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It’s Coffey Field

Sports

Friday, 25 February 2011 13:23

News-Gazette Photos/Andrew Sullivan

With his team and former players in the background, Osceola High Softball Coach George Coffey pauses to compose himself before addressing the crowd Feb. 11.

Former players return, honor Osceola coach

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
George Coffey has had his ups and downs – mostly ups – during his 18-year tenure as the Osceola High softball coach, but it is doubtful that he can equal the high he felt Feb. 11 when the school’s softball field was dedicated in his honor.

More than 200 OHS alumni, administrators and fans honored Coffey and assistant coaches Fred Klammer and George Hill, who have been mainstays on the OHS coaching staff for nearly two decades.
Coffey took a moment to compose himself before saying to the crowd, “None of this would have happened without the people in the stands. Many of them were out here helping us and supporting the program even after they had to meet their own demands, which are more trying than anything we do here,” Coffey said. “When you honor me, you honor all of the people who played a role in this. I truly feel blessed.”
Coffey, who graduated from St. Cloud High in 1973, was an assistant for the St. Cloud softball program before moving to Osceola in the early 1990s to assist former OHS Coach Charlene Davids.
Davids led the 1992 Lady Kowboys to the state tournament, and after she resigned, Coffey took over and led OHS to three state tournament berths. Osceola was the state runner-up to Naples in 1996.
But, more important than the wins and losses, Coffey established a program that is known state-wide for its sportsmanship and excellence, Trinity Prep Coach Kathy Finnucan said. Finnucan, a winner of multiple state championships, is the only coach in Florida with 500 victories as a volleyball coach and as a softball coach.

Trinity Prep softball Coach Kathy Finnucan addresses fans during the Coffey Field dedication ceremony Feb. 11 as Osceola Coach George Coffey enjoys a prank T-shirt that Finnucan presented to him.

“The only question I have, is what took so long?” to dedicate the field to Coffey, Finnucan said. “This man is an incredible coach and an incredible friend. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to be able to participate in this ceremony, because no one is more deserving than George.”
Trinity Prep and Osceola High players wore T-shirts commemorating the dedication ceremony.
More than two dozen former OHS players, many bringing their young children, joined Coffey on the field.
Megan Hord, a 2005 OHS graduate and the school’s all-time strikeout leader, presented Coffey a bag of Tootsie Pops because Coffey always rewards his team after a game with the candy treats.
“The blue one is the one he gives if you have a really good game. The brown one, that isn’t so good, it means you didn’t play that well,” she said. “What he doesn’t know is that everyone actually wants the brown one because it tastes the best. We were always switching them later. But, Coach Coffey is always going to be the blue Tootsie Pop to all of us, because he is the best.”
Former Lady Kowboy Jody Moore, who played as Jody Horton on the 1995 state tournament team, told how Coffey positively impacted her life.
“He is a life molder. Because of him I wanted to become a coach myself,” she said.
Moore took St. Petersburg Canterbury School to the Class A state tournament last year.
More than 60 of Coffey’s players have signed college scholarships, including three players on his current roster, shortstop Nicole Osterman, third baseman Lexi Ballard and first baseman Carmen Nadal.
“That’s what’s important. When I look around here and I see what fine young ladies they have developed into, it makes it all worth while,” Coffey said.
As he positively impacted lives, Coffey also constructed one of the finest high school softball complexes in Florida.
When Coffey took over, the softball field was literally a field – a diamond with a chain link fence and open dugouts.
Over the past 18 years, Coffey, with help from OHS boosters and volunteers, transformed the field into a showplace with a concession stand, a scoreboard, a field house, batting cages and a beautifully landscaped entrance that is so good that the USSSA Pride pro women’s softball team played there in 2009.
OHS booster Dick Hord, whose three granddaughters Megan, Natalie and Erica Hord all played for Coffey, said that it took the efforts of many to build the OHS softball program, but there is no question about who the leader is.
“George is doing it for the good of the students. He and Fred and George have been here a long time and they work together to put standards in place,” Dick Hord said. “People don’t understand that the players have to have a 3.0 grade average to play for him. I’ve seen him sit players, players who could have helped him, because they didn’t maintain their grades.”
Coffey, a dean at OHS, thanked Klammer and Hill and the many volunteer assistant coaches who helped the Lady Kowboys program thrive.
He also thanked his wife, Victoria, and his family for bearing with him as he spent many hours away from his family to work at the field, or at team activities. At the ceremony were Coffey’s daughters, Shannon Ericcson and Monica Baker, and son, Trey Coffey and their families, including Coffey’s grandchildren, Macy Baker and Sion Coffey. Betty Padgett, Coffey’s mother-in-law, also witnessed the event.
“They’ve been understanding, because the time I spend here working with the kids is time I’m not spending with my family. But, they’ve always been very supportive,” Coffey said.
Coffey, with the assistance of OHS booster Roger Jones, who emceed the dedication ceremony, also created the Kissimmee Klassic softball tournament in 1993. The event has blossomed into a 48-team tournament that attracts top prep teams from throughout the nation to the Osceola County Softball complex each spring.
Former Osceola High Principal Chuck Paradiso, who hired Coffey, said he never doubted that Coffey would create a special program.
“He was tireless in putting this together, so many of his own hours went into this. I don’t know if I’ve run into anyone who does more for kids than George. This is a richly deserved honor,” Paradiso said.
OHS Principal Gary Preisser said Coffey has done much more than build one of the finest softball complexes in the Southeast.
“He built character and pride within these young ladies, and as they left him they have been successful in life,” Preisser said.
“It’s a special night for a special coach. And most of all, I’m happy to call him my friend.”
Fittingly, the Lady Kowboys defeated Trinity Prep after the ceremony in the first game played on the newly-christened “Coffey Field.”