Macaluso coaching legacy to be honored by King
By Jarrett Guthrie
Editor
TAMPA – Usually a pregame conversation between head coaches lasts a minute or two, a quick “hi-how-you-doing,” maybe the home coach sharing a specific field condition, a joke or two, then a handshake, lineup exchange and they go get their team ready to go – then there are other times.
A few weeks back, I was able to take in one of countless pregame conversations between the two “deans” of Hillsborough County high school baseball – King’s 47-year head coach Jim Macaluso and the county’s all-time baseball wins leader, Steinbrenner coach John Crumbley – for one of those “other” times.
Listen, a few of the stories the two veteran skippers shared would be appropriate and shareable here for the wide audience, a few … well, weren’t. However, regardless of the topics discussed what stood out was the history – two masters of their craft, two fathers, two grandfathers.
Two coaches.
Both men of a different era, still ferocious between the lines from first pitch to last, but also guys who have spent decades in the same circles, same clinics, same fields – friends in the way that only understanding what a coach goes through inside the clubhouse, on the field, and outside the dugout, all while molding players into young adults.
After taking over the program at his alma mater in 1976, Macaluso has led King to 13 FHSAA state playoff appearances, winning 12 district crowns, three Saladino Tournament titles, and five region titles – most recently finishing as the 2017 state runner-up.
On the other side Crumbley, who is knocking on the door of 800 wins (currently at 787), is an FHSAA Hall of Famer and has four state titles (three at Jesuit, and one with Steinbrenner).
And though Macaluso’s son and assistant coach Anthony and I were included in the small circle on King’s baseball field in early March, it was the two senior members of the quartet who held court. It was a baseball conversation few are privy to, and fewer would understand – all shared with big smiles, big laughs – Crumbley‘s jokes more dryly delivered and counter-punchy, Macaluso’s more winding, more home-spun with a payoff at the end.
“It’s always fun to play against a team coached by someone for whom you have the utmost respect, who helped mentor you when you were a 21-year-old coach just starting out,” Crumbley said. “For over 30, almost 40 years it’s always been a tremendous honor to play him, then and now.”
Macaluso admitted that with a number of his contemporaries now retired, he looks forward to the showdowns with coaches like Crumbley, who have spent years in the game.
“It was a majority of coaches for many years, there was eight-to-ten of us that when you played them they were very good friends and became family – our families became family,” Macaluso said. “But when we played those guys, for those two-and-a-half hours, you wanted nothing more than to kick his butt. We’d get after it, get face-to-face, and I think we’ve lost that a little bit.
I tell kids, I don’t want you hate those other kids, but the night before we play, let’s say a Brandon, I want you to go to bed hating maroon. I want you to be fired up. That’s what I tell our kids, and I know that’s what John tells his.”
Crumbley, whose Warriors took the early-March showdown at King, said after the game how he’s taking in things more and more and appreciating the significance of these moments.
“It amazes me that we both are still doing it, enjoying it, and still passionate about it,” Crumbley said. “We’ve always been close and as both of us get closer to the bottom of the ninth of our careers, it makes it just that much more special to be one with a legend like Mac.”
Among the stacking accolades (both Crumbley and Macaluso have been inducted into the Sports Club of Tampa Bay Hall of Fame in the last four years), it seems like there are very few honors coaches like Crumbley and Macaluso have not had bestowed upon them.
So, last year when I heard rumblings about a campaign to name the baseball field on C. Leon King High School’s campus after Coach Macaluso, I thought what anyone probably thought – “that hasn’t already happened?”
It has not. Not yet at least.
That all changes on April 23, when King will host a Saturday afternoon celebration to recognize its longtime skipper and one where the school will appropriately celebrate Macaluso, by naming the field where the coach has amassed a good chunk of his 665 wins in his honor.
The event will begin at 11 a.m. and the public is welcome and encouraged to attend. There will be drinks and refreshments provided for a two-hour social gathering with the official dedication of the field taking place at 1 p.m. There is no RSVP required and for any further questions, please email khslionsbaseball@gmail.com or visit the event page on Facebook by clicking here.
