Zambanini enjoying final season at the helm of the Conemaugh Township baseball program

DAVIDSVILLE — Conemaugh Township baseball coach Sam Zambanini earned career victory No. 448 on Monday, when his squad defeated former WestPAC foe and rival, Windber 4-1.

Zambanini has produced plenty of winning programs during his tenure at Conemaugh Township. The 2024 team will be the final one of his 33-year career. Zambanini will retire from teaching and step down as head coach at the end of the season.

It has been an impressive run for Zambanini, who has certainly left a lasting legacy.

"If you would have told me in 1992, when I started that I'd still be doing it in 2024, I would have said, 'You were crazy,'" Zambanini said. "It's been a fantastic ride. Obviously, just like anything else, it's the people that you get to know and have relationships with. It's the players that move on, not necessarily all the baseball players, but we've had three players drafted. Just to watch the guys that are successful who get out of here. Some of them that didn't have it so good with their families, but then they go on and have success, have families and are good family men. That's fun to watch. We have great success stories here."

Conemaugh Township has only 14 rostered players this season. However, the team improved to 13-2 and currently sits atop the Heritage Conference standings. Despite the low numbers, the lineups Zambanini sends out are delivering.

"This has been a fun bunch to be around," Zambanini said. "We don't have a lot of them, but we've got some guys that can play. They are very talented at the game. We didn't know before the season started if we'd have enough guys. We recruited the halls. It does help that I don't have to throw as much batting practice every day. There is a good mix. The seniors are great leaders, and they do it right. We have a good sophomore group. It has been a fun year so far."

Football legacy: Relationships give Zambanini a coaching career to remember

Zambanini also coached football for 22 years at Conemaugh Township over two stints. He spent nearly 40 years on the sidelines in total. He coached two seasons at Conemaugh Township in 1987 and 1988, then returned after Jerry Davitch stepped down following the 1998 season. Zambanini won 119 games and three District 5 titles.

Whether it's the diamond, the gridiron or molding the young minds as a health and physical education teacher, Conemaugh Township will always hold a special place in Zambanini's heart.

"I grew up in the community. It's a community that rallies behind each other," Zambanini said of what makes Conemaugh Township special. "It's a great place to work. You can go elsewhere and make more money, but I don't know if you're going to find a better atmosphere to work in than what we have here. We still have enough of those blue-collar, hardworking kids that want to work at it and get it done. That's what pushed us on to success in football and baseball. The community support has been great, and we've had some talented kids. You can't do it without that."

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Zambanini's son Arek is a first-year head baseball coach at Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Laredo, Texas. His daughter, Kayla, is the head athletic trainer at Texas A&M International University. It's likely Zambanini will spend plenty of time in Texas, especially during the cold Pennsylvania winters.

"It can be challenging coaching baseball here," Zambanini said. "I can remember when my son came and told me he was going to Texas to play. I asked him why, and he told me it was because he hated to practice in a gym. I couldn't argue with that. Baseball is not meant for inside, but you've got to do it when you're here in western Pennsylvania. There are challenges, but we've tried to prepare them for every game. We've met that challenge more often than not."

There are plenty of moments off the diamond that Zambanini will be unable to replace when he steps down from his post.

"I am going to miss hanging with the guys," he said. "It's not necessarily the coaching part and the practices. We take vans to games this year with the small group. It's a different atmosphere on the vans. I can tell you stories about how guys would be on the bus, how close teams were, how they'd dance on the bus, but the van is fun, too. You are closer to them and more involved in it. The relationships are what I am going to miss the most.

"There's going to be baseball in Texas. There might be a shot that I might be involved with something down there. I'm not giving up on anything, yet. Baseball will be baseball, but hanging out with these guys is special. In 30-plus years, there haven't been many years where when it's over, you're happy it's over, because most of the groups have been like this one. They have been exceptional."

Zambanini has been a pillar of the community, Somerset County and beyond.

"I get people saying all the time, 'Well, you have the most baseball and football wins at Conemaugh Township, and you have the most baseball wins in Somerset County,'" Zambanini said. "That's not what I set out to do this for. I came to do this because I was paying it forward for the guys that did it for me, coached for me, the officials that did it for me, so I could play the game. That's what I set out to do. It wasn't to break records and be the most winningest.

"What I really hope is that there's a lot of guys that have come through the football program and baseball program here ‒ and I know there are because they've come back and told me ‒ that I affected their life in a positive way and helped them in some way be better at life."

Adam Ripple is the Daily American sports editor. He can be reached at 814-444-5926. Follow him on X @ARipple_DAsport. Follow Daily American Sports on Facebook and @dailyamericanmedia on Instagram.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Sam Zambanini putting finishing touches on historic coaching career