Brownlee makes diamond impact at Evansville, Illinois State, more

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

Jim Brownlee built a long, successful baseball coaching career on the principles of fundamentals and discipline.
Now 76, retired and living with wife of 51 years — Candy — in Gulf Breeze in the Florida Panhandle (the couple moved there in April 2021), Brownlee can look back on a run that includes 23 seasons as head coach at the University of Evansville (1980-2002), seven seasons at Illinois State University (2003-09) and one season as University of Iowa pitching coach (2013). He was also a longtime basketball official.
“I learned the game of baseball from my college baseball coach Duffy Bass,” says Brownlee of the former Illinois State University head coach and American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer. “He was about as good at fundamentals of anybody I’ve been around — whether it was catching, hitting, bunting or pitching. I kind of patterned myself after him.”
A 1963 graduate of Antioch (Ill.) Community High School, Brownlee played for Bass at Illinois State from 1967-70 and was a teammate of future major league pitcher Buzz Capra. The 1969 Collegiate Division National champions went 33-5 and ran the table in the postseason.
“I learned the running game at a very young age,” says Brownlee. “We were very aggressive at Evansville. One year we had 202 stolen bases.
“I had lesser talent at Evansville. We didn’t have the full amount of scholarships. We had guys we thought would get better and they did. We had guys never drafted out of high school that were drafted out of college.
“I think college baseball has always been that way. (Development’s) at an all-time high. But we’re still behind the 8-ball with scholarships and dates. It used to be we had 120 games between fall and spring (at the NCAA D-I level and now it’s 56 games in the spring with 11.7 scholarships for a roster of 35).
“College baseball keeps growing. It’s become a money-maker.”
That money is bound to go even higher if the season was moved into the warmer months.
Says Brownlee, “40 years ago I proposed we play in the summer.”
Brownlee was “hard-nosed” as a coach.
“Discipline is important to me as a retired Marine,” says Brownlee.
After his playing days ended and having served a stint with the U.S. Marines, Brownlee became an assistant baseball coach at Illinois State (1975-76) and was as head coach for the Galesburg Pioneers in the Central Illinois Collegiate League (which later merged with the Prospect League), where he encountered Bloomington Bobcats pitcher Tim Stoddard. The 6-foot-7 right-hander from East Chicago, Ind., was on his way to an MLB career and is now an assistant coach at North Central College in Naperville, Ill.
Before UE, Brownlee coached at Princeton (Ill.) High School (1976-79).
As Evansville coach, Brownlee won 701 games with four 40-win seasons and seven conference coach of the year honors.
Among his players were future big leaguers Sal Fasano, Andy Benes and Jamey Carroll and Purple Aces head coach Wes Carroll. Benes and the Carroll brothers are Pocket City natives.
The Purple Aces have retired Brownlee’s No. 6 and Benes’ No. 30.
Brownlee has been inducted into the Illinois State University Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the Redbirds’ ’69 national champions, the University of Evansville Athletics Hall of Fame, the Lake County (Ill.) High Schools Sports Hall of Fame, the Bloomington-Normal Officials Association Wayne Meece Hall of Fame and is slated to go into the Indiana Sports Hall of Fame in Evansville in May.
A founding member of the Tri-State Hot Stove Baseball League, that group will honor Brownlee with its Legends Award Jan. 15.
Tri-State Hot Stove Baseball League supports amateur athletics around the Evansville area. It started as an effort to save Bosse Field, which was established in 1915 and for years was the home to high school baseball and football, American Legion baseball and the Triple-A Evansville Triplets before affiliated pro ball left town.
The stadium, which now houses the independent pro Evansville Otters and was host to the IHSBCA North/South All-Star Series in 2021, looked to be condemned and torn down back in the ‘80s.
That’s when Brownlee — who had his UE teams playing home games there at the time — got together with former minor league relief pitcher and manager “Singin’ Ed” Nottle and Evansville Central High School coach Paul Gries and brought in folks like Indiana, College and Pro Football Hall of Famer and Rex Mundi High School graduate Bob Griese, former MLB all-star and Evansville Memorial alum Don Mattingly and former big league pitcher and Evansville Central High grad Benes to help raise funds.
Since then, not only has Bosse Field been saved but local high school and college fields have been upgraded.
“It’s about facilities and making it better and showing it’s an important sport,” says Brownlee.
UE now plays on turf at German American Bank at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
“It was a labor of love for all of us,” says Brownlee. “I’m really proud of what we’ve built with the baseball community there.”
Brownlee had both his sons — Tim and Ryan — as UE players and then coached with both of them.
Tim Brownlee was also on the Illinois State staff and employed his father for a decade with his Normal, Ill.-based baseball tournament company — Diamond Sports Promotions. Between Evansville and ISU, Tim assisted his father for 17 seasons.
Ryan Brownlee was an assistant at Evansville (1998-99), James Madison University (2000-03) and Iowa (2004-12) and head coach at Western Illinois University (2013-19) and is now Assistant Executive Director and weekly podcast host for the Greensboro, N.C.- based ABCA. The ABCA Convention is Jan. 6-9 in Chicago. He plans to appear at the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association State Clinic Jan. 14-16 in Indianapolis. Jamey Carroll is to go into the IHSBCA Hall of Fame Jan. 15.

Jim Brownlee (University of Evansville Photo)

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Hall of Famer Rademacher heeds call back to Barr-Reeve diamond

By STEVE KRAH

http://www.IndianaRBI.com

“The Ball Park Is Calling And I Must Go.”

Joe Rademacher logged countless hours at the baseball diamond behind Barr-Reeve High School.

Coming to the Daviess County school in the fall of 1976 after a playing career at the University of Evansville, Rademacher threw himself into all things baseball. Not only did he coach high school players, he was also in charge of the summer program for kindergartners through eighth graders. He performed field maintenance and called on sponsors around Montgomery.

He enjoyed teaching the game, doing that well enough to win more than 400 games.

Rademacher’s 1998 Vikings finished the season at Victory Field in Indianapolis with an IHSAA Class 1A state runner-up finish.

The 1972 Holland High School (consolidated after his senior year with Huntingburg to form Southridge) served two separate terms as Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association president, building statewide relationships and gaining satisfaction from the rapport between the coaches and the IHSAA.

In 2007, the IHSBCA welcomed him into its Hall of Fame and his plaque hangs just down the road in Jasper.

But all his baseball responsibilities were physically taxing. After 33 years, Rademacher stepped away.

“I was worn out,” says Rademacher.

Away from all those duties, he had more time to spend with wife Anita and daughters Abby and Amber and to root for his beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

Nathan Lester took over the reins of the Barr-Reeve varsity and held that post for six seasons. Along the way, the field shared with youth baseball and adult slow pitch softball leagues finally put grass around the mound.

“We had one of the last dirt infields in the state,” says Rademacher.

When Lester decided he wanted to see more of his own kids’ games, players ages 6-12 went to the Chuck Harmon Little League in Washington and Rademacher’s teaching job changed from the classroom to physical education sessions without the papers to grade, the Hall of Famer answered the call back to the ball park.

Lester stayed on as an assistant coach and Rademacher began his second stint as the man in charge with the 2016 season and the Vikings won their first sectional crown since 2010.

The 2017 coaching staff also includes Kraig Knepp, Dean Scott, Josh Swartzentruber and Ryan Graber. For more than 20 years, the Vikings have played a junior varsity schedule separate from the varsity.

Junior high players at Barr-Reeve played in the spring and early summer, sharing the same diamond used by the varsity and JV.

“The field takes a beating in April, May and June,” says Rademacher.

A trip to a baseball game — be it in St. Louis or wherever — as an educational experience by the veteran coach.

“What can I learn today?,” says Rademacher, who has also gleaned plenty at clinics. “I watch what other people do. I try to incorporate those things. I played for good coaches (Wayne Ransome at Holland, Wayne Boultinghouse and Bob Hodges as a pitcher at Evansville) and picked up some things from them. I grew up 15 miles from Jasper and I’m now 25 miles from there. If you don’t learn something, you are not paying attention.”

Boultinghouse was a Rockport product who played in the Cardinals organization. Hodges is the brother of former major league, Saint Joseph’s College and Princeton High School star Gil Hodges. Rademacher is proud to say the Holland also produced U of E and pro basketball standout Don Buse.

Barr-Reeve baseball is built on solid pitching, but Rademacher also pays attention to hitting.

On a recent afternoon, the Vikings got ready for a home game against Vincennes Lincoln with indoor tee and cage work in the gym.

“Some of our players were too close to the plate and they were jamming themselves,” says Rademacher. “We wanted them to get back off the plate and diving into pitches better.”

Baseball, teaching and family life have kept Rademacher hopping this spring. The reveal for Abby’s first baby was staged around a weekend with the Cardinals.

By the way, a baby boy is due in August.

Barr-Reeve plays in the Blue Chip Conference (with Loogootee, Northeast Dubois, North Knox, Shoals, South Knox, Vincennes Rivet, Washington Catholic and Wood Memorial).

Joe Rademacher, an Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Famer, is in his second stint as head baseball coach at Barr-Reeve High School. Beginning in 1977, he coached 33 years. He took six off and came back for the 2016 campaign. (Steve Krah Photo)