Mike Coolbaugh was a standout athlete at Roosevelt High School, an all-city quarterback and a baseball player good enough to earn a scholarship offer from UT-Austin.

Perhaps the most notable moment in his high school career came at halftime of a district football game in 1989 against Judson, when Roosevelt coach John Ferrara threw a clipboard that struck Coolbaugh.

“He just got excited and threw that clipboard, and I just happened to be in the way,” Coolbaugh later said of the incident, which ended Ferrara's public-school coaching career.

Coolbaugh's playing career spanned 17 seasons, 18 teams and nine big-league organizations, including 39 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 2001 and five for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2002.

“He never wanted to get out of baseball,” former Toronto Blue Jays vice president Al LaMacchia said. “I'm glad he got to play at least a little bit in the major leagues, because he loved the game so much.”

David King | 210SA Contributor