Peters Township’s Maize wins 400th game
Joe Maize marks the passing of time with baseball.
At 62, that’s a lot of years and a lot of baseball. In his 40th year at Peters Township High School, that’s also a ton of coaching victories – 400 to be exact.
Maize reached that milestone when the Indians defeated Steel Valley, 11-7, in a nonsection game March 28. Maize’s record also features eight section banners, two WPIAL championships and two appearances in the state finals.
“Baseball is a great game and it teaches so many different things,” said Maize. “The game has taught me to cherish the relationships and friendships that I have developed with my staff and opposing coaches and most importantly, the players. Throughout my career, I have been blessed with quality kids.
“To be involved in high school athletics for as long as I have been and to be able to go to work every day and have fun, I couldn’t have asked for a better career.”
A great beginning
In 1978, Peters Township School District hired Maize to teach physical education and health at its middle school. Maize embarked on his coaching career, too. serving six seasons as varsity softball coach and gaining insight to the mind of the teenage athlete.
“It was a great, yet unique, experience,” Maize said. “Yes, I did enjoy coaching girls, but there was a level of frustration as I was pretty intense and some of them were not as serious as I wanted them to be. It was a great learning experience.”
He said he has managed “great young ladies” and coached against some of the best opponents. He still maintains friendships with many.
For example, Allison McClure played softball for Maize. She and her husband, Joe, socialize with Maize, today. In fact, McClure’s son, Will, played four years as a catcher on Maize’s baseball teams.
Maize also coached against John Krajnak. He has great respect for the Carmichaels athletic director. Maize, like McClure, does not call him by his first name.
“Allison doesn’t call me Joe. It’s either Coach or Mr. Maize. It’s the same way with me. I go to meetings and banquets with (Krajnak) and I never call him by his first name. It’s either Coach or Mister.”
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After six seasons as the varsity softball coach, Maize moved into the Peters Township High School athletic office. While assisting Jerry DeBolt, he continued to teach three classes and driver’s education.
DeBolt was scheduled to retire in June 1986, but he died that March 25 from a massive heart attack. Maize, who had married his high school sweetheart only two weeks earlier, became the Indians’ athletic director.
For 20 years, he survived in this dual role as baseball coach and AD. He also thrived as husband and father. Joe and Kim Maize have two sons, Aaron, 29, and Ryan, 31.
“It was fun coaching my kids but it also was challenging,” Maize said.
Things became complicated for Maize when he was asked to take full reign as an administrator of the athletic department. Maize simplified his life. He tendered his resignation. Maize wanted to continue coaching even though he was almost at the top of his game, having finished runner-up in the state for the second year in a row. He remembers that morning clearly. It was the Monday after he had just hung two PIAA silver medals around the necks of his sons after a loss to Lampeter-Strasburg, 8-7, at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona.
“To me, that was the highlight,” Maize said of that postgame ceremony. “But why would I want to give up the greatest high school experience of my life as a dad and as a coach.”
So on June 20, 2005, Maize stood up, shook the superintendent’s hand and tendered his letter or resignation as AD. “I never regretted it,” he said.
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Maize never regretted his devotion to baseball. His love affair with the sport started as a youth in the 1960s when his father took him to Pirates games at Forbes Field.
“Those days with my dad were pretty special,” he said. “He’s my hero. It’s pretty memorable when you are able to do things like that with your father.”
Maize grew up playing baseball and basketball at Waynesburg High School, where his father taught and his mother was employed as a nurse. He lettered two years as an outfielder, setting defensive records and earning Golden Gloves while pursuing a degree and his teaching certification from Slippery Rock University.
“Baseball was always important to me but I had a feeling I would stay in the field of education because both my parents were educators,” said the son of Jim and Mid Maize.
As a manager, Maize’s coaching staff means the most to him. Rudy Pokorny and Jack Kerekes have served as assistants for more than two decades. Andy Manion has been on the staff for 15 seasons. Jim Rider, who once played and coached at Bethel Park, is on staff as is Mike DeLucia, who had experience at Baldwin and Canon-McMillan.
“I have one of the best staffs. Coaching with them is as fun now as it was then. I’ve been very fortunate to have them. They love the sport, they love teaching and they love the kids. That makes it fun. They are the reason we are successful.”
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Maize is also successful because of his players. Eight of them have been drafted and three made it to the major leagues: Brian Simmons, Chris Peters and Jordan Jankowski.
Of coaching such standouts, Maize said, “I’m proud, but their success is not because of me. It’s because of their families. Their moms and dads have been so supportive of me and of our programs.”
Coaching has not only enabled Maize to watch his own standout players, it has allowed him to witness feats by “tremendous” athletes throughout the WPIAL.
He recalls epic clashes against Neil Walker. The Pine-Richland graduate currently plays for the New York Yankees. In 2004, the Indians played Walker’s Rams twice. After falling 11-0 in the final regular-season game, Peters Township rebounded to beat Pine-Richland, 8-6, in a PIAA quarterfinal contest at Consol Energy Park. The date was June 7 and the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Walker in the first round of the MLB amateur draft earlier in the day.
“What a memorable moment,” Maize said of the state playoff game. “Neil cranked the next pitch out to right field and into the parking lot. But after Ryan (Maize) led off the next inning with a base hit, Jimmy (Gallagher) crushed a ball in the same identical place Neil did. The place went wild.”
Maize recalled how when he first started managing Peters Township competed against smaller schools in a section comprised of teams from Washington County. Plus, only the section champion advanced to the playoffs.
“You either won the section or you were collecting uniforms. That was more of a challenge.”
In Class 6A Section 3, it is a challenge to earn a playoff spot when the competition is USC, Canon-McMillan, Mt. Lebanon, Baldwin and Bethel Park among others. But Maize never loses sight on the fact the opposing managers are more than foes.
“Even though we are competitive as heck, I have tremendous respect for Patt (McCloskey), Jerry (Malarkey) and Tony (Fisher). When Frank (Zebrasky) coached at Canon-Mac, we’d even go out after a game and have a beer. Sure, you hated to lose to these guys but the amount of respect I have for them is immeasurable. It’s been fun competing against those guys.”
For Maize, the competition is far from finished. He has no intentions of hanging up his uniform any time soon.
“It’s funny, the first question people ask me is, ‘How long are you going to do this?’ and my response is always, ‘Until it’s not fun anymore.'”