Grosse Pointe Woods, Grosse Pointes

A maker of Norsemen

By Brad D. Bates
C & G Sports Writer

Frank Sumbera eclipses 900 wins as North baseball coach

GROSSE POINTE WOODS — May 24, 2010, was a date 41 years in the making at Grosse Pointe North.

After North’s 6-2 loss to Grosse Pointe South, the Norsemen’s athletic department honored coach Frank Sumbera’s 41-year tenure and 900th career victory as head coach.

“I want to thank my family, who has been behind me through many days of baseball,” Sumbera said during the ceremony. “I would also like to thank the Grosse Pointe communities. I wouldn’t be here without the great Little League, Babe Ruth, (federation) teams and Red Birds.

“I thank the good Lord for my health, my family, and all the support from the athletic department and community. It’s a tremendous community, and I love it here.”

Sumbera, who is the third coach in state history to win 900 games, took home wins No. 900 and 901 May 22, as North swept a doubleheader at Warren Cousino.

“It’s obviously a big honor,” said John Hackett, who played for Sumbera and was part of North’s 1980 state-championship team.

“He’s still the same he’s always been — very aggressive. He knows what he wants to do and does it. He’s always ready to play and ready to go.”

North awarded Sumbera a replica of home plate with a plaque, as well as a banner that will hang in the Norsemen’s outfield for the remainder of the 2010 season.

Among numerous former players at the ceremony were Bill Babcock, who was a 1981 draft pick of the Chicago White Sox, and John Clem, who played professionally in the Seattle Mariners organization.

“I wouldn’t have missed this for anything,” Babcock said. “It was a great opportunity to come out and recognize a great man. He supported us for four years of our lives, so we can come out and support him today.”

Secrets to success

One doesn’t need to spend more than 40 years in baseball to know a lot goes into one win, let alone 900.

“We stress fundamentals, defense and good pitching, and then pull it all together with some timely hitting,” Sumbera said of his winning formula with North. “You’ve got to click on all of it, but we’ve always stressed good pitching and defense.”

Imagine executing that plan for a career that spans 1,250 games for an idea of the scope of Sumbera and his Norsemen’s accomplishment.

“Hard work,” said South coach Dan Griesbaum, who was an assistant with Sumbera from 1980 to 1983, about what has made Sumbera successful. “You aren’t going to do this without working hard.

“I love competing against him and appreciate tremendously someone who can be at it for 37 years and have had the success he’s had.”

Another part of what made North’s 900 wins — and Griesbaum’s 600-plus victories at South — possible is the level of the youth baseball talent within the Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods.

“The kids come in, and they know what to do and are ready to work hard,” North senior captain and third baseman Teddie Williams said. “And Coach Sumbera is a great coach, and he’s always working with us to get better. There’s really nothing bad you can say about Coach Sumbera.”

Along with all that talent also comes the expectation to win, and when dealing with high school athletes, that is sometimes tougher than winning without talent.

“Obviously, you have to have talent,” said Hackett, who is now an assistant coach with South’s varsity team.

“But both Grosse Pointe North and South have always been in one of the toughest leagues in the state. Yeah, you have a lot of talent, but so does every team you play against.”

“(Sumbera is) really devoted and doesn’t just put in the time,” Hackett added. “Playing for him, you’re always prepared. There was never anything that happened in a game that we didn’t practice.”

Another thing that helped Sumbera bring that talent together was one of the many superlatives his former players used when talking about the skipper.

“He was an outstanding developer of a team attitude,” Clem said. “I played for a lot of coaches, and I don’t think any of them were ever as good as him at bringing a team together.”

Missions accomplished

Along with winning games, Sumbera has also won 19 league titles, 11 district championships, seven regional crowns, appeared in the final four of the state tournament four times and won state titles in 1980 and 2006.

He has also been the football coach at North for 29 years, accumulating 174 wins, and he has won 114 games as the eighth-grade boys basketball coach at Parcells Middle School.

All of that success helped earn Sumbera a place in the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

He has also taken home numerous Coach of the Year honors, such as the 2006 Mid-West Regional Baseball Coach of the Year award from the National High School Athletic Coaches Association — the same year he was honored as a finalist for National Baseball Coach of the Year.

But the fact that all of his successes and accolades have come at one school, and the bond Sumbera has cultivated with that school and its communities, may be the most noteworthy accomplishment of all.

“This was the only job I ever interviewed for, and since I started here, I thought I’d stay here,” said Sumbera, who will retire from teaching at the end of the 2009-10 school year, but will remain on as baseball and football coach.

“If things go well and they want me here, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing. I started in ‘69, my first year out of college, and I figured, ‘I love it here, so I’ll stay.’”

For a video report from the ceremony, see www.candgnews.com.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Brad D. Bates at bbates@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1029.