Chris Biehn

Chris Biehn – Mankato Loyola High School -  Chris graduated from St. Peter High School in 1972.  Before graduating from Minnesota State University-Mankato in 1979 with a B.S. degree in Science with minors in Physical Education and Special Education, Chris spent four years in the U.S. Air Force.  He taught Middle School Science at Mankato Loyola for 37 years before retiring in 2017.  The Loyola teams averaged over 15 wins per year in his 22 years as head coach as he had 340 wins and 136 losses during that time, an excellent .714 winning percentage.  Loyola won 11 conference titles, seven district or sub-section titles and three section championships during his tenure.  His 1996 team won the consolation title at the state tournament and his 1989 team won the State Championship.  Chris was the state’s Class A Coach of the Year in 1989, Section Coach of the Year three times, Minnesota River Conference Coach of the Year four times.  During his time at Loyola he was also an assistant varsity football coach for over 25 years, was head girls varsity basketball coach for nine years and boys varsity basketball assistant for a number of years.  Chris has been very active with youth baseball in the Mankato area.  He is also an outstanding baseball umpire during the summer.

 

Jim Hare

Jim Hare – Richfield High School – Jim graduated from Cretin High School in 1952 and from the University of St. Thomas in 1956. Jim served a three-year stint in the United States Marine Corps. He started his teaching and coaching career at Richfield High School in 1960 and stayed there until retiring in 1992. After serving six years as an assistant to Hall of Fame coach Gene Olive, Jim took over as head coach in 1966 and in a nine-year head coaching career, his teams won 148 games and lost only 35, a winning percentage of .818. They won five conference championships, three district and region championships and two state championships, in 1971 and 1972, and they finished third in 1967. The 1971 team, using three different pitchers, shut out all three opponents in the state tournament. Jim started the first high school baseball coaches magazine in 1967. Jim won Coach-of-the-Year awards in 1967, 1971 and 1972 and was a Dick Siebert Award recipient. He is a past president of the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association. Jim is also in the Cretin, Richfield and Mancini’s St. Paul Hall of Fame.

 

John Hellie

John Hellie – Pierz High School - John graduated from Morton High School in 1964 and from the University of Minnesota-Morris in 1968 where he played baseball. He took a teaching and coaching position at Pierz in 1968 and stayed there for a very successful career. John retired as head baseball coach after the 1997 season, finishing his 29-year career with 350 wins and just 139 losses for a .716 winning percentage. John was an assistant football coach for 30 years and a head boys basketball coach for 13 years. His teams won 19 conference baseball championships in three different conferences, seven district championships, and one region championship, advancing to the state tournament in 1986. John was very involved in the youth programs in Pierz. He ran the summer baseball program for 27 years for youth 6-15. He started the American Legion baseball program in 1972 and took a team to the state Legion tournament in 1995, finishing in third place. In 1974, John became the first non-athlete to be inducted into the Pierz High School Hall of Fame

 

Jim Hurley

Jim Hurley – Moorhead High School – Jim graduated from high school in 1962 from Canandaigua Academy in Upstate New York and then found his way west to attend college at Moorhead State where he played baseball before graduating in 1969. Jim didn’t start teaching at Moorhead High School until the fall of 1973. For the next six years, he was also the sophomore baseball coach before becoming the head coach in 1980. Jim was head coach for 27 years, compiling a record of 364 wins and 195 losses before retiring from teaching and coaching after the 2006 season. Moorhead had no conference to play in during those years so they had to play an independent schedule every year. Jim’s teams played in eight section finals, making it to the state tournament in 1990, losing to New Ulm. Jim ran the summer youth baseball and softball programs for 10 years and felt proud of bringing through the program the players on the 1988 American Legion team that took second in the nation. He also spent six years as an assistant to Bucky Burgau with the Legion team. Jim sent many players on to play college baseball and eight of his former players played professional baseball.

 

Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson – The Blake School – Steve graduated from Brooklyn Center High School in 1968 and from the University of Minnesota in 1974. Steve spent 29 years as head coach at The Blake School, winning 312 games while losing 233 before retiring after the 2008 season. His teams won four conference championships between 1990 and 2001. The Bears lost in the section finals in 1990 and 2001 to deny him an opportunity of appearing in the state tournament. Steve has coached in the Lion’s High School All-Star Series and has been an instructor for the Minnesota Twins Youth Baseball Camps. Steve was known as a philosopher and was noted for leaving his players with a better understanding of what life was all about. He was quoted as saying that the game of baseball is a metaphor for lire, a vehicle for helping young men figure out what it means to cope with life’s bounces, catch what it has to offer, and even throw a little back. Many of his former players wrote glowing reports of how he touched their lives and left them with much more than just what they learned about baseball.

 

Dennis Kaatz

Dennis Kaatz – Wadena-Deer Creek High School – Dennis graduated from Enderlin, North Dakota High School in 1965 and from Moorhead State College in 1969. Dennis started his career that same year in Wadena and stayed there until retiring in 2005. He was the assistant baseball coach for 11 years before taking over as head coach in 1981, a position he held for 25 years. In that time he won 355 games while losing 169, a winning percentage of .677. Dennis was also the head wrestling coach for 20 years, from 1986 through 2005, was Minnesota’s Class AA Coach-of-the-Year in 2001, and he is in the Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame. His teams won 12 conference titles, 14 district or sub-section titles and three region championships, advancing to the state tournament in 1988, 1996 and 1997. When Dennis took over as head coach, the school had no field at the high school so he took over and built one in 1985. Dennis was also very active in other baseball in Wadena, running the summer youth baseball program for 20 years, coaching the VFW team for 20 years and also coaching the Legion team in the 1990’s. He was also president of the local baseball association when Wadena hosted the state amateur baseball tournament in 1994.

 

Mick McNeely

Mick McNeely – Mounds View – Lawrence J. ‘Mick” McNeely graduated from Washington High School in 1937. After high school he pursued a career in professional baseball which was interrupted by World War II. After serving his country, he graduated from St. John’s University in 1949 and began his teaching and coaching career with stops in Albany, Echo, New Prague, Hastings and New Brighton before finishing his career at Mounds View High School. He was at Mounds View for 23 years, retiring in 1981. While there he coached hockey and baseball and served as athletic director. Mick was one of the early leaders in the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association and was a past president of the organization. Mick was a recipient of the Dick Siebert Award for his contributions to Minnesota High School Baseball.

 

Jerry Riewer

Jerry Riewer – Staples High School – Jerry graduated from Bagley High School in 1955 and from Bemidji State in 1960. Jerry started his teaching and coaching career in Deer Creek in 1960 and was the head baseball, basketball and cross country coach. Jerry also coached the Legion baseball team in Deer Creek and guided the team to two state tournament appearances, 1964 and 1965. In 1964 he moved to Staples and coached until he retired in 1992. Jerry was head baseball coach at Staples for 18 years. His Staples team won the state championship in 1983 and was state runner-up in 1977. He was also a very successful cross country coach at Staples for 30 years, advancing to the state tournament 14 times, winning state championships in 1982 and 1983. Jerry also coached girls softball for three years. Jerry has been honored as both a state cross country coach of the year, 1977, and a state baseball coach of the year, 1984. In 1984 he was nominated for National High School Coach of the Year. Jerry is a member of the Minnesota High School Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame, the Bemidji State University Athletic Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. He currently is an assistant coach for his son, John, at Staples.