Ed Kaczmarek

• Post by: mcalibrary
• January 3, 2024
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INDUCTEE

They called him Gene Mauch! They called him Sparky Anderson! These coaches were known for their fiery approach to the game of baseball. They also were enthusiastic, energetic, and ultimate strategists and would fight for their players until the last out. The same can be said for this year’s inductee, Ed Kaczmarek.

“Kaz” took over the reigns of a Mount Carmel Area baseball program that had won a total of 19 games in the previous six years. His first club in 1975 went 8 and 8 and was followed by teams that went on to win 3 consecutive Northern Division Titles in the Schuylkill League and the overall Schuylkill League Title in the 1978 season. They claimed the title in a best of three series with preseason favorite St Clair. The 78 team boasted such stars as Bob Zavarick, Johnny Andrade, Bobby Murray, Mark Koveleski, Kevin Kwiatkowski, Mark Filohoski, Joe Zavarick, Mark Zosh, and Bob McAndrew. They finished with a 16-4 mark after a heartbreaking loss to Athens in the Dist IV quarterfinal. His 1977 squad finished as runners up to Bethlehem Catholic in Dist 11 and Schuylkill League champion Blue Mountain.

Ed coached the Tornado nine for 6 years and posted an 83-55 record, good for the third most wins in school history. His winning percentage of 60.15 is the highest among coaches who stayed on the job for more than 3 years. Kaz also took spring training at the high school level to an even greater height when he raised the money to take his teams to Florida in 1980 and 1981 for games with teams from other areas of the country. His teams posted an 8-2 record while also gaining valuable lifetime experiences in Florida.

Kaczmarek began his sports career as an outstanding two- sport athlete at Mount Carmel Catholic High School, He graduated as the Salutatorian in 1960 and was named the school’s outstanding student athlete. He was captain of both the basketball and baseball teams and was the leader of the Rams baseball team as a catcher and posted a.355 batting average. He then played semi pro baseball with the Shamokin Optimists in 1962-63 as the starting catcher.

Following graduation from Bloomsburg University in 1964, Kaz began his coaching career as the first ever coach of wrestling at Lourdes Regional. His team went on to an 11-0 record during the 64-65 campaign. He then began his teaching and coaching career at Mount Carmel High School as an assistant to Theodore ‘Tufky” Andrulewicz from 1865 to 1968. He was also the statistician for coach Jazz Diminick from 1965 thru 1975. Ed had the privilege of coaching the Schuylkill League All-stars in 1977 and 1978, and coached the M.A.C.K. Legion baseball team for two years and was selected to coach in the East-West All Star Game in 1978.

Ed and his wife Louise live in Mount Carmel and are the parents of Edward ,III and Maria and proud grandparents of Cameron Michalski.