Old-school master: J-M’s Curtis in 50th year of coaching baseball
Celeste Van Kirk
Jefferson-Morgan coach John Curtis (right) has had 360 victories to celebrate in his time with the Rockets.
Jim Downey | Ćå±±½ūµŲ
Gillian Alexander and Jefferson-Morgan golf coach John Curtis review options after Alexander hit into a hazard on the sixth hole at Duck Hollow Golf Club during a non-section match against Uniontown in 2013. Curtis has been the Rocketsā golf coach since 1990.
John Brothers | Ćå±±½ūµŲ
Jefferson-Morgan baseball coach John Curtis signals for his player to make the turn at third and head home during a Rockets game on April 15, 2011. J-M beat Mapletown, 18-0, giving Curtis his 300th career win.
The championships and the victories are memorable and pleasing.
But they are not the essence of John Curtisā lengthy and successful baseball coaching career at Jefferson-Morgan High School.
Teaching the game he loves is what sustains Curtisā enthusiasm and passion. He is old school ā fundamentals, basics and attention to details are the cornerstones of his program.
āCoaching baseball is not something John just does or enjoys,ā said Dave Bates, who played for Curtis at Jefferson-Morgan and later coached against him when Bates was the coach at Carmichaels. āBeing a baseball coach is who John is. Itās in his fabric and his core.
āThere are not a lot of guys like John in the world. He is truly the game and has been for generations, not just one or two, in some cases three and maybe four.ā
Curtis is in his 36th season as the Rocketsā baseball coach and in his 50th year as a baseball coach and clinician.
His high-school career started in 1981. He has been Jefferson-Morganās coach all but three years since. He took at three-year hiatus to coach at Penn State Fayette from 2004-2006 but returned to Jefferson-Morgan in 2007.
The Carmichaels (1970) and Penn State University graduate (1975) has also coached golf at Jeff-Morgan since 1990. He had three players qualify for the PIAA Championships, won section titles in 1995, 2006 and 2009 and guided the Rockets to more than 200 match victories.
But baseball is where Curtis forged his reputation. He started coaching in the youth leagues and later coached American Legion ball.
He has 358 victories in high school. Jefferson-Morgan won four section championships in his tenure (1985, 1986, 1988 and 2017).
The Rockets finished third in the WPIAL in 1986 and qualified for the PIAA playoffs, finishing fifth in the state.
Jefferson-Morgan was fourth in the WPIAL in 1995, 2001 and 2017. The Rockets have played in 27 postseason games in his career.
āI love the sports and the kids,ā Curtis said. āI enjoy working with kids and baseball has been a love of mine since I was 7-years-old. I had a great high school coach (Dominick Christy) and he just enhanced my love of the game.
āI do one-year contracts. As long as I still enjoy it and can throw 200 to 300 batting practice pitches a day, Iāll keep doing it. If I didnāt feel I could do this physically, I would stop.ā
Scot Moore, athletic director at Jefferson-Morgan, used to work with Curtis for Parks and Recreation in Waynesburg before Curtis landed a teaching job at Jefferson-Morgan.
Moore said Curtisā approach to baseball and working with kids has always been admirable and exemplary.
āHe is meticulous in what he does,ā Moore said. āJohn appreciates the game of baseball and every little detail and aspect of it. And he teaches every little detail and aspect of it.
āHeās always wanted to teach the game to young kids. Heās a little, no, a lot, old school that way, and that is a positive thing. John is all about the fundamentals of the game. This year has not been one of our strongest starts to a season, but he is out there every day teaching and working, hitting ground balls and fly balls,
āHe is certainly passionate about the game,ā Moore continued. āHe loves the game and lives to teach the game.ā
Curtis retired as a teacher in 2012. He taught physical education. He also served as Jefferson-Morganās athletic director for 10 years.
While the approach and philosophy remain intact, Curtis admits, as the student population and roster size at Jefferson-Morgan shrinks, he has had to adjust the preseason routine a bit.
āThe world is different,ā Curtis said. āThe kids are still accountable to know whatās the right way to play the game and to work hard at practice. But they are playing other sports and have other interests.
āAs a coach, I have been blessed with good kids and good athletes. Our baseball team is a small team from our community. We have had years where we have been very good, and it has brought the community together. That is fun.ā
Perhaps Curtisā best team at Jefferson-Morgan was in 1986.
The Rockets defeated Charleroi, Beaver Falls and Riverside in the WPIAL playoffs before losing to Fort Cherry, 5-4. Jefferson-Morgan rebounded to defeat Portage in the first round of the PIAA Championships before losing to Ford City, 3-2.
It was quite a ride.
āThat was my best team,ā Curtis said. āIt was a great year for us, we had a lot of good players and a lot of good pitching. We could hit, we had power and we were fast.
āOur boys were like men. We had a great team and played against some great teams.ā
Bates said Curtisā ability to relate to players and to keep in contact with them as the years have passed make him a special friend to some, a mentor to others and an inspiration to those who maintain friendships with him or continue to keep in touch with the program.
āJohnās one of those guys who made you feel special as a player,ā Bates said. āMaybe Iām different because we are such good friends today. But through my college years and then being adversaries as opposing coaches, we have remained friends and only gotten closer. Weāre still involved in baseball together.
āWeāve had some reunions with other players and coaches and you always feel a special part of the program with John.
āI think the first words he ever spoke to me was early in my sophomore year. He stopped me and said: āHey, Bates. Get that first basemanās mitt oiled up. Youāre going to need it. I knew then he had at least been thinking about me.'ā
Bates also recalls that Curtis was reluctant to allow him to pitch at Jefferson-Morgan. Finally, Curtis gave Bates a chance during his senior season in a game against Beth-Center. As Bates recalls, he worked five or six innings before being lifted in favor of Brian Virgin, who ended up being credited with the win.
āIāve never forgiven Curtis for that,ā Bates laughed. āIronically, I pitched a lot in college and maybe by my sophomore or junior year I could break a pane of glass.ā
Moore points to Curtisā longevity and complete understanding of the game as to the reasons he finds success with his players beyond wins and losses.
āKids see and understand that he knows the game,ā Moore said. āI think his ability to sustain success in the program and to produce good baseball players goes back to his love for the game and ability to teach it.
āTwo years ago, we shared the section championship and I remember there was a lot of questions about how to put that team all together. John is so good at figuring out where to position his players and what positions to put them in so they can find success individually and as a group. That comes with experience. Coaching ball, thatās John Curtis, that is his forte. People respect what he has done and what he does.ā
Curtis resides in Dry Tavern with his wife, the former Cindy Headlee. The two have adult sons, Tom and A.J., who live in Florida and North Carolina, respectively.
His father, John, who passed away in 1986, was quite influential, and his mother, Virginia, 93, remains his biggest fan ā and sometimes critic.
āShe comes to the games and asks me sometimes if I left the pitcher in a little too long,ā Curtis chuckled. āSheās always been there for me.ā
Curtis has always been there for Jefferson-Morgan baseball.
āMy high school coach was a tactician and was organized,ā Curtis said. āHe hit so many grounders and we did those 30-yard sprints. When he was satisfied is when we left.
āI stress to these boys we have to make plays, no matter how cold it is or what obstacles you are facing. Weāre a little smaller now as a district and a program and the competition for spots is not what it was. But thatās not an excuse. Weāre pretty much doing what weāve always done. We run as much as we can, move runners over, take the extra base and try to play good defense. Itās always a matter of execution.ā