Coach Kalmus

I read in the Longview News-Journal sports section this morning that Longview High baseball coach Joey Kalmus has resigned his post. Kalmus came to LHS in 1998 after being in Alvin for 15 years. He made the Lobo baseball team into a winner. Current Texas Rangers and Lobo great Chris Davis is one of his former players.

I first came to know Coach Kalmus when I was a sophmore at Kilgore High School. Kalmus was doing his student teaching in Bill Wylie's American History class. Kalmus also was good friends with then Kilgore Baseball coach Randy Cummings. Kalmus, who has spent time as a pitcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, helped us out during the baseball season. Later Kalmus would come back to Kilgore as the head baseball coach.

I will never forget one day during batting practice at Driller Park with Kalmus on the mound. It was my time for taking cuts in the cage and Kalmus was on the mound. I hit one out of Driller going about 340 over the left field fence. I was pumped. I had never hit one out of Driller Park. Did not matter if it was BP, I just felt like I hit a big league homerun off a former professional baseball player. Tom Todd was catching and he said to me, "What are you so happy about. It is just batting practice." Yes, but I had always dreamed of hitting one out of Driller Park with its major league deminsions and 10 feet high outfield fence.

Kalmus was not as happy. He stormed off the mound and went to the showers so to speak after a sophmore took him downtown. I never knew if he was joking by leaving the mound or if he was truly angry at himself allowing a sophmore to hit one out.

The last time I had talked to Coach Kalmus in person was when Marshall played Longview at Lobo Stadium in 2005. I was helping Chris Paddie with the radio broadcast on KMHT. I ran into Kalmus in the press box. It was good to renew a friendship. He gave me an update on how his parents were doing, and his two brothers. I wish him well as the paper reported he will stay at Longview keeping his classroom teaching job.