Greg Eversole's passion for baseball leads to Maryland coaches hall of fame inclusion

It's a select list of Washington County baseball coaches who have been inducted into the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches' Hall of Fame: Chuck Zonis (North Hagerstown), Larry Wadel (Williamsport), Fred Kreiger (Boonsboro), Scott Jennings (Hagerstown Community College) and Mike Kipe (Hagerstown Braves).

Last week, the list grew by one with the addition of former South Hagerstown and current St. Maria Goretti coach Greg Eversole.

"The word is speechless," Eversole said. "It's something I never expected in my wildest dreams, even though I've been a member of the association for years. When I look at the list of who's there, I think, 'How do I fit in?' Maybe it's because I'm an old man."

'Like sports heaven': St. Maria Goretti's success drew national attention to the school

His modesty aside, Eversole has earned his spot. Among his career highlights, he led the Rebels to a Maryland state title in 1996, and in his latest act he has rejuvenated the Gaels' program and taken it to new heights.

"It's a personal passion," Eversole said. "If somebody asks, 'What does Greg do?' I'm on a baseball field. I'm not on a golf course, I don't fish, I don't hunt. I'm on a baseball field, and every day is something with baseball. I wanted to create a positive atmosphere for kids to give them a chance to excel."

A passion for baseball emerges

Eversole got his start in baseball the same way thousands of others have: As a kid taught by his father. But it didn't happen at first.

"This all started with a dad and a ball back when I was a youth," Eversole said. "He had played minor league ball and wanted his oldest son to play, and I wanted nothing to do with it. He said when you're ready, I'll be here.

"At Winter Street in fourth grade, the little leagues all passed out their papers, and because everybody else took a paper, I took a paper too. My dad looked at it and said, 'You're crazy! You can't hit, can't field and can't throw."

Eversole's start as a player at West End Little League came about because of the one natural talent he had: His speed.

"I worked hard. I wasn't big or strong. I could run a little bit," Eversole said. "It came down to me and another kid racing from the center-field fence to home, and the first one there makes the team. I know my dad was standing there saying, 'Run! Run Run!'

"My dad was a key person in showing me you had to work to get what you wanted."

Eversole made the team, and ultimately played on West End's 1962 all-star squad that won the Maryland state title.

"Now a passion had been created and the game of baseball has been associated with my name," Eversole said. "It was a matter of getting that passion and learning that if I wanted to go further, I'd have to work. I developed into a pretty good hitter, played shortstop, got the passion to play."

Eversole played for North Hagerstown, then for Frostburg State under another MSABC Hall of Fame coach, Bob Wells.

"He was (key to my) understanding how to coach and how to teach the game," Eversole said. "He's influenced a number of people on the (hall of fame) list. He was a master and respected by so many.

"I was watching more than playing. I told Coach Wells, 'Every time you turn around, I'm going to be behind you and hearing what you're thinking and doing so I can use that as a coach.' He was very tolerant of me pestering him with questions."

From player to coach

A tryout with the Hagerstown Suns led to Eversole beginning the transition from playing to coaching.

"They kept me after the camp and I thought, 'Here's the day I get to play minor league baseball,'" Eversole said. "They said, 'You play hard, you can hit, you love the game, but we don't see you projecting as a pro player.'

"There were other ways to stay in the game, and I decided to learn how to be a middle school math teacher and coach baseball. That's how the transition came."

Eversole dreamed of coaching at his alma mater, North Hagerstown, "but back then getting a coaching position was very difficult because you pretty much had to teach in the school," he said.

Eversole's first high school head coaching job came at St. Maria Goretti. From there, he landed at North as an assistant to Zonis, getting to learn the trade from another future hall-of-fame mind.

"Chuck was a very dear friend until he passed away," Eversole said. "I always wanted to get to North and Chuck was struggling, so he said, 'Come over, you can coach with me a couple years and then I'll give it up and you'll take over.' We had some successful years, even won a state title my last year, and Chuck decided he wanted to stick around. Everybody loved him, even other coaches."

"Fred Kreiger was an assistant at South and Wayne Ridenour was coaching at Boonsboro. Wayne decided to get out of coaching, Fred immediately jumped on that, and I went down to South and was given the opportunity to coach South."

Under Eversole, the Rebels became a highly regarded program across the state.

"We built a pretty respectable program, winning a state championship," Eversole said. "The South end of Hagerstown loved how we took the facility and made it look like a baseball field, and that we took seriously what we were doing."

Eversole stepped down as the Rebels' coach in 2002: "I thought, 'I've had my turn and I'm done,'" he said. "I thought I would help Eddie Kipe at the (Hagerstown) PONY League, get involved in some camps and clinics and go watch some games."

Finish where you start

Unexpectedly, 11 years later Eversole found himself back where he started his high school head coaching career.

"In 2013, I moved from Halfway to Emerald Pointe near Goretti," Eversole said. "Goretti was trying to resurrect its program and Harry Turner was looking for me. My grandkids were playing in the yard and Harry asked my kids where to find me. They said, 'He's our grandfather and he's inside.'

"I spoke with Harry and he said Goretti's looking for a coach and would I be interested? I told him, 'The heart says yes, but the head says no.' He said, 'We think you're the person who can turn this program around.'"

Eversole agreed, and stepped into a baseball landscape that was quite different.

"From 2002 to 2013, a lot of things changed," Eversole said. "College ball exploded. Analytics exploded. The way you bring kids along totally changed. My wife said, 'Greg you're retired, you've always loved baseball, you're five minutes from the field, do it.' So that's how I ended up at Goretti the second time."

The Gaels have won three straight Old Line League championships while going a combined 58-8 over the last three years.

"We started with a pretty weak program, about ready to die, and grew it to where it is today," Eversole said.

After last season, a plan started to sprout in Eversole's mind. He pitched a second varsity team, one that would allow the underclassmen more playing time, while the upperclassmen took on a more sdifficult schedule.

"I worked so hard over summer coming up with this concept to give the freshmen and sophomores an opportunity to play," Eversole said. "I told the principal, 'I have this dream of creating a second team so these kids can play' and was told to go for it."

The plan was approved and remains in place as St. Maria Goretti enters its final months before its unexpected closing.

"(The Gold team goes) from playing Hedgesville, to Loyola Blakefield, to the Mingo Bay Classic in Myrtle Beach, to a tournament in Morgantown, and finish with Allegany," Eversole said. "It is going to be a challenging schedule, but I have a group equal to that challenge. The younger group will play in the Old Line League, and it will help them grow more quickly.

"I thought I would lose some players (because of the closing), but they told me, 'We can't go anywhere and get what you're offering.' We have not lost anybody."

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: St. Maria Goretti coach Greg Eversole makes MSABC Hall of Fame