Legendary LaPorte baseball coach Ken Schreiber dead at 83 - Post-Tribune

Legendary LaPorte baseball coach Ken Schreiber dead at 83 Mark Schreiber/For the Post-Tribune Hall of Fame baseball coach Ken Schreiber, who led LaPorte to seven state championships, died Friday. He was 83. Hall of Fame baseball coach Ken Schreiber, who led LaPorte to seven state championships Tim Clifton Jersey, died Friday. He was 83. (Mark Schreiber/For the Post-Tribune) Mike HuttonPost-TribunePrivacy Policy Everyone who knew Ken Schreiber has a favorite story or quote from the legendary LaPorte baseball coach.LaPorte athletic director Ed Gilliland said the zinger he'll always remember is something Schreiber said often near the end of his career https://www.sharkslock.com/sharks-jerseys/barclay-goodrow-jersey.aspx. I could go 0-30 for the next 30 years and still be a .500 coach, Schreiber told Gilliland.Schreiber, who died Friday at the age of 83, finished his career far from the break-even mark. Schreiber, who led the Slicers for 38-plus years, was considered the greatest high school baseball coach in Indiana history. His biography in the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame says Schreiber, who finished with a record of 1,010-217, had the highest winning percentage of any coach in any sport in Indiana. His teams won seven state titles: in 1967, 1971, 1976, 1982, 1987, 1990 and 1992. Schreiber also won 28 sectionals, 18 regionals and 11 semistates. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the National Federation Hall of Fame. No other Indiana coach has won 1,000 games.Gilliland, a 1977 LaPorte graduate who played for Schreiber, said the coach was the person who made baseball relevant in Indiana. LaPorte won the first Indiana baseball state tournament under Schreiber after the state series resumed in 1967 after a 50-year hiatus. He was just so far ahead of everyone else in making baseball important, Gilliland said. He worked hard at it at an earlier time than anyone else did. He set the bar. Other coaches have tried to reach it. No one has. A disciplinarian who wasn't afraid to confront kids when they made mistakes, Schreiber always coached the same way.Hard.One summer, current LaPorte coach Scott Upp, who played for Schreiber, said Schreiber was so mad at the team after a poor performance that they stayed in the dugout until it was nearly dark while the coach critiqued their performance. It was a lecture Upp never forgot. Everybody got it, he said. We knew it was coming. It was just a matter of who was going to get it when. Upp said Schreiber took no side roads. He steered the bus down the middle. If you made a mistake, you were going to hear about it and you didn't always hear about it in a flowery way. Schreiber, a Michigan City Elston graduate, retired in 1998, about a month into the season. One of Gilliland's favorite stories is how he went out. Schreiber had always told people that he'd wake up one day and decide it was over.He arrived at Gilliland's house on a Sunday with his wife. Gilliland said he knew something was different because Schreiber usually came with his dog.Schreiber broke the news to Gilliland that he was done. Gilliland thanked him for his service and for giving him the rest of the year to find a new coach.Schreiber said, No, Ed, you don't understand. You need to find a coach for Tuesday's game. And that's how Upp, who won a state title in 2000, became the coach.Chesterton's Jack Campbell, who started coaching 48 years ago, said Schreiber was a master tactician Brandon Mashinter Jersey.Canpbell remembers playing LaPorte in a regional final when Schreiber had his bullpen warming up at the start of the game. He wasn't going to get beat in the first inning, Campbell said.Campbell said he even borrowed a Schreiber move this year when he pitched his ace Austin Peterson for two innings in the regionals and then brought him back to finish the last two. He was just the best. Simply the best, Campbell said.mhutton@post-tribTwitter @MikeHuttonPT SportsBreakingMost PopularOpinionSuburbsEntertainmentBusinessAdvertising40