OHS softball boss led team to state tournament twice

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

For the second time in two years, Osceola High softball coach George Coffey will receive an honor reserved for only the most respected and effective high school leaders.

Coffey and several others will be honored at the Florida Athletic Coaches Association’s 37th Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Saturday at noon at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort.

In 2011, the Lady Kowboys softball complex was dedicated as Coffey Field in his honor.

“A couple of years ago, when they named the field after me, I was honored beyond words,” Coffey said. “This is just something that I never ever dreamed of. It’s definitely an honor.”

Coffey, a 1973 St. Cloud High graduate, has been with the Lady Kowboys softball program for two decades, first as an assistant under Charlene Davids, and then as the head coach when Davids stepped down in 1994.

He led OHS to the state tournament in 1995 and 1996 and, with help from long-time assistants Fred Klammer and George Hill, has supervised a program regarded as one of the finest in softball-rich Florida.

OHS has advanced to the regional finals twice in the past seven years and has been in the regional playoffs 11 times in Coffey’s 18 seasons. His career record is 383-181.

“I’ve always tried to emulate our program after the best in the state. Coaches like Robert Iamuri at Naples, Kathy Finnucan at Trinity Prep, Randy Jackson at Palm Beach Gardens, Bob Diaz at Tampa Chamberlain and Bryan Baucom at St. Thomas Aquinas are outstanding coaches and leaders who I respect and who I have tried to model our program after,” Coffey said.

Many of those coaches are FACA Hall of Famers and Coffey said he is honored to join them.

The respect is mutual.

“This man is an incredible coach and an incredible friend,” Finnucan said during the softball complex dedication.

Coffey said that the people who helped him build the Kowboys program deserve to be recognized, as well.

“Fred and George have been with me from the beginning; it wouldn’t have been possible for me to reach this point without them,” he said. “I’m still surrounded by great people, and so many have helped me through the years like (former OHS principals) Chuck (Paradiso) and Gary (Preisser) and now Jim (DiGiacomo). You can’t work with a better person than our AD  (Jim Bird) and a lot of our faculty members have been here for years and years and do everything they can to help.”

Coffey said his softball parents are second to none.

“Without those people, without the parents buying into the program, you don’t get very far,” he said. “They give up countless hours of their time; they are just great, great people and I consider it a privilege that they allow me to coach their daughters.”

Coffey believes that success on the field is secondary to his players’ future goals. Toward that end, two members of this year’s Lady Kowboys roster, Jessica Callahan and Kenya Pereira, recently signed softball scholarships and another, Morgan Crapo, will sign one next week. They join more than 60 other former Kowgirls players who have received scholarships during Coffey’s 18-year tenure.

“That’s the greatest legacy, to be able to change lives,” he said. “I see our former players all the time and it’s always exciting to see what they are doing with their lives. They’re lawyers and doctors and bank tellers and coaches and teachers and I’m proud of them all for what they’ve become and for the great citizens they are.”

Coffey said his wife, Victoria, the team’s scorekeeper, is an integral member of the softball program.

“I can’t thank her enough for her understanding and support because when you get right down to it, running a softball program like ours probably is worse for our wives than if they had to deal with the other woman,” Coffey said with a laugh. “She is always there for our players, she really enjoys being with them, and they just love her.”

In addition to coaching, Coffey was responsible for completely revamping and expanding the OHS softball complex, one of the most picturesque in Central Florida.

He and OHS booster Roger Jones, whose daughter and granddaughter played for Coffey, created the Kissimmee Klassic softball tournament nearly two decades ago, an event which brings dozens of the state’s elite high school programs to the Osceola County Softball Complex each spring.

“It’s a tremendous amount of work and I don’t think any of us get any sleep for three days while it’s going on, but it’s a labor of love,” Jones said. “George makes sure that everyone feels welcome and he spends so much time taking care of things that it’s hard for him to think about coaching softball. But, that’s the way George is. He does whatever he can to help others, and he instills that spirit in his players. When they leave his program, they are prepared to be successful in life.”

Coffey is the fourth local coach in a hall of fame.

OHS wrestling coaches Jim Bird and Rick Tribit, and Celebration wrestling coach Vic Lorenzano, have been inducted into the state hall of fame within the past six years.