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Student of the game – Lauscher steps away as GHS baseball coach

Mike Mattson | Daily Press Don Lauscher observes his players at a recent practice before Gladstone ventured downstate to play in the Division 3 state semifinals against Madison Heights Bishop Foley. Lauscher retired with a 158-50-1 record at Gladstone.

GLADSTONE — On a Gladstone Little League diamond in 1994, the baseball bug bit Don Lauscher.

It infected him. And the passion swelled on a memorable ride over the past 24 years.

The journey has come to an end for Lauscher, who resigned from his job as head baseball coach at Gladstone High School last month shortly after the Braves made another run to the state semifinals. His body of work is well documented in an 11-year varsity coaching career that produced impressive results.

“It was just fun coaching the kids,” said 63-year-old Lauscher, dressed in a purple Gladstone baseball T-shirt and hat. “That is what it is all about ultimately. I’m really going to miss it stepping away. I just know it is time physically and I have to do it. Emotionally it is really hard just because I have a love and passion for the game and still do. There comes a time when your body can’t do it anymore.”

Lauscher, an avid runner in his younger days, is dealing with back and knee issues. He can’t go full bore on the diamond demonstrating the fundamentals of the game — fundamentals like bunting that kids in Gladstone were trained to do in their sleep.

Lauscher wanted to retire after last season, but the baseball community leaned on him hard to coach one final year. The Braves went 32-5 in his final season, with district and regional titles and a loss to state power Madison Heights Bishop Foley in the state semifinals.

Although high school baseball in Delta County is relatively young in the modern era, Lauscher made his mark.

He started his coaching career at Escanaba and produced a 130-27 record in five years. He moved to Gladstone and reeled off a 158-50-1 record in six years. He walks away with a 288-77-1 career record, just 12 wins shy of the 300-victory milestone.

At Escanaba, Lauscher led the Eskymos to three district titles in five years and one regional championship in 2008 before losing to state power Mount Pleasant High School in the quarterfinals.

Overall at Gladstone, Lauscher led the Braves to five district titles, four regional championships and three Final Four appearances in six years. His state tournament record with the Braves was 27-5.

“When you get to the MHSAA tournament all the teams are good,” Lauscher said. “That is where I always measured myself versus regular-season records because there are times you play a lot of lesser teams so to speak and you can really pad your regular season record. I thought we made some good tournament runs — some very good tournament runs as a matter of fact. Of course, we beat some very good teams in those tournament runs.”

Gladstone beat teams like top-ranked Traverse City St. Francis, Muskegon Oakridge and West Branch Ogemaw Heights over the years and played as challenging a schedule as possible for a U.P. school in the cold spring. Lauscher admits he resigned from Escanaba’s program due to a disagreement with administrators on the lack of a challenging schedule.

“I needed to play better teams for the tournament,” he said. “We’d get to regionals and we’d always battle. Every year we’d get beat. I wanted to get over the top. The last three years I was there it wasn’t happening. I said, ‘If you can’t get us to where our teams need to be, I have to move on.”

Lauscher, who retired from a 40-year career at the paper mill, has been moving along in baseball since 1994. It’s the year his son Kurt was on a Little League Minor (9-10) All-Star team coached by the late Jim Almonroeder.

Almonroeder became a mentor to Lauscher, who wore a “JA” patch on his baseball jersey in honor of his memory. They guided the Gladstone Little League Major (11-12) All-Star Team to the state championship and a regional runner-up finish in Indianapolis after a loss to Marshalltown, Iowa with a spot at stake in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

“When my son Kurt was growing up, (Almonroeder) had two boys the same age and he was a big baseball guy. When Kurt was 10 he asked me if I would coach with him. So we did. We took that team in 1996 all the way to regional championship game and we lost to Marshalltown, Iowa. That’s where I really got a passion for the game.

“He was such a teacher, he was such a motivator and strict disciplinarian like I was and my mom and dad were. And that is who he reminded me of. He was a great mentor and he was my second father. I loved the way he coached and I loved the way kids wanted to play hard for him. I did what he did.”

Lauscher also became a true student of the game as Kurt Lauscher developed into a standout high school player at Escanaba and eventual Division I pitcher at Central Michigan University.

“When Kurt was growing up, I started going to Division I coaching clinics. I flew out to LSU for a seven day clinic. Skip Bertman had LSU at the time and they were like five-time national champs in the 90s. I wanted to go learn from the best and so I did. I learned a ton there. I went to Georgia Tech there. I went to Northern Michigan and I went to Mount Pleasant to rules meetings where they had coaching clinics.

I wanted to learn the right way and learn from the top-notch people and that is what I did.

“I was always trying to get the kids to play better. That was my only mission to make those kids the best they could possibly be.”

Kurt Lauscher had a front-row seat watching his father grow in the game of baseball. He also served as an assistant coach all six years at Gladstone for his father.

“He put his heart and soul into it,” Kurt said. “It’s time for him to go and he knows it. I feel bad because he truly loves the game and loves the kids.

“He studied the game. He’s always on the internet looking at baseball things. At 8 o’clock in the morning he’s studying it.”

Kurt Lauscher recalls the time Don took the Braves to Miller Park in Milwaukee to meet Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Josh Collmenter, a teammate of Kurt’s at CMU.

“(Don Lauscher) would go to Milwaukee every year,” Kurt said. “One time he brought the team into the tunnel to meet Josh. Those kids will never forget that.

“He did it for the kids and love of the game,” added Kurt. “He didn’t do it for himself. He loves baseball.”

Don Lauscher, one of 15 kids in his family, grew up on a farm near Perkins. He developed a quick work ethic that helped him in life and coaching baseball.

“The work ethic my mom and dad set for me was second to none,” said Lauscher, a 1973 Perkins graduate. “I carried that all through my career what they taught me.”

Lauscher was a father figure to some players at Gladstone. He also dealt with some parents who pushed their sons too hard in baseball.

He also learned a lesson about not starting one of his seniors on senior night and never made that mistake again.

In an era where kids have many things to do besides play baseball, Lauscher built a culture where the sport is still valued. Kids in Gladstone bought into hard work and the repetition of fundamentals to play the game at a high level under pressure.

“I think baseball is in a pretty good place, I know it is in Gladstone because of the success we’ve had. In different cities it has really fallen off badly. Baseball is a game of failure. It really is and kids see that. They want instant success in everything they do. And in baseball you can’t have that. It just doesn’t happen. It takes years to perfect to hit a baseball, to field a baseball and to throw the baseball right. I just want baseball to be fun. Baseball is a tough sport to learn. It takes hours and hour of practice to be good.”

Lauscher plans to spend time this winter in Jacksonville, Fla. working with his 5-year-old grandson on baseball fundamentals.

Lauscher thanked his loyal Gladstone assistants Grant Garland and Kurt Lauscher. He thanked the administration, the Gladstone Fan Club, Gladstone baseball booster club and all who supported his program.

A new coach will be named later and Lauscher said he’s a phone call away to provide any assistance needed.

He’ll look back at years of fond memories — and one regret — after the baseball bug bit him badly.

“I wish I would have had a little more patience in my younger coaching career,” he said. “That is a regret for sure. As I learned how kids react to different situations, yeah I regret maybe being a little too harsh early on. I think I learned over time that doesn’t really get you anywhere.

“As far as my career, I’m very happy where I started and I’m certainly happy where it ended.”

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