Graybeal getting Central Noble Cougars ready for baseball, life

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

As a high school educator, Tyler Graybeal sees his job as getting his students ready for what comes after school while enjoying their time in it.

That explains the points of emphasis for the head baseball coach at Central Noble Junior/Senior High School in Albion, Ind.

“It’s not wins and losses, it’s doing the right thing,” says Graybeal, who enters his second season of leading the Cougars in 2020 (he was an assistant to Jim Sickafoose in 2018). “We’re preparing them for the next step in life. We want them to have a good time and get better at baseball.”

Graybeal, who teaches Geometry during the school day, has been conducting limited contact sessions twice a week and is pleased with the turnout of high schoolers and middle schoolers.

“We had 17 the past two fall workouts,” says Graybeal, who is also an assistant football coach at Central Noble working with linebackers and wide receivers and serving as junior varsity defensive coordinator. “We have a scrimmage once a week. We’ve set up a mentoring system so the older players can learn to be role models.”

The high school’s feeder program is a league run through Albion Parks with fields at Hidden Diamonds Park and Valleyview Park.

Graybeal, who had 28 players in the entire high school program last spring, says a young 2019-20 squad includes junior Dylan Eggl and senior Nate Burr among its top players. Eggl is power hitter, shortstop and right-handed pitcher. Burr, a transfer from Westview High School, is 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds and is a righty pitcher and first baseman. Both are undecided about college.

A graduate of Crestview High School in Ashland, Ohio, Graybeal got his college degree from the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, where he briefly played baseball. An insurance job brought him to Fort Wayne and then he decided to go into education and coaching.

When he first came to Central Noble, Graybeal was a coach for all high school seasons — football, basketball and baseball. His wife, Elizabeth, insisted that he cut back on that load so basketball was dropped. The couple has a 5-year-old son named Draven and are expecting a second child in January.

At a small school like Central Noble (enrollment around 440), multi-sport athletes are the expectation.

“I encourage my kids to play another sport,” says Graybeal. “You’ve got to be a well-rounded athlete.

“That’s why I coach multiple sports so I see those kids as much as I can and work with them.”

Also working with the baseball players is a coaching staff that features JV head coach Shane Austrap and assistants Justin Stump, Max Smith and Jared Shishler.

Since taking over the Cougars on the diamond, Graybeal and others have worked to improve the home field. Sod has been cut, dugouts have been painted and there’s plenty more to do. An August fundraiser — a coed slow pitch softball tournament — will help with the upgrades.

Central Noble is a member of the Northeast Corner Conference (with Angola, Churubusco, Eastside, Fairfield, Fremont, Garrett, Hamilton, Lakeland, Prairie Heights, West Noble and Westview).

The first NECC Home Run Derby originally slated for May has been moved to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 at Lakeland.

The Cougars are part of an IHSAA Class 2A sectional grouping with Bremen, Fairfield, LaVille, Prairie Heights and Westview. Central Noble has won three sectional titles — 2009, 2010 and 2012.

The 2019 Central Noble High School baseball team. It was the first one with Tyler Graybeal as head coach.

Tyler Graybeal is head baseball coach at Central Noble Junior/Senior High School in Albion, Ind. He also assists in football and teaches Geometry. He is a graduate of Crestview High School and the University of Mount Union — both in Ohio.

 

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Veteran coach Rogers enjoys having a diamond to call his own with Leo Lions

BY STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

Gary Rogers finally is in charge of a baseball facility where he gets first dibs.

In 32 seasons as head coach at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Luers High School, Rogers did not have an on-campus field and shared diamonds around the Summit City.

At various times, the Knights practiced at Tillman Park and played games at McMillen Park, Concordia Seminary and Indiana Tech.

“I’m like a kid in a candy store with my own field,” says Rogers, who is in his second season at Leo Junior/Senior High School in 2019.

Rogers landed at Leo as a guidance counselor when Harding High School closed as a high school, but continued to coach at Luers.

When Dave Boyce stepped away and left an opening at the top of the Lions program, Rogers took the opportunity to coach at the same place where he works during the day.

Having his own diamond is a big plus. Leo is the lone tenant at a field that has seen plenty of upgrades since Rogers took over.

“The kids have really worked hard on this field in the two years that I’ve been here,” says Rogers. “We’re still not done.”

Leo’s baseball field has two new hitting tunnels on the third base side with excess turf from the football field.

Last year, 80 tons of infield dirt material was brought in. The mound was re-built. Using 40 more tons of material, the warning track was extended around Thanksgiving time.

Also last fall, lips were cut out, new sod was planted and the home plate area was lifted.

“Your field is a reflection of your program,” says Rogers. “I’ve always felt that way.”

Rogers is a 1974 graduate of Merrillville (Ind.) High School and he saw how much tender loving care Pirates coach Bill Metcalf put into his field.

“He was always on the field doing something and we wondered what he was doing,” says Rogers of the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association and National Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer. “Now, I understand that really well.”

He got a chance to plenty of work on the field at Indiana Tech for coaches Lance Hershberger, Steve Devine and Kip McWilliams.

With just one gym at Luers, the location of indoor workouts was not a certainty for Rogers and his teams. It may still get crowded, but there is a main gym and auxiliary available at Leo Junior/Senior, a part of East Allen County Schools.

Leo carries a brand resembling that of the “South Side Hitmen” era of Chicago baseball, a device devised by Boyce and kept by Rogers.

“I love that logo because I’m a White Sox guy,” says Rogers.

The coach considers himself to be “old school.”

“Everybody wears the uniform the same,” says Rogers. “We’re either all up (with the socks) or all down. We ask them to get haircuts. Those are my things.

“As for the baseball, we always work and always hustle. We want to be the first ones on the field and the first ones off the field. We want to get after every ball.

“I’m trying to teach the game the right way. I disagreed with Bryce Harper when he said there is no right way to play the game. I believe there is.”

One former player really took the Rogers’ insistence on hustle.

While he grew physically after high school and was very talented athletically, Kevin Kiemaier worked his way to the major leagues. He is now the starting center fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Rogers cherishes the memory of visiting Kiemaier while he was in rookie ball and him telling his former coach, “the rays like me because I’m a program guy. That serves me well.”

A three-sport athlete at Luers (football, basketball and baseball), Kiemaier demonstrated his athleticism while on the mound in the 2008 South Bend Semistate championship game against Boone Grove. A ball was smashed up the middle and Kiermaier stabbed it behind his back.

“He doesn’t make that play if he’s not an athlete,” says Rogers.

Winning pitcher Kiermaier led off and hurled the first five innings before going to shortstop as Luers beat Elwood 14-9 to win the IHSAA Class 2A state championship in 2008. That capped a school year in which the Knights also took state crowns in football and basketball.

Besides the state championship, Rogers-coached Luers baseball squads won four sectionals, one regional and one semistate.

He was an Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year in 2008 and has earned district COTY honors twice.

Very involved in the Fort Wayne diamond community, Rogers has been part of Wildcat Baseball League since former Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran and IHSBCA Hall of Famer Jack Massucci asked him to help more than three decades ago. He started as director at Northwood Middle School, moved to St. Joe Little League then took on an administrative role.

Rogers is on the board for the Northeast Indiana Baseball Association and is an NEIBA Hall of Famer.

The 2019 NEIBA banquet is May 19. Mike Nutter, Mike Marchesano and Mike Frame are all to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Spearheaded by Rogers and Carroll High School assistant Brett Windmiller, the organization will present at Northeast Indiana High School Player of the Year award.

Rogers played at Huntington College (now Huntington University) and graduated in 1978. He was a sophomore when Dave Goodmiller (now head coach at Norwell High School) was a senior. The two went on the play together in Fort Wayne’s Stan Musial League with Blackie’s Rib Corral and Mexican Joe’s. Rogers was the head coach for the North for the IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series at Notre Dame in 2008. Dave Goodmiller was an assistant and his son, Rhett Goodmiller, played in the game.

On April 23, 2019, Rogers earned career victory No. 500 against Norwell.

Rogers was an assistant to Don Hummel at New Haven and Larry Gerardo at Luers before taking over that program.

The 2018 Leo squad went 19-8. The 2019 team was 18-3 through May 13.

Alex Bireley, Christian Brubaker, Chase Chaney, Ryan Hackworth, Chance McMaken, Tyler Parker and A.J. Restivo are seniors on the current Leo squad. Hackworth has committed to play baseball at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.

Recent Leo graduates to move on to college ball are Easton Embry (Earlham College), Lukas Kline (Franklin College) and Max Minich (Kankakee Community College).

Rogers’ assistants are Brent Davis, Brian Turner and Jim Sickafoose with the varsity and Tom Miller and Mitch Meinholtz with the junior varsity. Davis is a New Haven graduate. Turner went to Fort Wayne Snider and played for Indiana Tech when Hershberger was a head coach and Rogers an assistant. Sickafoose is a former Central Noble head coach. There are 33 players in the program in 2019.

Leo (enrollment around 975) is a member of the Northeast Eight Conference (with Bellmont, Columbia City, DeKalb, East Noble, Huntington North, New Haven and Norwell).

The Lions are part of an IHSAA Class 3A sectional grouping with Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers, Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran, Garrett, New Haven and Columbia City. Leo has earned eight sectional crowns — the last in 2012.

Besides various travel teams, Leo Grabill Little League serves as a feeder program for the Lions.

Gary and Jackie Rogers have three daughters — Melissa, Emily and Katie — and five grandchildren.

Gary Rogers is in his second season as head coach at Leo Junior/Senior High School after 32 seasons at Fort Wayne (Ind.) Bishop Luers.