'I love baseball': Former Ellet, Hoban coach John Sarver retires after 43 seasons

After a successful run that started during the Jimmy Carter presidency, John Sarver is retiring as a high school baseball head coach.

Sarver compiled a record of 627 wins and 392 losses in 43 seasons as a baseball coach. It would have been 44 seasons, but the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sarver, 69, spent the past 24 seasons leading Ellet to a 379-247 record.

"As of right now, I would say I am retiring from coaching high school baseball," Sarver said. "I can't see myself getting back into it at Ellet or anywhere else at this point. Things can change. I love baseball. I still play a little bit [in adult leagues in Akron and Cleveland]. If I was going to be a coach again, it might be as an assistant somewhere.

"... I have grandsons that are 8 and 9. That is part of the reason. I like the idea of maybe helping them more in the spring and summers, especially in the spring when they are playing most of their games. I missed a number of them last year because I was coaching a high school team. I really enjoying working with my grandsons. They are always going, 'Hey, let's play catch or let's do this.'"

Sarver got his start as a baseball head coach at Kenmore for one season in 1980. He then guided Archbishop Hoban for five seasons from 1981-1985, spent two season at Buchtel in 1986 and 1987 and returned to the Hoban dugout for 11 seasons as the Knights coach from 1988-1998.

Sarver's Hoban teams won four district championships (1981, 1983, 1985, 1993), one regional title (1993) and finished as Division II state runner-up in 1993.

Sarver moved to his alma mater, Ellet, in 1999 and spent 25 years as head coach with 24 seasons on the diamond as the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sarver's Ellet baseball teams won 18 City Series regular season championships, 15 league postseason titles and two Division I sectional titles (2001, 2022).

"It is a strange thought to not be coaching in the spring," Sarver said. "I really loved having practices. I loved indoor practices where I would write out what we were going to do that day, who was going to pitch off the portable mound in the gym, who was going to throw a bullpen that day and how we were going to hit in practice, what drills were we going to work on with hitting and fielding. I think I am going to miss that more than even writing out a lineup before a game." 

Sarver said he notified Ellet principal Kimberly Sabetta and Akron Public Schools Athletic Director Joe Vassalotti of his decision to retire last week.

"We greatly appreciate all that coach Sarver has done for Ellet's baseball program the past 25 years, including his unofficial role as head groundskeeper," Vassalotti said. "His time, energy, and first-class approach to coaching the Ellet baseball players have been impressive to say the least. Beyond the championships and other significant victories, he has provided these young men a positive role model and taught them life lessons which will endure."

John Sarver enjoyed 43-year run as Ellet assistant football coach

Sarver was an assistant football coach at Ellet for 43 seasons, from 1979-2016 under former coach Joe Yost and from 2017-2021 under former coach Chuck Shuman. Ellet went 253-178-2 from 1979-2021.

"John is respected by anyone who has ever worked with him in anyway," said Yost, a 1971 Ellet graduate. "He is a gentleman and his goal is to be a positive example for his boys. He is a very, very special person. John is a man of integrity. He is the gold standard that we look at. He has a wonderful family.

"... All of the coaches I worked with were outstanding people. I couldn't ask for anybody better than John, Chuck, Billy Lehman and my brother, Gary."

Sarver worked with defensive backs, kickers and quarterbacks, helping Ellet make OHSAA playoff appearances in Division I (1991) and in Division II (2012, 2013 and 2020), and win two outright City Series football championships and share six other league titles.

"In my years working with John in football and beside him during the spring with him coaching baseball and myself coaching softball, his ability to teach and relate to individuals was outstanding," Shuman said. "He always had time for every player who asked for assistance. From the team aspect, it was assured that his teams would be the best they could be. It was an honor to work with John for 37 years on the football field and to be a spectator of his success on the baseball diamond."

Sarver, a 1973 Ellet graduate, is a member of the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame (1994), Summit County Sports Hall of Fame (2014) and Northeast Ohio Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2016). He credited longtime assistants Ron Westren, Scott Swan and Dave Sargent for always being helpful.

"I started coaching with John in 2000, so I was with him for 24 years," said Westren, a 1978 Ellet graduate. "John is an amazing coach. He is an amazing person and an amazing friend. I knew of John, but I really didn't know John until I started coaching with him. It is funny — the first practice we had, he came up to me and said, 'Hey, I don't only want you to coach, I want you to overcoach.' I thought, 'I don't know if I really believe that.' True to his word, that is what he wanted.

"He made it easy for all of us to go out and teach fundamentals and coach baseball players. He is a great guy to work with. He would listen to you. He had his own way of doing things, but if we had ideas he would listen and if they were good ideas he would take them. He was always approachable and easy to work for."

Westren also plays on an adult baseball team with Sarver on Sundays.

"He is my pitcher and I am his catcher," Westren said.

John Sarver spent 35 years teaching in Akron Public Schools

Sarver taught 35 years in Akron Public Schools, retiring after the 2014-2015 school year. He spent his final 16 years teaching eighth grade science at Hyre Middle School.

"Of all the teaching jobs I had, it was probably the most fun because I enjoy teaching students at that age in the middle school," Sarver said. "I really got into and loved teaching science because you can come up with things once in awhile that 'wow' kids, whether it is an experiment or telling them information that they might not have known."

Prior to Hyre, Sarver taught industrial arts at Goodyear Middle School and at Buchtel High School and occupational work adjustment at South Alternative School and at Buchtel High School.

Sarver also served as a high school basketball referee for 32 years, stepping aside after the 2013-2014 school year. He mainly worked basketball games in Summit, Portage and Wayne counties, including three games that included LeBron James.

"That was really fun," Sarver said of being a ref. "I coached football in the fall with Joe Yost at Ellet, then I would referee basketball games in the winter and then I would coach the baseball team at Ellet. I did that for basically 32 straight years. It was fun. I really enjoyed the coaching, but the basketball gave me exercise. It gave me something to do and made the winters go really fast."

Family and baseball are big parts of John Sarver's life

Sarver's wife, Janis, graduated from Ellet in 1976 and their daughters, Julianne and Kristin, are 2002 and 2005 Ellet graduates, respectively.

Sarver said he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, daughters, son-in-laws Mark Leffler and Brian Rummer and five grandchildren: Lauren (7 months), Kate (6), Logan (8), Drew (9) and Leah (11).

Sarver earned three letters apiece in football and baseball at Ellet, and was an All-City Series and All-Metro League selection in both sports. He played quarterback, safety, kicker and punter in football and was a right-handed pitcher and outfielder in baseball.

Sarver played two years of college baseball apiece at Valencia Community College in Orlando, Fla., and at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn.

He earned a bachelors degree from Austin Peay State University in 1978 and a master’s degree from Kent State University in 1979.

Sarver coached three players at Hoban — Kenny Robinson, Joe Cotton and Chris Steinborn — who were drafted by a Major League Baseball team. Cotton and Jason Calvin guided Hoban's 1993 state runner-up team. Future coaches Kenny Linn (Tallmadge baseball) and Dan DeGeorge (Lake football) were also standouts under Sarver.

“Looking at this year's Hoban team, I coached Michael Ciavolella, Parker Falkenstein, Grady Falkenstein and Zack Zimmerman’s dads [Dominic Ciavolella, Chris Falkenstein and Tim Zimmerman], and Parker and Grady’s uncle [Keith Falkenstein] at Hoban," Sarver said. "I also coached Masud Jennings’ dad [Markus Jennings] at Buchtel. They are all really good ballplayers. It was so fun seeing their sons playing and being able to still coach and see their fathers come out to games.

“... It was fun to see these young players in the lineup. Janis and I, we kind of chuckle that when you are in this game a long time — you are going to eventually see something like this.”

Sarver's time with Ellet included working with 10 City Series Players of the Year: Kyle Carpenter (2001), Dan Walker (2002), Bryan Howe (2003), Aaron Male (2012), Andrew Myers (2013), Andrew Neal (2014), Jacob Kline (2017), Griffin Malick (2018), Cameron Allen (2022) and Levi Lehman (2023).

“My wife, Janis, would say to me, 'Yeah, you know John, I think we could be doing some other things that are a little more fun in the spring,'" Sarver said with a laugh. "Then she would smile at me and laugh. She knows I love coaching and she knows I really love working on the field and getting it ready. Coaching these kids has been a lot of fun.”

Michael Beaven can be reached at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal and is on Twitter at @MBeavenABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Former Ellet, Hoban baseball head coach John Sarver retires