Father-son duos together one last time at the Record-Eagle Summer Classic
Jun. 30—In sports, there are often father and son duos on the same teams. Rather it's two players — Ken Griffey and his son Ken Griffey Jr. or a son and coach duo like Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers and Austin Rivers in basketball.
High school baseball in the Record-Eagle coverage area has had a few of those. Some of those duos got to be together one last time on Tuesday at the Traverse City Record-Eagle Summer All-Star Classic.
"I did think about it once or twice," said Sutton Bay head coach Doug Periard on coaching his son one last time. "I must say it was enjoyable, but it wasn't an end of an era,"
Hugh Periard was coached by his dad on the Americans team. Despite the 23-9 loss, Hugh was able to get on base. For Hugh he was coached by his dad one last time for not only baseball, but football as well.
"It's been a blast. Especially having my dad as a coach, I feel more comfortable too. I can speak my opinion." said Hugh "I know you catch some heat for your dad being a coach, but I don't let that affect me. My dad is a good coach."
A lot of the times when you have a dad and a son on the same team, some players may feel that the son is getting special treatment. For East Jordan pitcher, Tommy Reid III — coached by Tom Reid — there was no special treatment.
"Huge separation, I don't treat him like my son on the field or at practice." said Tom "He's coached like everybody else."
To make sure the team stays afloat players and coaches have been able to separate parenting and coaching. That goes for Traverse City St. Francis coach Brad Peterson — father of pitcher Charlie Peterson.
"Being a coaching kid is hard, it's hard on everybody, but what happens [is] the game comes home with you at night." said Brad, "There were tricky times when the boys were younger because its hard, but when we are on the field we are like teammates and I go out of my way to to not show any nepotism to my kids,"
"One aspect that has been tough in the past has been the relationship between coach and player because when it [goes] in the home sometimes after a tough game or something the intention spills over" said Charlie. "That's the only negative I can think of. Having my dad as a coach has been awesome. I wouldn't play baseball if it wasn't for him."
Brad was able to coach all of his sons — Cooper and Casey. Charlie is four years younger, but having two brothers in the household instilled a lot in him. Brad said coaching Charlie throughout his playing time brought so much joy and memories for the whole family.
Charlie had career numbers this season — 117 strikeouts with 76 innings pitched with an ERA 0.737 with a record of 14-2 on the season. He even excelled outside of baseball. This season in football, Charlie broke the single-season passing yards record and this past Saturday was named captain for the 44th Annual East versus West football game at Lawrence Tech University in Detroit.
To sustain the level of excellence in baseball or anything they want to do in life, requires coaching and sometimes fatherly advice. Hugh notes that his dad once told him if something needs to be done, don't wait.
Charlie said one time his dad wrote relax in big letters on his tape band when he went up to bat after feeling stressed. Since then, he's always remembered that and instilled that in the new players.
For Tommy, his dad was able to implement some advice that he still takes to this day.
"Just train [as] hard as you can in the offseason. Let the training do the talking in the season. Just don't worry too much about the numbers and just have fun" said Tommy
Being able to take that advice and let it have an effect on you can mean a good thing. It did for Tommy. A coach's advice can only go so far when you take it and run with it.
"He's the hardest working kid I've coached and I've been coaching for 12 years and nobody works harder than Tommy has." said Tom "He's in the weight room consistently, going up for extra reps by himself without his teammates and he never misses a chance to play ball,"
Tom has been coaching Tommy throughout his playing days from tee-ball to his last game at the Summer Classic. He even proved he deserved a roster spot on the varsity team as a freshman.
"He was too good not to bring up," said Tom.
Tommy's work ethic this season paid off, he managed in 72 innings pitched to have 130 strikeouts, with a 0.86 ERA. Even when he bats, all that extra reps paid off. He finished his senior year with a .547 batting average with 37 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Tommy playing days aren't done as he is going to Grand Rapids Community College.
Throughout all those years of playing with their dads, a lot of moments and memories will forever be there for them to share.
"I got a whole bunch of those," said Tom laughing, "If I were to pick one out it would be [Tommy] polishing off Charlevoix with his no-hitter a couple weeks ago at the district game," said Tom "But for him to go out with throwing a no-hitter knowing he probably was not going to get another chance to pitch in high school ball. I was a very proud dad."
For a lot of these players who have their dad as coaches, they have been like the eyes and ears on the field. All three of these coaches have said that their kids are leaders on and off the field.
St. Francis had a young team, but for Charlie, he didn't let age or grade level affect what needs to be accomplished on the field. A lot of freshman's were still learning the ropes, but for Charlie he did anything and everything to make sure the new players felt at home.
"We had a couple young guys with us and teams could go either on having young guys there, but Charlie immediately embraced these guys. He gave one freshman a ride to practice everyday and you know, when his brothers were freshman's at St. Francis, that kind of stuff didn't happen" said Brad.
"I loved the role that I was put in as just that senior leader and a lot was expected of me and I feel like I passed a lot of expectations. I'm just happy that we're able to get some new guys in the program and put them in the positions to succeed." said Charlie.
Brad said a lot of the qualities that were instilled into him came from his wife — Amy Peterson.
As for Hugh, his dad considered him a quiet leader. Hugh was a leader for all three teams he played for at Sutton Bay. He was a three year starter for football — where he played in three state championships — four year starter in basketball and three year starter for baseball.
Doug was the Athletics Director at Suttons Bay for a while and some of the qualities he projected were instilled into Hugh. Doug notes the last year and a half he's seen his son flourish into the qualities.
"The one thing I can say since I was the Athletic Director for many of those years, is the expectation of sportsmanship and proper demeanor has definitely been passed on to him," said Doug.
A day like Tuesday will be a lasting moment for everyone involved, even for the father and son duos. All three coaches in one word described the moment of being able to coach their sons one last time very differently, but all had great joy and pleasure of coaching their boys.
"Ecstatic" said Tom on being able to coach his son last night " Just know that he got [chosen] to be in that all-star game and to be in the dugout with him after he had such a great career and to get one more chance. It was cool. Real good on the heart."
