How a Peoria native returned Air Force Academy to the pinnacle of college boxing

Blake Baldi learned how to grapple with competitive challenges as a wrestler at Notre Dame High School in Peoria.

The Peoria native has gone on to a career that packs a punch, though, as head coach of the boxing team at the United States Air Force Academy.

Baldi just led the Air Force men to the 2023 National Collegiate Boxing Association championship in mid-April.

"The NCBA was founded after the NCAA dropped boxing in the late 1960s because of a death of a boxer in Michigan," Baldi said. "This is the highest level of collegiate boxing. Our men's team was launched in 1980 and has a great history on a national level."

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That history includes 20 national team championships and 37 top-two finishes in 41 years.

"I think boxing is about being one-on-one with another man or woman in a ring, the test that it provides for you mentally or physically," Baldi said. "It's what you can learn about yourself, how to think and act under pressure.

"It reveals a lot."

Two legends add up to one great coach

Baldi's story includes playing for one legend and following in the footsteps of another.

Baldi attended grade school in Metamora — his mother and father still live there — and attended Notre Dame High School, where he graduated in 2001.

He wrestled at Notre Dame under legendary Kevin Burk, the now-retired coach who led the Irish team for 44 years, during which his teams produced 705 dual meet wins (second all-time in IHSA history), 35 state qualifiers, 13 IHSA state place-winners, and one IHSA state champion.

"Coach Burk at ND inspired me to teach," Baldi said. "I was a sophomore in college when I knew I wanted to do this. I was just lucky enough in my life and career to get the chance. But when I look back at it, Kevin Burk is a big piece of who I am, what I do."

At Air Force Academy, he followed another legend. Boxing head coach Eddie Weichers was at the helm at the academy from 1976-2014 while the program won 19 national titles.

Baldi boxed for the Academy, then joined Weichers as an assistant coach and took over as new head coach in 2015.

"A little bit tough following a legacy like that," Baldi said. "But I learned so much from him, and I was ready."

Boxing, coaching, Korea and Iraq

Baldi graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2005 and was on active duty for eight years, rising to the rank of captain as a communications and cyber officer. He was assigned duty as officer in charge of combat equipment at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina in 2005.

In 2007, he was deployed to Iraq during the surge, came back to the Academy, then finished his service in 2012-13 assigned to the Eighth Communications Squadron, Eighth Fighter Wing at Kunsan Air Base, in the Republic of Korea, where he was commander of the operations flight. He was responsible for directing operations and providing air traffic control and landing systems capabilities to the wing.

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At the Academy, Baldi earned a bachelor's degree in management. He went on to earn a master's of education, with distinction, from DePaul in 2014. That year, he joined USA Boxing, where he served as a high performance associate and national team manager. He was responsible for strategic-level athlete development and preparation for the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympic Games.

In addition, he managed team travel and coordinated athlete preparation for over 30 boxers competing in 14 different competitions in eight countries.

He worked with elite male and female boxers at USA Boxing. He was the manager of the USA Knockouts, a World Series of Boxing team which qualified six men for the 2015 Pan American Games.

At Air Force Academy, everyone boxes

One seldom-known thing about the U.S. Air Force Academy is that boxing is a mandatory class for all freshman men and women.

As a cadet at the Academy, Baldi claimed the Wing Open and NCBA titles in the 147-pound weight division, and he began with those classes.

"I fell in love with it," Baldi said. "Weischers was my instructor. I enjoyed him and the program, so I decided to go out for the boxing team. I had the wrestling background. I ended up a preferred walk-on here to the program."

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Now Baldi teaches boxing as part of physical education classes. Women have been part of a co-ed physical education program at the Academy since 2016, and a women's boxing team launched four years ago.

In mid-April, the women finished third in the NCBA, their highest finish ever.

Building a program and a family

Baldi, 39, is building a family at home, with his wife, Andrea. They have a daughter, Thea, 2. And later this summer they will welcome a son.

In the boxing ring, meanwhile, the Academy coach is building a program — and a trophy case. The 2023 NCBA national title was Air Force's first since 2012.

The team produced four individual national champions, including repeat titles for senior Walker Morris at 195 pounds and junior Victor Benitez at heavyweight, plus first-time winners sophomore Luke Kohout (147) and junior Jacob Mendoza (175). Air Force walked off with all-America honors for three men and three women.

"I love the teaching," Baldi said. "Boxing at the Academy is geared toward novices, not Olympic athletes.

"It's something everyone does."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: College boxing: Peoria native Blake Baldi coaches Air Force to NCBA title