'They're super excited about this and I am, too': Field's Joe Peterson honored Wednesday
His high school coach, Larry Wiles, was inducted into the Northeast Ohio Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame that day. His longtime assistant, Keith Bowers, earned Division II Assistant Coach of the Year honors.
A plaque-free Peterson probably preferred the spotlight shining elsewhere.
But the longtime Field baseball coach couldn’t avoid it forever.
On Wednesday, following a season in which he led the Falcons to their first district title, Peterson was recognized as the NEOBCA Division II Coach of the Year.
After his wife and three kids watched him receive his award Wednesday, Peterson recalled the sacrifices his wife has made, most recently racing around to drop their kids off in numerous locations before venturing over to Bob Cene Park in Struthers to see Field finally break through for its first district title.
“I think they're super excited about this and I am, too,” Peterson said. “I just appreciate the NEOBCA considering me. It's pretty cool.”
As humble as Peterson was Wednesday, his former football coach, Matt Furino, who now helps Peterson out with the baseball program, said that Peterson's accomplishments with the Falcons have been immense.
“I really see him as someone who's developed this program,” Furino said. “Field baseball has always been good all the way back to even when I played in the '80s, but Joe's done something with this team now that's made it like a standard, like it's something special to be a Field baseball player and I feel like that's what I see when he coaches. I feel like he feels like it's something special for him to be the head coach. It's something special to put on the red and white and go out and play and I think his players respect that and that's why they play so hard for him.”
Joe Peterson was a multi-sport star for Field
These days, Peterson is a fixture in the dugout.
Back in 1999, Peterson achieved widespread renown with what he did on the football field.
After he didn't even come out for football as a sophomore, Peterson returned to the sport as a junior, promptly earning first team all-league honors at defensive back.
That wasn't enough for Peterson.
"He literally said these words, 'I want to be the best running back in the league next year, what do I have to do?'" Furino recalled. "And I said you got to get bigger."
So Peterson worked out in the mornings as part of Field's "breakfast club" in the weight room.
Per Furino, Peterson put on roughly 40 pounds in the offseason, then had a season for the ages.
"[He] just did everything and then that year just blew up, man," Furino said. "We probably wouldn't have won a game that year if we didn't have him. He was that dominant."
After that spectacular senior season, Peterson played football at Malone University.
But baseball never left his heart.
“Baseball was my love,” Peterson said. “That's all I wanted to do. When I was in the backyard, it was just me and my mom, no brothers and sisters, I was in the backyard, throwing up the baseball, hitting it up and down the hill all day long. That's what I did.”
There was nothing fancy, Peterson said.
No tee.
Just a couple of baseballs and a “really big backyard” to knock the ball around at their Suffield duplex.
Bowers also played a big role in Peterson’s early baseball career, coaching him at a young age.
Playing for Bowers, Peterson was quickly exposed to a lot of winning baseball.
And he quickly developed his own style.
“I always played like I was the dirtiest kid on the field,” Peterson said. “Like I was the kid that was sweating all over the place and hands are sweating and never wore batting gloves, didn't have batting gloves, so you'd put your hands down in the dirt, cover up your sweat and then wipe them all over you, and let's go play.”
Joe Peterson brings grit, winning ways to the dugout
To no one’s surprise, Peterson's grit carried into the dugout.
Essentially brought into coaching right after his playing career at Malone concluded, Peterson had no shortage of great coaches to learn from, whether it was Bowers or Furino or longtime Field basketball coach Craig Nettleton.
“I really think that Joey's one of the best coaches that's ever been at Field and we've had some really good coaches,” Furino said. “I see Craig Nettleton in him and Craig was just a tremendous coach. I see parts of Craig in him. Unfortunately, I see some parts of myself in there, and I see Keith Bowers, who coached him in summer league and has been with him all these years, who's a tremendous Christian, tremendous guy. Joe's taken all the good things from those people and really made himself a premier coach.”
Peterson, for his part, chuckles when asked about his coaching influences.
“I don't know which one,” Peterson said. “I'd like to say a mixture of all of them with a gritty toughness of Joe Peterson.”
Before long, however, Peterson deflects again, noting the success the program had already attained before he took over the helm. He noted the coaches that preceded him at Field and those who have served beside him, as well as other area head coaches he has learned from, including Mike Haney at Roosevelt and Dennis Dever at Woodridge.
“Other than that, we try to major on the minors,” Peterson said. “[We] just try to be tough and know that things aren't always going to go your way, but we're going to fight for it and we're going to earn it.”
And as Peterson noted Wednesday, to earn it with the Falcons is particularly special.
“I was blessed and fortunate to be back and continue here and now my boys bleed the same red and black that I do,” Peterson said. “So it is special and I'm glad that I never left when I had those opportunities to go to a couple different schools and teach and coach because it is special.”
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Field baseball coach Joe Peterson honored as NEOBCA Coach of the Year
