After 43 years of wearing many hats, Pat Calhoon hangs all of them up

SARASOTA — Wearing a Baltimore Orioles jersey with his name on the back, Pat Calhoon slowly brought his right arm back and delivered a strike to the Orioles player crouched behind home plate.

His many friends and colleagues back in Sarasota would not have been surprised.

Because for 43 years, Pat Calhoon delivered.

But truth be told, that Oriole player could have eschewed his glove. Calhoon's gravity-defying throw clocked in at 44 mph. "Forty-four, you know, that's about all I got," said the former baseball and football player at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. "Sixty-six years old, to throw 44, I'm OK with that."

Days earlier, before Calhoon got to throw out that first pitch prior to a Baltimore-New York Yankees game last month at Camden Yards, many of Calhoon's friends and colleagues had gathered at Ed Smith Stadium for a retirement party to honor the man who, quite literally, had his fingerprints all over sports in both the City of Sarasota and Sarasota County.

Indeed, all his job titles would have trouble fitting on one business card. Front and back.

Combining competency with an easy-going manner, Calhoon earned a reputation for getting the job done, even while more jobs were added to his plate. Even as recently as a year ago, he was asked to take over management of Benderson Park and the Sarasota BMX Track.

Perhaps for the first time in his professional life, Calhoon, already eyeing retirement, turned down the request.

"To have had the career I've had," he said, "it's been a thrill beyond words. But it's crazy to think how many things have gone on since I started."

That would have been in 1979. The 23-year-old Calhoon had graduated college the year before. A year doing missionary work in Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi was followed by Calhoon starting his own roofing business. He considered joining the priesthood. "I was contemplating a lot of things."

Then, the recreation and psychology major caught a break. The basketball coach at his college, and also Calhoon's recreation professor, had been fired, leading him to accept a job coaching basketball at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County. When he learned the position of athletic supervisor for the city had become available, he called Calhoon to let him know.

"You'd be perfect at this job," the coach told Calhoon. "Why don't you apply?" He traveled to Sarasota and interviewed with Howard "Red" Ermisch of the Sarasota Recreation and Parks Department, who offered Calhoon the job on the spot. Saying he still had two roofs to finish back in Illinois, Calhoon returned two weeks later.

Thus started a 43-year career as the County and City's Swiss Army Knife.

As the city's athletic supervisor, Calhoon operated the various adult sports leagues. He started volleyball and basketball leagues, in addition to age 6-9 pee-wee tee-ball and little leagues. He was in charge of pee-wee soccer and basketball.

"I was still thinking I was going to get out of here at some point," he said. "Things were getting a little bit stale."

But Calhoon caught another break when several city employees above him left their positions. Soon, he was running the now-defunct Community House, then took on Arlington Park for two years.

When Calhoon's title became program supervisor for the city's recreation department, his responsibilities included old Payne Park and the Arthur Allyn Complex, the latter the former co-owner of the Chicago White Sox.

Calhoon was doing such a bang-up job he was asked to add managing the Bobby Jones Golf Course to his overflowing plate. "I said, 'I don't have an "S" on my chest. One guy cannot manage both of these operations.'"

In three weeks, the new Ed Smith Stadium was set to open. Instead, Calhoon hired someone to manage Bobby Jones who would report directly to him. A sports facilities department was established, and Calhoon was its department head. Later, he became on-site manager at Ed Smith. For the next 22 years, he remained department head, stadium manager, and overseer to Bobby Jones.

It was during this period when Calhoon experienced his most professional satisfaction.

"(Running the stadium) was probably the hardest job, but it was the greatest job," he said. It put Calhoon rubbing shoulders with MLB executives and players. He remembers running during spring training with White Sox manager Tony LaRussa.

Calhoon was the point person when Bo Jackson, attempting a comeback following hip replacement surgery, attended spring training in Sarasota with the White Sox. A year later, in 1994, Michael Jordan made daily spring national headlines with his foray into baseball.

Calhoon was still in his position when The Ed got its facelift, and when the Braves christened CoolToday Park in North Port. "I was one of a very few government employees (around) for the construction and reconstruction of Ed Smith Stadium and the construction of CoolToday Park," he said.

After two years running North Port's parks and rec department, Calhoon was hired by the County for the newly-created position of sports tourism coordinator. His title the last three years has been franchise liaison for professional baseball.

Calhoon will never forget Frank Thomas, fresh from Auburn, knocking on his car window outside Ed Smith Stadium one night at 10. He had been taken by the White Sox with the 7th overall pick in the 1989 draft and was arriving in Sarasota to play for the Gulf Coast League White Sox.

But the White Sox's farm director wasn't there to greet Thomas, who was scheduled to stay in a hotel. Nervous about his accommodations, Thomas calmed down when Calhoon told him, if necessary, that he could spend the night at his house.

He thought he could play baseball at its highest level. That didn't work out for Pat Calhoon. But whatever his job in 43 years of public service, he performed at its best level.

"I got to stay in sports," he said. "People talk about doing something they love, but only about 20% of the folks get to work at something they love. I am certainly one of those lucky fellows."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: After 43 years of wearing many hats, Pat Calhoon hangs all of them up