No. 400: Curtis reflects on career at J-M
Submitted photo
It didn’t seem that long ago to John Curtis when he recalled his first win as head coach of Jefferson-Morgan’s baseball team.
“It just went so fast, 41 years,” said the 73-year-old Curtis. “The first win was against Waynesburg, 4-3, in 1981.”
Win No. 400 came the afternoon of Wednesday, March 9 at J-M when the Rockets defeated previously unbeaten Avella, 3-0, earning a key Section 1-A win to boost their playoff chances.
Curtis never in his wildest dreams imagined 399 more wins would follow.
“Absolutely not,” he admitted. “You don’t think about stuff like that when you’re starting out. You just worry about winning games and trying to make the playoffs basically. Four hundred wins in 40-plus years is about 10 a year which is pretty good for a small single-A school I think.”
Curtis’s 100th win was also against the Eagles.
“Avella in 1990,” Curtis said. “I remember that because they had a cake ready for me afterwards. I didn’t know if they were going to throw it in my face or eat it, but our team all ate it.”
Curtis ranks No. 1 in career wins among Greene County baseball coaches, and while he can’t remember milestone wins No. 200 and 300, he does have his own opinion as to at least one of the reasons he’s at such a lofty number.
“I’ve had a lot of good players and a lot of good assistant coaches who helped make that possible,” Curtis said. “I’ve had such a good group of guys over the years, many I’m still in touch with to this day.”
Curtis has guided the Rockets into the WPIAL semifinals five times, including a third-place WPIAL finish in 1986 with arguably his best team. Jefferson-Morgan defeated Charleroi, Beaver Falls and Riverside before falling to eventual champion Fort Cherry, 5-4, that season. The Rockets went on to record their first and only PIAA win over Portage before losing to Ford City and finishing fifth in the state.
“I think maybe the biggest win I remember is when we beat Beaver Falls that year,” Curtis said. “I know they were always a lot bigger than us and had won a lot and I don’t think anyone gave us a chance to beat them.”
Curtis recalled many of the outstanding coaches he’s faced during his career.
“I’ve had the opportunity to coach against a lot of good baseball people in Greene County for sure,” Curtis said. “Jay Donley of Mapletown, Tom McCombs of Carmichaels who was a great athlete who was in the Indians organization, Larry Piper at West Greene, Morgan Hunnell of Waynesburg, Dave Bates and Dickie Krause at Carmichaels.
“Outside of Greene County there was Charleroi with Bruno Pappasergi, we always used to play them and it was always a battle. Don Hartman is another one when he was at California.
“I sure do respect all those guys. It was a privilege to coach against them. They are all baseball guys. I learned a lot just by going up against them, the different things they do, the bunting, running, I always paid attention to what they did. Coaching against guys like that keeps you up on everything to try to be successful.”
Curtis is a 1970 Carmichaels graduate and played baseball under Dominick Christy.
“He was a scout with the Dodgers and the Royals,” Curtis pointed out. “Christy worked us hard. I learned a lot from him, that’s for sure. What a good guy.
“Carmichaels has always been our biggest rival since I’ve been coaching at Jefferson, being so close and the kids all know each other, the coaches all know each other. They’re always so well coached. It’s nice when you can be competitive with those guys.”
Curtis is also a Penn State graduate and left Jefferson-Morgan for a three-year stint to be an assistant coach at Penn State Fayette where he was part of the Region 20 Juco Baseball championship team in 2004. That squad was inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame last year.
As to the biggest changes he’s seen over the years, Curtis said with a laugh, “Well we never had anything like GameChanger when I started, or a catcher wearing an earpiece to call pitches, or having all the stamps on the balls and the helmets and all that stuff. We used to carry one big green Army bag with about 30 bats in it and then a bag of helmets. Now everybody has their own bag.
“But baseball, the game itself, hasn’t changed a whole lot. You’ve still got to hit, you’ve still got to throw, you’ve still got to pitch, and run.”
Curtis isn’t sure how much longer he’ll coach.
“I feel good but I haven’t decided what I want to do yet after this year,” he said. “Although I have a good group of guys that are almost all juniors. I only have one senior (Brenton Barnhart). I’m just going one year at a time right now.”
Curtis also credits his wife, Cindy, for his longevity in coaching.
“She’s a big supporter for sure,” Curtis said. “Both of my boys, Tommy and A.J., played and she went through that. We had many conversations after the game at the dinner table. Those two guys were a big part of a lot of those wins.”
Curtis said he still enjoys coaching.
“I do. Getting ready, preparing for the next game is one of my favorite things,” Curtis said. “Get a scouting report, see what we’ve got to do, where we’re going to pitch everyone, who we’re not going to pitch to, if they have speed, tendencies, all that stuff.”
Curtis is a coach who’s always stressed the basics.
“We like to get the guys in shape,” he said. “We stretch, exercise, get our running in. I do baserunning every day before practice starts, home to first, first to third on a base hit, tagging from third to home. Baserunning is like bunting, it’s kind of a lost art, moving runners up. I like to work with the infielders, making sure they can make the routine plays. Having a good battery, the pitcher and catcher doing what they’re supposed to do.
“The whole thing is try to have fun while you’re doing it. You want to give your kids a good experience. That’s the one thing that’s always been important to me.”