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He was the first “real” high school baseball coach in the state of Mississippi, circa 1967. He was not just a football coach coaching baseball for the $500 supplement, but a real, full-time baseball coach . His baseball facility, Bobby Jaquith Field at St. Joseph High School in Jackson was the first “real” baseball field and the model for high school baseball fields to follow over the years.
Certainly not anything like Wesley Scarbrough Field at Jeff McClaskey Stadium at Northwest Rankin High School in Brandon, Mississippi, but definitely way ahead of it’s time in the 1970’s.
He was a no nonsense coach. He was hard on his players. He had a dry sense of humor and a slow talking drawl which was spiced with relentless sarcasm and well-crafted profanity. And he was extremely competitive and a very sore loser. That’s an understatement.
He told me once that after a tough playoff loss to the late, great Sank Powe at Cleveland High School, he gave his bus driver orders to “run over the son of a #@$%!” as they were leaving the school. I think he really meant it. Thank goodness Sank was quick on his feet.
The master drill sergeant was always looking for an edge, always trying to find ways to win, any ways to win. He always trying to get into the heads of his players and into the heads of the competition.
Many times he would send a tiny, underclassman to the plate and have him stand real close to home plate and squat down real low, to make the strike zone smaller. And most importantly, he was told not to ever swing the bat. His only job was to make the pitchers choke, draw a base on balls and score an important run.
Opposing pitchers got psyched out, their coaches started screaming, and umpires by rule didn’t have the opportunity to expand the zone and help the poor pitcher. The pitchers were just going to have to “hit the rectangle,” albeit a sideways rectangle in this case. After all, the strike zone was still 17+ inches wide. It just wasn’t very tall. That was the plan. And it was perfectly legal. The batter establishes his strike zone with his usual stance.
Was it “unsportsmanlike conduct?” No, just strategy, because all the opposing pitcher had to do was throw strikes and the whole thing would have backfired.
This time the Bruins had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the score was tied at 2. The winning run was just ninety feet and four balls away.
But behind the scenes, while the “designated walker” was waiting on deck, some of the seniors on the team were talking to him through the chain link cage that enclosed the dugout. They were encouraging him to go up there and swing for the fence.
“Knock in the winning run! Don’t worry about what the old man says! What does he know anyway? Don’t take any more crap off him!”
And with all the good advice from his fellow “teammates,” the kid appeared to grow taller and more confident as prepared to step up to the plate.
And even after a time-out with specific instructions from the commander not to take the bat off his shoulder…. on the very first pitch, he swung… and missed, badly. The pitch was a foot over his head!
Everybody in the park gasped collectively. Then there was total silence, even from the opponent’s side. The public address announcer didn’t utter a sound. They all seemed to sense what was coming next. The kid probably peed in his pants. I know I would. I know the seniors did. 🙂
And without saying a word, the mean old coach walked slowly toward home plate with that smirk on his face and it seemed like an eternity before he got there. He calmly took the bat out of the hands of the kid, and said, “Try to swing the bat now, you little…. (well, you get the idea).”
On the next three pitches with no bat in his hands, the kid definitely didn’t swing and ended up drawing a walk and the winning run scored. The Bruins won the game. The Bruins won the game!
And the seniors ran a marathon until the wee hours of the morning.
But what about the kid?
Well… his self-esteem was not shattered. He was not humiliated. He didn’t have to go into therapy. He actually ended up with one RBI for the season. His life went on. He even became a millionaire business man. He did his job. He was coachable, well, after that first pitch. He did his job and helped his team win.
Isn’t that what we are all trying to do?
Different strokes for different coaches.
The Bruins won 3 state championships, 5 South Mississippi championships, and 19 district championships.
Coach Howie was finally inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Crossroads Diamond Club High School All-Star Baseball Games bear his name. The present day baseball field at St. Joseph High School in Madison is named in his honor. His autobiography, as told to Martin Kester and edited by the late Billy Avalon and his wife Janna, is called Rock & Fire and was published in 2016.
In his Introduction by Billy Avalon, the former player who got Coach Howie his first win at St. Joseph, Billy said, “Thank you Coach Howie. Thank you for bringing “America’s Pastime” to Mississippi high schools. Thank you for the Hell you gave us all and the Heaven it became.”
Coach Howie passed away on July 20th, 2020 at the age of 90.
He was a legend. I loved the guy, I probably picked up some of my insane coaching skills from him. And… he reminds me of someone I played for in high school…..
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 