Doug Darnell

Doug Darnell – Brooklyn Center High School – Doug graduated from LaPorte City, Iowa, High School in 1964 and from the University of Northern Iowa in 1969. Doug actually went to UNI on a football scholarship, but a knee injury ended his football career after one year so he switched to baseball where he holds the UNI career record for wins as a pitcher. Doug became the head coach at Brooklyn Center in 1970 and held that position for 23 years, retiring after the 1993 season with 296 wins and 155 losses. During that time his teams won nine conference titles, five district or sub-region titles and three section titles, finishing third twice in the state tournament. Doug also possibly holds the distinction of being the only coach to take a baseball team and a softball team to the state tournament, as in his last two years of teaching he coached the girls softball team and advanced to the state tournament both years, in 2002 and 2003, placing fourth both times. Doug is a former president of the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association and is a past winner of the Dick Siebert Award and the Jim Dimick Retired Coaches Award. The baseball fields at Brooklyn Center are named Doug Darnell Fields. This past season Doug was the assistant coach for his son, Bryce, at Missouri Southern University.

Al Gisvold

Al Gisvold – Springfield High School - Known as Gizzy, Al graduated from Ada High School in 1936 and from Luther College in 1941 where he was captain of the baseball team. Al started coaching at Springfield in 1941, but had his career interrupted with serving in the Navy from 1942 through 1945 where he played baseball with various service teams. Al had a fantastic winning percentage in 26 years as the Springfield head coach with 251 wins and 49 losses for a percentage of .837, the best percentage of any coach with at least 200 wins. Al took his high school teams to the state tournament six times with a runner-up finish in 1948 and third place finishes in 1961 and 1963. The 1963 team featured Mike Davison, a lefthanded pitcher who made it to the Major Leagues with the San Francisco Giants. 1948 was an excellent coaching year for Al as he coached three teams into the state tournament that year, the high school, American Legion and amateur teams. Al coached five teams to the American Legion State Tournament. Al was the first Dick Siebert Award winner, in 1966, and is in the Luther College Hall of Fame and the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. Al passed away in 1995.

 

Bill Kroschel

Bill Kroschel – Park of Cottage Grove High School – Bill graduated from St. Paul Park, now known as Park of Cottage Grove, in 1966 and from Winona State in 1970. Bill played baseball under two legendary coaches, Granny Smith at Park and Gary Grob at Winona. Bill started his teaching and coaching career at Lamberton High School. After three years there, Bill moved to Park High School where he was an assistant under Granny Smith for four years before taking over as head coach in 1978 and continuing for 24 years through the 2001 season. In his 27 years as head coach Bill’s teams won 404 games with 192 losses for a winning percentage of .678. His teams won nine conference titles at Park and advanced to three state tournaments, in 1987, 1991 and 1993, placing fourth in 1987 and third in 1993. Four times they were section runner-up. Sixty-Six former players played college baseball and five played professional baseball, including major league pitcher Kerry Lightenburg. Bill has won numerous conference coach of the year awards and he has received the Jim Dimick Retired Coach Award. Bill is also in the Minnesota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Park of Cottage Grove High School Hall of Fame.

 

Norb Pastir

Norb Pastir - Roseau High School. Norb graduated from Lafayette High School in Red Lake Falls, Minnesota in 1955 and from Bemidji State University in 1961, where he lettered in baseball. Norb became the head coach at Roseau in 1970 and retired after the 1993 year, serving 24 years as head coach, 1970-1993, during which time his teams won 317 games and lost 144. a .688 winning percentage. Roseau won 10 district and five section championships, along with five runners-up finishes in the district and three runners-up finishes in section tournaments. Roseau competed in the state tournament in 1976, 1977, 1983, 1984 and 1987. One of his best teams was in 1990 when he had future major league pitcher Kerry Taylor on his team. Norb was also involved in the American Legion and Babe Ruth programs in Roseau. He was a two time District 32 Coach of the Year and a five time Section 8A Coach of the Year. In 1989, Norb received the Dick Siebert Award from the MSHSBCA and in 1990 he was the Topps Company Minnesota Amateur Coach of the Year.

 

Howard Schmidtke

Howard Schmidtke – St. James High School - Howard graduated from Morgan High School in 1942 and from Mankato Teachers College in 1949. Howard was a head coach for 23 years, 15 at Lake Benton and eight at St. James, where he also served as an assistant for seven years. His record at Lake Benton was 119 wins and 35 losses, a winning percentage of .773 and he won 104 and lost 64 at St. James, a .620 winning percentage. Overall, Howard’s teams won 223 games and lost 100, a winning percentage of .690. Howard had great success at tournament time in St. James, winning the district title in six of his eight years as head coach from 1977 through 1984. St. James won section titles four years in a row, 1979 through 1982. They were also section runners-up in 1977 and 1983. The highlight of his career would be the state championship his team won in 1979 with his son, Todd, being an outstanding player on that team. Howard also coached the St. James VFW team to a State Championship in 1978 and a third place finish in 1981. Howard was a Dick Siebert Award winner in 1983 and is also a member of the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Ned Thompson

Ned Thompson – Totino-Grace High School – Ned graduated from Lakeville High School in 1963 when it had just 75 in the graduating class. The previous year there were just 34 graduates. Times have sure changed. Ned then graduated from St. Mary’s College in Winona in 1967, where he played baseball under the legendary Max Molock. Ned was the head coach for 34 years at Totino-Grace, winning 420 games while losing 291. His teams won 13 conference championships and advanced to the state tournament in 2006, finishing in fourth place. Ned and Louie Mitteco started the baseball program at Totino-Grace in 1968 and Ned served as Louie’s assistant for six years before taking over as the head coach in 1974. Ned also served as an assistant boys basketball coach for 36 years and as assistant volleyball coach for 25 years, a program he also was involved in starting. Ned has also been coaching VFW baseball for the past 10 years. At one time, for 13 years, he also coached a team for non-seniors during the summer. Ned has twice coached in the All-Star series and was the Dick Siebert Award winner in 2006. Ned retired after the 2007 season with 40 years of coaching baseball at Totino-Grace.

 

Dick Traen

Dick Traen – Delano High School – Dick, or R.T., as he was called, graduated from Rockford High School in 1956 and from St. Cloud State in 1960. Dick was a head coach at Delano High School for 33 years, 1961-1993. In that time his teams won 369 games while losing 179, a winning percentage of .673. Included were 12 conference championships, 11 district or sub-section titles and three region championships, advancing to the state tournament in 1979, 1982 and 1984. They finished as state runner-up in 1982. Delano dominated the district tournament from 1977 to 1990 as their 11 district titles came in that 14 year period. Dick was also an assistant football and assistant basketball coach for 10 years until he became athletic director, a position he held for 13 years. Dick also spent time coaching Mickey Mantle teams in Delano after his retirement from high school coaching. There was probably no greater prankster than R.T., something a fellow inductee, Howard Schmidtke, can attest to. His attendance and purchases at flea markets and garage sales are legendary. Not only was Dick a great coach, but he was also one of the more interesting personalities in the game. Dick passed away in 2006.

Duane Welch

Duane Welch – Hopkins High School – Duane graduated from Glencoe High School in 1951 where he was a four sport athlete. He then played baseball at South Dakota State for two years before transferring Mankato State where he was the team MVP in his senior year, 1955. He started his teaching career at Hopkins but was drafted into the army in 1957 for two years. Duane didn’t start coaching baseball until 1967 and that was at Eisenhower. He stayed there for 15 years until the school closed and then went to Hopkins where he was the baseball coach for another 12 years, retiring after the 1993 season. During his career his teams won 275 games while losing 212. He coached Hopkins teams into the state tournament four times, 1983, 1987, 1988 and 1991. They finished as state tournament runner-up in 1983 and 1987. Duane coached in the Lion’s All Star games three times and was a recipient of the Jim Dimick Retired Coaches Award in 1999. For the past 15 years, Duane and his wife Janice have lived on a lake in Crosby and have just recently started living in Florida for six months in the winter.