# 13 :The Great Transition or How We Got Baseball

Reflection #13 (Only 1063 to go!) The Great Transition of '63 or How WE Got Baseball

     In the spring of 1963, the football coaching staff was invited to dinner at school following an afternoon of spring practice. After that, we were to meet with Fr. Koch, the president of St. Ignatius. It was a good meal, but it didn't make up for what was to follow. At that meeting, Fr. Koch told us that St. Ignatius was leaving the Chicago Catholic League and would join the Chicagoland Prep League in every sport but football. The most obvious question was, "In what league would we be playing football, Father?" Surprise, Surprise!!! We weren't going to play football in any league. Father had decided to drop football.
     Over the years, there has been much speculation about why Fr. Koch made the decision to drop football, but no "official" reason was ever given. (I have my own theory!) Father Arimond, in his book about Loyola Academy football, says that there was a tradition, in earlier years, of Ignatius being a true powerhouse in football, but, by the time I got here, that tradition was something of a distant memory. For the 40 years following that fateful meeting in the spring of '63, Ignatius had NO football team.
      I loved teaching at Saint Ignatius, but I had decided to teach in high school because I wanted to coach football. What now? While not all of the coaches taught at Ignatius, we all shared a love of the sport, and our reactions were some combination of confusion, sadness and anger.
     While I was still licking my emotional wounds, Carmen Pintozzi had adjusted by taking the job as the cross-country coach and assistant track coach. I still refer to that as one of the great examples of casting against type in all of coaching, comparable to Kristi Yamaguchi becoming a defensive line coach in football, but he was very good at it. (Who knows? Maybe Kristi would be good too.) I still claim that some of the boys ran "cross" because they thought that they might turn out to be like Mr. Pintozzi.
     One of the other coaches, Don Lucas was a most interesting guy. I would say, with admiration, he was a character, probably worthy of an article all his own. He told me that he had asked for, and received, permission from Fr. Koch to start a school baseball team. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's when baseball started at Ignatius, and "Luke", as he was affectionately nick-named, started it all. Now, I can't be sure that Ignatius didn't have a baseball team earlier. If that's the case, for the sake of accuracy, then that's when baseball returned. I had played a fair amount of baseball in my earlier life (by that time I was nearly 24), and I told Luke that if he wanted, I'd be happy to help. Truth be told, I had played very little "baseball", but I had played a tremendous amount of softball.
     Don was the varsity baseball coach for 3 years. He was the type of person who saw few, if any, limitations to what he might try. I've always admired people like that. He was not arrogant, but he also never concerned himself with the possibility of looking foolish if he failed.
     He bought the teams' uniforms on Maxwell Street, and when he coached, he would wear his Ignatius uniform except for the wing-tip brown shoes that he continued to sport on the field, even while he was hitting fungoes. In bad weather, he would hold practice in the "4th floor gym" (which is now the school library), and the players would practice batting, using wiffle balls. But despite his "unusual" style, Don's teams did quite well.
     Following the 1965 school year, Don left Ignatius to take a job with the city. His roll was
filled for the next 4 years by Bob Gabric, followed by me for one year, then Greg Klatecki. I'll leave the research on the succession of baseball coaches after that to others.
         PLAY BALL!!!