Milestone will be bittersweet
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The fork in the road for Jeff Hogan came in the form of a telephone call he took 27 years ago. On the otherendofthelinewashisold high school coach, Dick Hrlevich.
The hall of fame coach needed someone to coach Mark his freshman Stewart team and he
targeted his former cleanup hitter, who had a passion and enthusiasm for the game that was similar to his own.
“He was the first man I thought of right away,” Hrlevich said.
Two years later, Hrlevich looked to Hogan again. It was 1990, and Hrlevich was retiring from teaching and coaching. When it came to finding his replacement, Hrlevich went to bat for Hogan, telling the school administration Hogan was the right man for the job. They listened.
It’s a big responsibility when you take over for a legend, even more so when that coach handpicks you for the job. It’s an honor that Hogan still takes seriously.
The two have given Hamilton coaching stability that is hard to match. Hamilton opened in the fall of 1966. In its 49 baseball seasons, Hrlevich coached 24 years. Hogan is at 25 years and counting, and with 355 victories, needs just two to pass his coach for the school record.
Hogan could tie Hrlevich as soon as Tuesday against St. Francis.
“I can’t think of another word than bittersweet,” said the 56-year-old Hogan, who was inducted into the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame last year, “because No. 1 being competitive you always want to do your best and one of my goals a long time ago was to try to beat his record.
“But on the other end of it, because of it’s him and all he’s done (it’s tough). He completely changed my entire life when he made that call in 1988 to ask if I wanted to coach and then in 1990 when he referred me to be the varsity coach. My whole life changed for the better because
BREWERS
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Like Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sports to get the latest headlines on your news feed. of that. I have no idea how things would have turned out without that phone call.”
Hogan probably would still be teaching in the Milwaukee Public Schools, perhaps coaching somewhere and umpiring games as he still does. But it’s hard to believe he would have found a better fit than Hamilton.
Long before he enrolled at the school he was a Wildcat. In those days, MPS was built on neighborhood schools, and growing up just 2 miles away it was always understood that Hogan would attend Hamilton. His brother, Dennis, graduated from there in 1970. His sister, Diane, was in the Class of ’72.
Hogan graduated in1976. He played third base for the Wildcats, and as Hrlevich remembers it was the second-leading hitter in the City Conference. He was second-team all-city that year, but only because, as Hrlevich recalls, the guy who led the conference in hitting that season played the same position.
“I would tell them I would rather watch you play a high school game than to watch the Brewers play and I sincerely meant that,” said Hrlevich, 80, who has lived in Arizona for the past15 years. “And Jeff was one of those guys, along with my other seniors, they just did a fantastic job and had a love and dedication to baseball and that is what I saw in him.”
Even now, Hogan hasn’t strayed too far. He has taught health and physical education at Hamilton since 2000. He still lives in the neighborhood about a mile from his childhood home and a mile away from school.
“When you only live a mile away from the school and the field, any time you need to get back and forth, an emergency comes up, something is up with the field, a kid can’t get into the locker room, all those intangibles you need to take care of, it’s just so convenient when you live so close,” he said.
Hogan’s teams reached their peak in the 2000s when they won nine conference titles and reached the state tournament in 2000 and ’04. The 2000 team reached the state semifinals.
That was his first year teaching at Hamilton, his first conference title and the school’s first state appearance since 1972.
“The toughness of that team,” Hogan said. “It was not my most talented team, but they definitely got the most out of their ability and really started a really, really nice trend. From 2000 to 2009, we won the conference every year but 2006, so those guys kind of got the ball rolling.”
Winning is harder these days for City baseball teams and Hamilton hasn’t been totally immune to some of the struggles teams in the league experience. His numbers are smaller and the commitment isn’t what it used to be.
Hogan has had only three losing seasons and none since 1995. Still, he wonders if his time is running out. At the end of the school year, Hogan plans to retire from teaching, and once he is out of the building it couldbeharderforhimtokeep his coaching job.
But whether he coaches or not, expecthogantostayinthe game in some way. He has umpired summer ball and rec leagues for years and has already lined up a job in the spring and summer lining the city’s baseball fields.
Sounds like a pretty sweet gig for a baseball lifer. Send email to mstewart@journal sentinel.com.