Hun School baseball coach Bill McQuade receives a water cooler bath after his team captured the state Prep A championship.
By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
Bill McQuade is the last person in the world who would ever make the story about himself over the players and the team.
But the players on the Hun School baseball team knew winning a state Prep A championship in the final year of McQuade’s 46-year coaching career was something special.
“What a blessing it has been to be able to teach and coach even as I changed roles at the school,” said McQuade, whose team won four straight games after dropping the opener of the double-elimination tournament to capture the title. “I am really happy the school has allowed me to do that. A lot of schools would not allow an administrator to coach. But Hun has always allowed me. I could never see myself just sitting behind a desk. I love the kids and being around the kids. I just love to teach and coach.
“Being down there at practice and at the games, I come alive. This year was different because Tom (Monfiletto), Steve (Garrison) and (Pat Jones) would grab the fungo bats and get started. They just wanted me to walk around and be with the kids and coach.”
In the Prep A tournament, top-seeded Hun dropped its opener to Blair and needed to come back with four straight wins for the title. The Raiders trailed Lawrenceville by a run in the bottom of the seventh of the next game but rallied against its ace pitcher for a win. They followed that up with a win over Blair and two wins over Peddie for the crown.
“We didn’t play as well as we thought we could in the county tournament and got knocked out in the first round,” McQuade said. “We were one game short in the (Mid-Atlantic Prep League). Then, when we played Lawrenceville in the losers’ bracket after losing to Blair, we face Nick Silbers and pull out in the seventh inning. We get three more in a row to win. You start to think maybe someone is looking down on us saying ‘they need a little help.’ After that things just built and the kids believed in themselves and what we have been telling them.”
The four straight wins helped send McQuade off with a state title in his final season.
“This year’s group was kind of special,” McQuade said. “We didn’t have that one stud pitcher so we needed four or five guys that could throw strikes. (Robbie) Huselid and (Michael) Pedota and Blake Brown. We just ran guys out there and they did their job. It was a chess match the whole season. When (James) Werosta pitched someone had to play third. When Pedota pitched someone had to play shortstop. Blake Brown was out of the lineup for a while. Luke Apuzzi was away for the first round. But eventually we had everyone back and we all just settled down and relaxed and played ball.”
And now McQuade can head to his retirement in North Carolina with another state title in hand.
“I knew that they tried to avoid any acknowledgement of that all year,” McQuade said of his pending retirement. “Even down in Florida, Tommy had a McQuadism every day. I know Tom and Steve and Jonesie were prepping the kids. It was on their minds. On the inside I really appreciated it. On outside I knew it was not about me.
“I have gotten emails from parents and alums and it has been really special. But it really is all about the kids. I am passionate about whatever I am doing. I think that is what the kids deserve. I love the competition and teaching the kids.”
It is being around the kids that McQuade will miss the most.
“I will miss that aspect of it,” McQuade said. “I will try to get involved in it in North Carolina. A friend of mine is also retiring to the same area and he said we should get together and coach a Little League team and try to get to Williamsport.
“I feel wonderful about where the Hun program is heading with Tom and Steve and Jonesie. And our JV kids have only lost four games in two years. A lot of that is Richie (Volz) who played for me and (Bill) Holup and the way they treat kids.”
