Churubusco,” says Grove. “It really is.

Grove, a graduate of Bluffton (Ind.) High School and Ball State University (1977), started coaching baseball at Churubusco in 1980 as an assistant to Jerry Lange (who was head football coach at the school 1985-91) and took over the Eagles in 1985. He went on to earn 513 victories, nine sectional titles, four regional crowns and a semistate runner-up finish in 1995. Churubusco won nine Northeast Corner Conference championships (reigning four times in the NECC tournament) on his watch and two Allen County Athletic Conference titles.

Grove produced 25 Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association all-state selections and six players selected for the IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series — Devin Peters (2015), Bryan Brudi (2008), Brad Vaught (2007), Brad Dell (2003), Todd Fleetwood (1997) and Travis Rehrer (1995). Grove was an assistant to North head coach Erik Hisner during the 2015 series.

Peters went on to play for the National Junior College Athletic Association Division II national champions at Kankakee (Ill.) Community College (2017) and participate in the NCAA Division II World Series with Ashland (Ohio) University (2019).

Right-handed pitcher Fred Ransom Jones, a 2004 Churubusco graduate, was selected in the 33rd round of the 2007 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the New York Yankees out of the University of Evansville.

Grove’s 1995 squad lost 7-1 to eventual single-class state runner-up Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran, coached by IHSBCA Hall of Famer Jack Massucci, in the championship game of the Concordia Semistate. Bill Sharpe was the plate umpire in the title games of the Warsaw Sectional, Plymouth Regional, Concordia Semistate and State Finals in ’95.

The ’Busco battery of right-hander Rehrer and catcher Shawn Targgart wound up playing for Richard “Itchy” Jones at the University of Illinois.

Right-hander Brent Gaff represented Churubusco in the majors. He was chosen in the sixth round of the 1977 MLB Draft by the New York Mets and spent parts of 1982-84 with the big club.

“A small town kid from Churubusco can make it to the bigs,” says Grove. “This town is proud of the product they turn out on the baseball field.”

Whether or not an Eagles’ season included any postseason accolades, Grove got a kick out of fitting the pieces of the puzzle together.

“I enjoyed the whole preseason part and working out in the gym,” says Grove. “I moved kids around so we could be the most competitive we could be.”

After games, Grove went home and studied charts to see how to pitch to returning players for the next opponent.

“That was a lot of fun,” says Grove.

He also appreciated the rapport with his players and the camaraderie with his assistant coaches.

“I’ve got to see (players) grow up and become fathers,” says Grove. “You’re only going to be as good as your assistants.”

Business teacher Terry McManama was hired at Churubusco at the same time as Industrial Technology teacher Grove and coached volleyball and softball before he was lured to the baseball staff, where he served for more than two decades.

Math teacher Monte Gerig, who was Eagles head coach from 1973-77, and Chemistry teacher Jim Folland (a former Fort Wayne Elmhurst head baseball coach) were also Grove assistants. When Trent Gerig (Class of 1996), was a player, his father was lured back to coaching baseball.

Coaches in the Churubusco athletic department knew that they needed to share athletes in order for their teams to be competitive so multi-sport athletes were the norm.

“Everybody worked together,” says Grove. “We kept our kids active. We were there for the kids.

“The more sports they play, the more it makes them a rounded athlete. They tend to stay away from injuries because they don’t use the same muscles over and over again until something gives.”

Grove, McManama and Gerig can often be seen together on the golf course.

To stay close to football, Grove and McManama walk the sidelines and keep statistics for Churubusco football, which is now led by Paul Sade.

A former defensive coordinator, Grove was an Eagles assistant from 1979-99. He coached football at Lake State Edison briefly before coming to Whitley County.

Grove is still active with the IHSBCA, helping with registration at the State Clinic each January and assisting with the Class 2A poll. He was a district representative for many years and has served on the North/South All-Stars Series committee and was co-chair of the Baseball Strikes Out Cancer project with former executive director Bill Jones. The campaign raised more than $25,000 for the American Cancer Society.

“The most satisfying committee I ever worked on with the IHSBCA,” says Grove.

He is grateful for the impact of mentors like Hall of Famers Jones (who coached at DeKalb), Masucci, Don Sherman (Huntington North), Chris Stavreti (Fort Wayne Northrop) and Bill Nixon (Plymouth).

“I was skinny young coach,” says Grove. “I really looked up to those guys. The smartest thing I’ve ever done is that I kept my mouth shut and learned from them.”

At Bluffton, Grove was an outfielder and right-hander pitcher. Fred Murray was the Tigers head coach.

As a thank you to Murray, some member of the Class of 72, including Mike Pettibone, Bruce Hirschy and Jeff Penrod, initiated a reunion a couple of summers ago. Playing on old Wilson Field, Bluffton won its own sectional in 1972.

“Bluffton was a great place to grow up,” says Grove. “there was something going on for kids all the time.”

A summer recreation program provided chances to learn about baseball, swimming, tennis and more.

Denise Milholland, who went to another Wells County high school — Norwell — was introduced to Grove by Jim Watson and they later wed. Eric Milholland, brother of Denise, played in the Chicago White Sox organization.

Mark and Denise Grove have two married daughters and two grandsons — Jennifer, who works for Child Protective Services, and Derek Hupfer with Payton (9) and Brittany, an occupational therapy assistant, and Brennon Moughler with Evan (11).

Jennifer played volleyball, a little basketball and softball at Churubusco then softball at Parkland College (Champaign, Ill.). Brittany played volleyball, a little basketball and tennis for the Eagles. The Hupfers reside in Bluffton and the Moughlers near Butler, Ind.

One of Grove’s hobbies is collecting antique tools and tool boxes and fixing them up. One Christmas, he gave a tool box to each grandson and then let them and their fathers take turns picking out tools.

In January 2020, Grove received a call from Steve Warden on behalf of the Northeast Indiana Baseball Association. Grove was selected for induction into the NEIA Hall of Fame with the banquet moved from the spring to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18 at Classic Cafe Catering & Event Center, 4832 Hillegas Road, Fort Wayne, because of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic.

“That was a happy day at the Grove house,” says Grove, who was on the IHSBCA Hall of Fame ballot in 2020. “It validates the kind of program we had here at Churubusco.

“We had a lot of support from the administration and community. You don’t win without that.”

The NEIBA will also induct Northrop head coach Matt Brumbaugh and World Baseball Academy Chief Executive Officer Caleb Kimmel and present awards to Tom Knox and Tom Clements. Tickets are $25 each. Mail payment and the number of attendees to NEIBA, P.O. Box 12733, Fort Wayne, IN 46864.

Mark Grove was head baseball coach at Churubusco (Ind.) Junior/Senior High School from 1985-2015 and earned 513 victories, nine sectional titles, four regional crowns and a semistate runner-up finish in 1995. He is to be inducted into the Northeast Indiana Baseball Association Hall of Fame Oct. 18.

 

Baseball structure a living memorial to a coaching legend

By DEAN JACKSON

For IndianaRBI.com

There’s a brick, over there by the third base dugout.

A memory of when Northrop baseball coach Matt Brumbaugh and his high school teammates built the press box at what is now Chris Stavreti Field.

The players built the structure — it lasted about 40 years. What they didn’t know at the time the veteran coach was crafting them into adults and leaders.

That brick, and a few others like it are all that remains of the humble structure that once stood behind home plate.

Sometime, this spring or summer, when the COVID-19 virus precautions are lifted they’ll officially dedicate the Chris Stavreti Press Box and Clubhouse.

Stavreti died in November 2012 from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. At Northrop, his Bruins were common visitors to the later rounds of the IHSAA baseball tournament.

They were his calling cards, dating back to a short stint tenure at East Noble High School in Kendallville. When it was all done, the Indiana Baseball Hall of Famer recorded 559 wins, 255 losses and collected state title in 1983, three semi states, eight regionals and 13 sectional titles.

The structure that came to life this fall fits “Stav’s” style. Practical and real. It’s packed with purpose. Intentionally designed just like the coach would lead. It grew from need.

A simple one.

“My whole goal was just to have two bathrooms at the field,” Brumbaugh explained. “That’s all I wanted. We’ve had a portajohn the whole time I’ve been here.

“Now we have a coaches office, a locker room, concession stand and two bathrooms, one on each side. It wouldn’t be possible without him. The lessons I’ve learned through the years playing for him and coaching for him. Everyone here, he’s touched in some way.”

It’s not a stone or giant work of art. It’s engaged.

“It’s here. It’s reality. It’s beautiful,” Brumbaugh said. “Everything is at the field now so we don’t have to run back and forth to the football field.

“It’s about Coach Stavreti. He’s got the No. 1 locker. His wife Dottie has a locker. The clubhouse is named after him. The field is named after him. “I’d say he’s pretty happy with what we have here.”

Brumbaugh admits he almost gave up on the dream of a new press box.

Then a few years ago, momentum picked up, the project gained steam with donors and FWCS approval. Brumbaugh says the privately funded facility appraises at six-figures through the labor of love by former players, friends and people touched by Stav.

Once the concept came into focus it picked up steam quickly. It took about a week to sell nearly 40 locker sponsors.

“Being a Northrop baseball player — once you are in, you are in for life,” Brumbaugh said. “Everybody who plays in this program cares about the program. It’s evidenced by guys who have bought lockers.”

Support that spans decades of Bruins baseball history, including former major leaguer Eric Wedge, all-state players Colin Brockhouse and Barry Ault as well as Bruin basketball star Walter Jordan.

“It runs the gamut from the ’70’s to the present,” Brumbaugh said.

A former bat girl, Aimee Myers of the William J. & Bonnie L. Hefner Foundation and Scott Gidley who leads the Stavreti Scholarship Fund was instrumental from the start.

As it grew and received approval from Fort Wayne Community Schools others jumped in including electricians and other skilled trades. Specifically, Bercot Construction under the leadership of Chris’ brother-in-law Steve Bercot. Steve Baumgarte of Zumbrun Construction and Jack Laurie Flooring, where former player Brian Bunner’s brother was instrumental in the flooring install.

Brumbaugh says the structure shows the value of a coaches impact.

“I try to do this myself – coaches make a difference,” Brumbaugh said. He made a huge impact on people who’ve given. It’s the love of the program, the love of Coach Stavreti.”

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The exterior of the new Stavreti Press Box and Clubhouse at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School’s baseball field — Chris Stavreti Field. (Dean Jackson Photo)

The lockers in the new Stravreti Press Box and Clubhouse at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School’s Chris Stavreti Field. (Dean Jackson Photo)

Matt Brumbaugh has been a part of baseball at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School for decades. He is now Bruins head coach. He stands in the locker room at the new Stavreti Press Box and Clubhouse at Chris Stavreti Field. (Dean Jackson Photo)

 

Fundamentals key for Brumbaugh’s Fort Wayne Northrop Bruins

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Fundamental defense.

Deep pitching.

Timely hitting.

These are the main goals of the baseball program at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School, where alum Matt Brumbaugh is entering his ninth season as head coach in 2020.

“We will play small ball and try to hit the ball gap-to-gap,” says Brumbaugh. “We run the bases. We hit-and-run. At the higher levels you hardly see it at all. We probably use it more than most teams.”

Brumbaugh will take a hitter that may be struggling at the plate and ask them to hit-and-run.

“They can go up there thinking about nothing but putting the bat on the ball,” says Brumbaugh.

A 1985 Northrop graduate who played for Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Chris Stavreti, Brumbaugh was the starting second baseman and lead-off hitter on the Bruins’ 1983 state championship team. He was first-team all-Summit Athletic Conference, first-team all-area and second-team all-state in 1984. He is among Northrop’s leaders in career (104) and single-season (46 in 1984) for base on balls.

“It was a great opportunity for me to play for a coach who really stressed fundamentals,” says Brumbaugh of Stavreti. “He was a fiery guy who wanted to get the best out of every player he coached.”

Brumbaugh appreciates that Stavreti allowed him to immerse himself in every aspect of coaching as a Bruins assistant.

“He helped me to develop my overall skills as a coach,” says Brumbaugh, who sports a career record is 160-79 with four SAC titles.

In 2016, Northrop earned a sectional championship and Brumbaugh was IHSBCA Regional Coach of the Year.

Northrop has played on its current field since 1982. Since 1999, it’s been known as Stavreti Field. A project was recently completed on Stravreti Clubhouse, a structure with concession stand, rest rooms and coaches office on the first floor and a 37-stall locker room and press box on the second level.=

The field does not have lights. The diamond is sometimes in the flight path of planes flying in or out of nearby Fort Wayne International Airport.

One of Brumbaugh’s Northrop teammates was Eric Wedge, who went on to play and manage in the majors and is now head coach at Wichita State University.

“When he was a player, he was such a hard-nosed, goal-driven person,” says  Brumbaugh. “He was a freshmen playing at the varsity level and had goals and ambitions beyond high school baseball.

“I’m really happy for him he’s back in the game at Wichita State, where he won a College World Series. It’s going to be a challenge. But he’s the kind of guy who can rise to challenge. You could see that coming from a young age.”

Brumbaugh and Wedge has stayed in-contact over the years and he has been known to visit Northrop players when he’s in Fort Wayne.

A 1990 graduate of Huntington (Ind.) College, Brumbaugh was a first-team all-Mid-Central Conference shortstop 1987-89 and first-team all-NAIA district shortstop in 1988 and 1989, playing for IHSBCA Hall of Famer Mike Frame.

After college, Brumbaugh played for Crumback-Symons, a five-time Indiana state champion in Stan Musial baseball. The 1996 team placed third at the National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series.

Brumbaugh was a Northrop assistant coach 1990-97. The 1997 Bruins were a Final Four team in the final year of single-class baseball in Indiana.

From 1998-2005, Brumbaugh was an assistant to Lance Hershberger at Indiana Tech. He was the three-time acting head coach at the NAIA World Series. The Warriors won the NAIA World Series in 1998.

Brumbaugh was Hershberger’s assistants at Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran High School 2007-10.

“He’s one of the best teachers of the game. He’s a stickler for details,” says Brumbaugh of Hershberger, who started the baseball program at Ivy Tech Community College in Fort Wayne. “He’s a master of all aspects of the game. He’s a tremendous coach. You can’t learn enough from him.

“He’s intense, but he gets his point across.”

Brumbaugh leads a Northrop coaching staff that features Gary Gatchell (who works with hitters), former big leaguer Dustan Mohr (outfielders, base runners and hitters), Jeremy Downs (infielders), Chad Kohli pitchers), Ben Kline (infielders) and Caleb Wynn (catchers) at the varsity level. Mason Neuman is the head junior varsity coach and is assisted by Trevor Snyder and Northrop graduate David Keating.

It’s a big staff, especially considering that Northrop usually has 25 to 30 players for its two squads.

“Only two are paid and the rest are volunteers,” says Brumbaugh. “They love the game and they love the program.”

In recent years, Northrop has sent players on to college programs. Among them are 2017 Gatorade Indiana Baseball Player of the Year Garrett Schoenle to the University of Cincinnati. Ben Yoss went to Rose-Hulman Institute, Anthony Miller to the University of Saint Francis and Mike Snyder, Jack Hayden and Braden Klinedinst to Indiana Tech.

Current senior Jackson Foote has committed to Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Northrop (enrollment around 2,100) plays 14 SAC games against Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran, Fort Wayne North Side, Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne South Side and Fort Wayne Wayne.

Most are home-and-home series in the same week or doubleheaders with the teams trading last at-bats. One of the Northrop-Snider games is slated as part of the Parkview Sports Medicine Series at Parkview Field on April 21.

Non-conference opponents include Bellmont, Carroll, Columbia City, DeKalb, East Noble, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian, Homestead, Huntington North, Leo, New Haven and Norwell.

The Bruins are part of an IHSAA Class 4A sectional grouping with Carroll, DeKalb, East Noble and Snider. Northrop has won 15 sectional titles — the last in 2016. Besides being state champions in 1983, the Bruins were state runners-up in 1981.

Over the years, St. Joe Little League and Wallen Baseball, which serve players up to age 14, have been a feeder system for Northrop though more and more players are going the travel baseball route.

Matt and Karen Brumbaugh have been married for 22 years and have two daughters at Indiana University – Jensen (20) and Kendall (18).

Matt Brumbaugh, a 1985 Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School graduate, enters his ninth season as the Bruins head baseball coach in 2020.

Fort Wayne’s Wedge takes his passion back to Wichita State

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Eric Wedge was in his early 30’s when he was already sporting the “dinosaur” mentality of his coaching predecessors in Indiana.

“A team is always going to play off their manager,” said Wedge in this writer’s 2001 self-published book, “Hitting And Hurling In The Heartland: A look at Indiana high school baseball.” “It’s a powerful position and you have to make sure you approach it that way.

“I have a passion for the game. I love kids that love to come out and play. And it’s got to hurt when you lose.

“I’ve got a problem with people who don’t compete every pitch, every out and every game.”

Wedge played at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop High School for Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Famer Chris Stavreti. Stav was a “dinosaur” — a term once attached to 20-year IHSBCA members.

After his playing career, which included four seasons in the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies, Wedge managed five seasons in the minors and 10 in the majors — 10 with the Cleveland Indians and three with the Seattle Mariners. Wedge was the American League Manager of the Year in 2007 as the Cleveland lost to Boston in the American League Championship Series.

Now 51, the Fort Wayne native and IHSBCA Hall of Famer has been named head baseball coach at Wichita State University, the school he helped win the College World Series in 1989.

A two-time all-Missouri Valley Conference selection, Wedge is a member of the Wichita State 25-Year Anniversary Team, the WSU Hall of Fame (1996) and is also a member of the league’s All-Centennial Baseball Team.

In his three seasons at WSU, the Shockers reached three NCAA Tournaments and twice played in the CWS (1988, 1989). WSU won three regular-season MVC crowns and two MVC Tournament crowns during his collegiate playing career.

Wedge, a Northeast Indiana Baseball Association Hall of Famer who had a wood bat division named for him at Fort Wayne’s Wallen Little League in June and had been in player development with the Toronto Blue Jays, talked about his new role and about Fort Wayne baseball in a story written by Dean Jackson.

Enjoy that story here.

Eric Wedge, a Fort Wayne, Ind., native, is the new head baseball coach at Wichita State University. He helped the Shockers win the College World Series in 1989. (Wichita State Photo)

McMahon keeps it positive for Canterbury Cavaliers baseball

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Mixing academic and athletic achievement, Pat McMahon continues to encourage and challenge baseball players at Canterbury School in Fort Wayne.

Canterbury was founded as an independent, coeducational day school in 1977. A college preparatory education is offered to students in early childhood through Grade 12. Of nearly 1,000 students, around 300 of them are the high school.

According to McMahon, yearly tuition is around $22,000.

The 2018 season marks McMahon’s 28th in charge of the Cavaliers on the diamond.

Why does he still do it?

“I’m still helping kids,” says McMahon, 54. “I want to teach the game and I want to teach it right.

“It’s the influence on the players.”

His guidance has been appreciated.

McMahon is one of 50 national recipients of the Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted National Double-Goal Coach Award presented by TeamSnap, named for coaches who strive to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports.

Besides website and newsletter mentions, the award carries a $200 prize, a certificate and two tickets to PCA’s National Youth Sports Awards Dinner and Benefit to be held April 28 at Stanford University in California.

In teaching a “game of failure” and dealing with many situations like interacting with parents, McMahon turned to the PCA for resources.

“I’ve been attending classes and seminars for 14 years with PCA,” says McMahon. “I get a lot out of it.”

In turn, so do his athletes.

Of the 25 letters of recommendation for the award, 19 came from former players.

“That means a lot to me,” says McMahon, who sees all of his student-athletes go on to college. Eighteen of them have played college baseball.

Switch-hitting corner infielder Simon Klink played at Purdue University and then made it to Double-A with the San Francisco Giants organization.

Right-handed pitcher Chris Squires was a relief pitcher at Indiana University and advanced to Double-A with the Florida Marlins system and also played independent pro baseball.

Both of Pat and Kim McMahon’s outfield-roaming sons played baseball in college — Paddy McMahon with he club team at Tulane University in New Orleans and Danny McMahon at  Swathmore College near Philadelphia.

More recently, McMahon and Canterbury has sent Matt Kent to Xavier University, Sam Tallo to Trine University, Tommy Filus to Ave Maria University, Curtis Hoffman to Washington University in St. Louis and Ben Yurkanin to Taylor University.

With its college prep mission, academics absolutely take precedence at Canterbury.

During exam week, no games can be scheduled and practices are voluntary.

“I call it ‘money week,’ says McMahon. “That’s when they get really good grades to get good college offers.”

Two baseball players scored a perfect 36 on the SAT.

“My kids can miss any practices for academics at any point,” says McMahon. “It’s STUDENT-athlete and we’ve lost track of that (at many places).

“We just don’t let them get complacent.”

Top juniors on the current Cavaliers squad are Ben Axel and Liam Ward.

Canterbury has a no-cut policy. Everyone who goes out for the team makes it.

“That makes it unique,” says McMahon. “I’m mixing kids who really can’t play the game with college prospects.

“I’ve found they bring out the best in each other. That really helps my kids at the next level.”

McMahon, who spent the early part of his life in Detroit and his the nephew of Tigers minor league outfielder Don DeDonatis II and cousin of Tigers minor league second basman and United States Speciality Sports Association assistant executive director Don DeDonatis III, is a big believer in team chemistry and likes to say “culture eats strategy for lunch.”

“I’m very big on culture,” says McMahon. “I have to see how the mold together.”

Canterbury players have parents who are accomplished business professionals.

“These kids have to be successful,” says McMahon, who helps operate McMahon’s Best One Tire & Auto Care.

The company, established by his father Pat in 1969 after moving from Detroit, has 104 employees. While Pat is called Coach around the field. Around the shop, he is known as Bubba.

Kim McMahon runs the company and stays involved with Canterbury baseball.

“She’s the whole reason this has worked,” says Pat. “She helps with parents. She knows the history of the program.”

Canterbury’s academic calendar features three weeks off at Christmas and a two-week spring break.

The Cavaliers do not belong to a conference and play in an IHSAA Class 2A group with Adams Central, Bluffton, Churubusco, Eastside and South Adams.

Canterbury hosted the 2017 sectional, The Cavs hoisted sectional trophies in 2009 and 2014 and took regional hardware in 2009.

Canterbury’s 22-game regular-season schedule in 2018 includes opponents in 4A (Fort Wayne North Side, Fort Wayne South Side, Fort Wayne Snider, Fort Wayne Wayne, Homestead) and 3A (Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, Heritage, Leo) plus Central Noble in 2A, Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian and Lakewood Park Christian in 1A and non-IHSAA member Harlan Christian.

A 1982 Dwenger graduate, McMahon played at Valparaiso University and learned from Emory Bauer and was a teammate of future big league player and manager Lloyd McClendon. Both are Crusader and Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famers.

“Em Bauer taught me so much about life,” says McMahon. “He was a neat guy.”

McMahon graduated Valpo U. in 1986 and came back to the Summit City. He was a pitcher for Mexican Joe’s in Fort Wayne’s Stan Musial League when he was approached about the possibility of coaching at Canterbury. He accepted.

The first few seasons, the Cavs played all their games on the road. Canterbury funded new dugouts and bleachers at the University Saint Francis for the right to play games there.

With the help of baseball ambassador and IHSBCA Hall of Famer Bill Jones and financial backing of former New York Yankees minor leaguer Pete Eshelman (who is owner Joseph Decuis restaurant and other properties in Roanoke and Columbia City), Canterbury got its own field with dimensions mimicking Yankee Stadium.

Former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and National Baseball Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda have visited the field.

“It’s the most gorgeous facility I’ve ever seen,” says McMahon. “I learned everything from Bill Jones. He’d bring in (IHSBCA Hall of Famers) Ken Schreiber, Chris Stavareti and Jack Massucci. Those guys just knew baseball.”

IHSBCA coaches in Canterbury’s district — many of who are educators — continue to make McMahon their representative.

“That means a lot to me that my peers say I can be that person,” says McMahon. “I really admire teachers.”

Pat McMahon is in his 28th season as head baseball coach at Canterbury School in Fort Wayne in 2018. He is also one of 50 national recipients of the Positive Coaching Alliance’s coveted National Double-Goal Coach Award presented by TeamSnap, named for coaches who strive to win while also pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. (PCA Photo)

Pat McMahon (second from left) meets Steve Young (third from left) at the Positive Coaching Alliance National Youth Sports Awards & Benefit at Stanford University April 28, 2018. McMahon received a National Double-Goal Coach Award and Young the Ronald L. Jensen Award For Lifetime Achievement.

 

Second baseball coaching stint at Peru rewarding for Brimbury

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Chuck Brimbury has enjoyed each stage of his professional life — from teacher and coach to assistant principal to principal to superintendent and then to athletic director along with a return to coach.

Brimbury is really basking in his second go-round as head baseball coach at Peru High School.

“I’ve loved every single job I’ve had in education,” says Brimbury, who also served 15 years as a football coach at Peru, including one as interim head coach. “The more you move up, the farther you seem to be from the kids and the daily guidance of them. I missed coaching. It was huge part of my life.

“I’ve been blessed to get back into it.”

After serving four years as superintendent of Peru Community Schools and helping to earn the district four-star status as one of the best-performing systems in Indiana, he opted in June 2014 to become AD and once again lead the Tigers on the diamond.

Beginning in 1998, Brimbury previously held the job for a decade.

“We had a really good run,” says Brimbury, whose teams were state-ranked in most seasons and had his 2000 squad reach the IHSAA Class 3A Final Four.

Brimbury borrowed methods he learned while serving as an assistant to Don Sherman at Huntington North High School.

The Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer taught him all the intricacies of running a successful baseball operation.

“We believe in holding people to high standards,” says Brimbury. “We get off the bus all looking the same and we stay together. Our top players carry the water cooler. There’s no job too small.”

Peru baseballers wears “Program” on their shirts to remind themselves and everyone else that “the program is more important than any player or any coach.”

Brimbury also uses drills and teaching methods gleaned from Hall of Famers Bill Jones of DeKalb, Bill Nixon of Plymouth and Chris Stavreti of Fort Wayne Northrop as well as the man who won 1,010 games and seven state championships — Ken Schreiber of LaPorte.

It doesn’t have to be a Thursday for the Tigers to throwing it back.

“We’re throwbacks,” says Brimbury. “It’s an old-school approach and our kids thrive off it.

“If you resemble a lot of guys with blue rings you’ll get one for your community one day. If their kids can do it, we can do it. We believe that here. We use a lot of what works.”

In his first season back in charge (2015), Brimbury enjoyed Peru’s first sectional championship since 2000.

When the Mid-Indiana Conference dissolved at the end on the 2014-15 academic school year, the Tigers joined the Three Rivers Conference and have reigned in baseball in their first two seasons in the new league (2016 and 2017).

“It’s a really good small-school conference,” says Brimbury of a conference which also includes Maconaquah, Manchester, Northfield, North Miami, Rochester, Southwood, Tippecanoe Valley, Wabash and Whitko. “I really enjoy the competition.”

Brimbury has also savored the ability to build a non-conference which has pitted the Tigers against the best competition from around the state and to a variety of venues.

Peru played Lafayette Central Catholic at Purdue University and both Providence and Rossville at Alexandria-Monroe in 2017 and this year will feature a program first — a southern spring break trip with stops at League Stadium in Huntingburg (where much of the movie “A League of Their Own” was filmed) to play Southridge and games at Muhlenberg County and Christian County in Kentucky.

“I want to make sure these kids have a tremendous experience in their four years at Peru,” says Brimbury. “I like exposing these kids to beautiful places and really good programs.

“Each year our schedule is a little different. We want to get our kids used to playing on the road.”

The idea is to prepare the Tigers for the postseason, which begins in 2018 with the Peru Sectional but another title would mean a trek to the always-tough Griffith Regional.

Getting to Griffith will be no small task. The 3A sectional grouping also features Benton Central, Maconaquah, Northwestern, West Lafayette and Western.

Peru is to play at Indiana State University May 5.

Nolan Brimbury — the oldest of Chuck and Michelle Brimbury’s three children — is a redshirt sophomore infielder for the Indiana State Sycamores.

Tiger Field will also be the site of 2018 Miami County Classic. Two of the three teams that visit Peru feature head coaches with close ties to Brimbury — former assistant Shane Edwards at Oak Hill and former player Troy Hudson at North Miami. Maconaquah rounds out the field for the May 12 all-day event.

“We have an old-time field,” says Brimbury. “It’s beautiful at night. It’s a really good atmosphere for home games.

“It’s one of the better small-school stadiums out there.”

Brimbury’s public address announcer at Tiger Field and assistant at Peru athletic events is Mike Stewart.

Now retired, Stewart was Chuck’s baseball coach at Fountain Central High School who also found his way to “Tiger Town.”

“(Stewart) was passionate about the game,” says Brimbury, who graduated from high school in 1988 and went on to play a little at Marian University in Indianapolis and receive various degrees from Indiana State.

Every Peru game and a weekly coach’s show has been on the radio (thanks to 101.9 FM and broadcasters Bob Stambazze and Doug Muzzillo) and many contests are shown on student-run Tiger TV.

Several players saw significant varsity action last spring, meaning Brimbury welcomes back 17 lettermen.

Among the senior returnees are catcher Nathan Brimbury (Chuck and Michelle’s son and a 2017 IHSBCA Junior Showcase invitee), right-hander Lucas McConahay (the top returning pitcher), outfielders Austin Caldwell and Robert Cunningham, second baseman Kasey Comp, first baseman Christian Gatliff and designated hitter Nathan Ramirez.

Juniors include third baseman Blake Edwards, outfielder D.J. Fuller, catcher Payton Honn and left-handers Chance Ogle and Zach Purcell.

Sophomores in the mix are right-hander/third baseman/shorstop Michael Chandler, outfielder Jonah Hoopenthal, outfielder/shortstop Daunte Majors, middle infielder Dmitry Reese and right-handers Jackson Green and Chase Tyler.

Hitting coach Rob Hileman has been with Brimbury in every season in both of his tenures except one. Jody Beauchamp is the Tigers pitching coach. Shawn Dwyer, Josh Ulrey, Brad Townsend, Gary Loe and strength coach complete the high school staff.

Sixth grader Madison Brimbury (Chuck and Michelle’s daughter) is a baseball student manager.

Michelle Brimbury, who is a special education teacher at PHS, is also team mom.

Feeders for the high school program include a Peru Junior High School team, which is expected to play 12 to 15 games in April and May.

There is also the Peru Cal Ripken League and many players wind up with various travel baseball organizations.

Besides Nolan Brimbury, recent Peru graduates on college baseball rosters include left-handed pitcher Cameron Beauchamp (Indiana University) and right-handers Dexter Shuler (Franklin College) and Sean Smith (Wabash College).

Beauchamp (2016) and Smith (2017) were both IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series participants.

“It’s fulfilling to see our kids playing at some level above high school and we try to keep (former players) a part of our program,” says Brimbury, who regularly welcomes baseball alums from his first Peru head coaching stint into his dugout and is now coaching the sons of some former players. “It’s a long history of former Tiger baseball players.

“We are totally vested in the success of our kids here.”

The Brimbury family celebrates Peru High School’s 2015 sectional baseball championship (from left): Michelle, Nathan, Nolan, Chuck and Madison. In 2018, Chuck is in the fourth season of his second tenure as head coach. Nathan is a senior catcher. Michelle is team mom. Madison is student manager. Nolan is now a redshirt sophomore at Indiana State University.

Ginder expects Carroll Chargers to be tough out at tournament time

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

It’s been six years since Fort Wayne Carroll stood at Victory Field in Indianapolis celebrating back-to-back IHSAA state baseball championships.

The Chargers beat Indianapolis Cathedral 1-0 in 2010 with Ross O’Neill as L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude Award recipient and Cathedral 5-3 in 2011.

Carroll head coach Dave Ginder and his staff have used those teams as an example to the Charger teams that followed.

That includes 2017, which is the 15th season for Ginder setting the tone.

“We were fortunate enough to do it two years in a row which was an incredible experience and memories,” says Ginder. “We talk about those kids and how they approached the game a lot to our kids right now.”

With a single-elimination tournament format, Ginder takes nothing for granted while keeping the goal of returning to the State Finals.

“A lot of coaches around the state can say they have a team that can win a state title. To say they’re expecting to is pretty tough to do. We want to continue to develop through the season in hopes that we’re a tough out in May and June.

“Somebody’s going to have got play pretty well to beat us. That’s the goal. But we tell our kids, it’s never easy to advance.”

Carroll, an independent during the regular season, will play in the five-team Class 4A DeKalb Sectional with DeKalb, East Noble, Fort Wayne Northrop and Fort Wayne Snider.

The Chargers are off to a 12-3 start in ’17, pushing Ginder’s career victory total to 327.

Since Ginder’s first season as a head coach (2003), Carroll has won eight sectionals, four regionals and two semistates besides the two state titles.

Ginder, a 1991 Carroll graduate, played for Chris Adams at CHS and Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Don Brandon at Anderson University before coming back to be on Adams’ staff.

In Adams, Ginder learned what it meant to be detail-oriented.

“He was very thorough in teaching the game,” says Ginder. “I picked up a lot of details from Chris.

“He got the program started in the direction it’s going today.”

With Brandon, it was his approach with student-athletes.

“It was just the way he talked with kids and treated them with respect and was honest with them,” says Ginder. “This is where I see you fit in our program.”

Ginder’s assistant coaches are Brett Windmiller (15th season), Chad Kohli (eighth season) and Jason Lantz (seventh season) at the varsity level with Andy McNanama (second season) and Jon Timmerman (first season) lead the JV squad. Windmiller is the hitting coach and Kohli the pitching coach.

“I don’t feel like we’ve been effected by the pitching rules,” says Ginder. “We’ve always kept track of pitches and tried to manage kids. We keep them fresh and not overuse them. We haven’t pushed anybody over 100 pitches this spring. Come tournament time who knows what happens?”

Dan Jones is in his first season as Carroll’s strength and conditioning coach.

“I’ve been blessed with tremendous coaches,” says Ginder. “The guys in the dugout I can trust. They’e been with me a long time.

“We’ve had stability. We know each other well and the kids know what to expect. That consistency has been important.”

Ginder is a familiar name in the Fort Wayne athletic and education community.

Math teacher Dave’s father Phil Ginder taught and coached girls basketball at Fort Wayne Northrop and ran Huntertown Lions Club Youth League.

Brother Park Ginder is a former Northrop baseball head coach. Before that, he was a Bruins assistant under Hall of Famer Chris Stavreti and is now principal at Homestead High School.

Twin brother Dan Ginder was an assistant with Park at Northrop and Dave at Carroll and is now athletic director for the Chargers. The twins both played at Anderson U. and then independent pro baseball with the Anderson Lawmen.

Carroll, which has sent many players off to college, does not have a structured feeder system though players come through the Huntertown Lions and Wallen youth leagues and various travel organizations.

Ginder laments that the size and importance of local youth leagues have dwindled around the state and the country over the years.

“Everyone’s got a travel team,” says Ginder. “It has diluted travel baseball, too. Their son may not be not as elite as mom and dad think they are. House ball would be just fine

“The days of house ball picking an all-star team and going to some tournaments as a town and a community are rare anymore. There’s good and bad to everything, but I think there was some good in keeping kids together.”

To keep Carroll baseball in the minds of players and parents, the high school stages camps and a fall league.

“Hopefully, those little guys will want to be Chargers someday,” says Ginder.

This spring, Carroll is carrying 37 players between its varsity and JV squads.

“High school baseball is a short season,” says Ginder. “Playing time is tough. Cuts are not fun for anybody. We’re cutting 30, 40 kids who want to play. We make some tough decisions and there’s some disappointed kids. Unfortunately, there’s not enough space for everybody.”

Dave Ginder, in his 15th season as head baseball coach at Fort Wayne Carroll High School, already has more than 300 wins and two state championships on his resume.

New Haven baseball top dog Bischoff paying it forward

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Dave Bischoff first barked out baseball commands for the Bulldogs of New Haven High School as an assistant coach in the early 1980’s.

Since the 1985 season, Bischoff has been the top diamond dog.

Taking lessons learned from some of Indiana’s top high school baseball minds, Bischoff has been successful enough at this East Allen County institution that he has been directing those commands at a facility renamed in 2009 as Bischoff Field.

“It should probably be named for my wife for putting up with us all these years,” says Dave, referring to Kristen, whom he married in the fall of 1984, himself and the two sons who played for him — Matt and Kyle (both who went on to play at Purdue University for Doug Schreiber). Matt is now his father’s pitching coach. “Matt says he’s my consultant. With that title, he can offer free advice at all times. He chose the job description.”

The current New Haven coaching staff also features former Bulldog players Mike Snyder and Brandon Pease and former Fort Wayne Concordia High School head coach Beach Harmon. The New Haven pitching record book is full of entries with Brandon Pease and Matt Bischoff.

It was also Matt who sent out a survey a few years ago to 100 of his father’s former New Haven players. The response was tremendous and some of them even focused on baseball.

The 2017 season will be Dave Bischoff’s 33rd season at New Haven. In the previous 32, the Bulldogs have won 586 games, 10 sectionals and three regionals while making three IHSAA Final Four appearances and taking four titles in a traditionally baseball-rich conference, which has morphed from the Northeastern Indiana Athletic Conference to the Northeast Eight Conference.

Bischoff Field, which will be sectional host site in ’17, has been upgraded over the years with a covered grandstand behind home plate, wooden walls in the power alleys and a wind screen in center field.

The veteran coach, inducted by his peers in 2014 to the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, is proud that he has sent more than 50 players on to college and two — son Matt as well as Dave Doster (who played two seasons in the majors with the Philadelphia Phillies) — went on to professional ball. Around two dozen have gone on to coach at the high school level with a few coaching in college.

Dave Bischoff gets even more satisfaction knowing that the life lessons he was passing along as a leader and mentor — be on time, bring your best, show up — were absorbed by young men who went on to be successful husbands, fathers and business owners. There’s even been an FBI agent or two.

Baseball began for Bischoff in Adams County. Back in the 1960’s, Little League baseball meant a city league in Decatur and a country league in Monmouth. Young Dave played in the latter.

He also played in a plenty of non-organized games while making his way up through Pony League (teams were based in Decatur, Burns, Geneva and Monroe) with hopes of playing or Bellmont High School on the corner of Adams and 13th at Worthman Field.

“It’s probably over-stated, but we played a lot and were coached little,” says Bischoff of his formative baseball days. “We played a lot of pick-up games. We learned by trial and error. To get better, you had to make adjustments.”

By the time Bischoff reached high school, there were 30 freshmen — or about 20 percent of the boys in the class — trying out for baseball.

Dave was cut that first year.

Determined, he played baseball in Convoy, Ohio and fast pitch softball in a local church league.

“Playing fast pitch softball against men, you learn a lot that way,” says Dave. Bischoff’s reputation for bunting and slashing teams at New Haven stem from all the fast-pitch softball he pitched in high school and college.

As a sophomore, Bischoff made the baseball team at Bellmont, where he graduated in 1975.

After that, he got a chance to play college baseball at Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne, then an NCAA Division III program. He chose the school because it was close, the price was right, it afforded him a chance to play.

A history buff, Bischoff gravitated toward becoming a social studies teacher (he’s taught history and English since the fall of 1982) and he’d decided coaching was also for him.

While still in college, Bischoff began coaching Little Leaguers and was given a chance to coach Bellmont’s summer program by new Braves head coach John Cate.

“In a sense, he gave me my first shot,” says Bischoff of Cate. “John impressed upon me the organizational skills to put together a program. He did things first class. It was evident kids bought into what he was doing.

“I understood real quick those are the things you have to do if you’re going to be successful.”

Cate took Bischoff to his first IHSBCA State Clinic in 1980 and that’s where he first met Purdue University coach Dave Alexander, who is also an IHSBCA Hall of Famer. The clinic would become an annual ritual and Bischoff would get to travel to and from Indianapolis with Hall of Famers like Bill Jones (DeKalb), Don Sherman (Huntington North) and Chris Stavreti (Fort Wayne Northrop).

“It was like a got three clinics,” says Bischoff of his northeast Indiana-based travel companions. “They were great coaches and mentors. They would share anything with you.”

For two years after college, Bischoff served as a substitute teacher in East Allen County Schools and a baseball assistant to New Haven head coach and IHSBCA charter member Don Hummel before taking a full-time teaching position and baseball assistant job for two more years at Norwell Hugh School.

When Bischoff was established at New Haven and Jones stopped hosting his own coaches clinic at DeKalb, he encouraged the young coach to start one of his own. Jones hooked him up with Hall of Famers Ken Schreiber (LaPorte) and Jim Reinebold (South Bend Clay) as clinicians.

“I got to know those guys right away,” says Bischoff. “I feel fortunate that from a very early age I was being mentored by the founding fathers of the association. Those guys are professionals, organizers and icons. There are real good guys when it came to helping out a young coach.”

Bischoff was an IHSBCA district representative for 10 years and was the organization’s president in 2005-06.

The Bischoffs (from left): Dave, Kristen, Matt, Casey (Kyle’s wife) and Kyle. (Family Photo Supplied)