Crumbley's drive brings Jesuit back to state tournament
The Tigers coach has the same determination he's had since childhood.
By MIKE READLING
Published May 19, 2003
TAMPA - It was hot and humid and way past dark in Miami's Westwood Lakes neighborhood, but a young John Crumbley was still at it. Dinner was just about ready in the house at the top of the driveway, but still the sound resonated in the street.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Strike after strike, right into his father's mitt. After all, the streetlights were on and it wasn't quite bedtime. John Crumbley had the fire, so much so it was going to take more than darkness and hunger pangs to extinguish it.
That fire still pushes Crumbley today and is one of the biggest reasons he's on the verge of winning his fourth state baseball championship, a number that would tie him for the most in Hillsborough County history.
The drive and enthusiasm he developed during those late-night sessions in the 1960s is what forces him to drop to his stomach on a close play at third, his signal for his runner to slide, not to mention an excuse to quit jumping on a chronically sore hip.
Crumbley still throws batting practice before every game. Forty-two years later, the pop is still there.
When the state baseball tournament begins today at Legends Field, the Jesuit coach will be back where he is most comfortable after a three-year absence. Somewhere in the back of his mind will be a sticky night in Westwood Lakes.
"I really think being able to throw - even as fat and out of shape as I am - great batting practice is a tribute to my dad and when we used to go out front under the street lights," Crumbley said.
John Rodney Crumbley, better known as Pops, remembers driving home from his job as store manager at Food Fair and his son John meeting him before he got out of the car. The glove was on and the ball was in hand.
The rule: Young John had to throw a certain number of strikes before he could go into the house and eat dinner. It didn't matter how hot it was, how hungry he was or how dark it was.
If his son was going to do something, he was going to do it full speed.
"Once we were out there, if he wasn't doing particularly well or not paying attention, I'd tell him he had to throw 40 strikes in a row or something like that before he was going in," Pops Crumbley said. "I just insisted he throw with control. That was the key. You don't have to be Einstein to figure this game out."
The Crumbleys moved to Winter Garden when John was 10 and found their way to Town N' Country when he was 12. He graduated from Webb Junior High and played baseball at Town N' Country Little League before enrolling at Leto High as a freshman.
Four years later, Crumbley was one of the best pitchers and infielders in the county. He hit .390 as a senior and was named all-Western Conference. The problem was he stood only 5 feet 9 and weighed 147 pounds.
"He was always very intense and very competitive," said Chuck Yingling, Crumbley's pitching coach at Leto who's now an assistant for Jesuit's junior varsity squad. "He excelled at whatever position he played. He reached higher goals than you expected simply because of his hustle, intensity and work ethic."
After Leto, it was off to Elon (N.C.) College. But the season-opening doubleheader (Feb.26, 1979) was snowed out and the coaches were limiting Crumbley to pitching. He had made a promise to his dad that he would stay at least one year and that was what happened - when Pops arrived at Elon to pick up John for the summer, the 18-year-old had already turned in his scholarship.
A year at Hillsborough Community College and two at the University of Tampa proved to be more successful. The .426 average during his senior season was the highest in UT history and is now fifth on a list behind Tino Martinez, Paul Russo, Neil Maybin and Ronnie Merrill, whom Crumbley coached in high school.
It seemed like the perfect situation for a player to make a run at professional baseball, but Crumbley had other ideas.
"Everybody has professional aspirations, but I had been dating a beautiful girl named Lisa and decided that I probably didn't have a big future running around a ballfield," Crumbley said. "I may have been able to go to Mexico or something, but at that point, I knew I wanted to coach and I was putting myself in position to try and do that."
Mexico never happened. Crumbley married Lisa DeSpirito, a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader, on Aug.7, 1982.
It takes a special person to cope with John Crumbley.
He's disciplined. He's passionate. He pulled a batter this season after one pitch because the player swung at an outside curveball after being warned before the game that anybody who swings at a first-pitch ball was going to be benched.
Crumbley didn't say a word. He just glared and the player walked straight to the dugout.
He's sometimes loud, always superstitious. He's fiery and competitive ("If we were playing checkers or backgammon and he was losing he would "accidentally' bump the board or something," Lisa Crumbley said). He tells bad jokes.
But the underlying theme is he cares about every person on his team, in his family and at his school. He demands respect but gives it in equal doses.
"I don't know of anybody else that is more passionate about the game than he is," Jesuit pitching coach Bob Weiner said. "That passion follows through in not allowing us to be anything but excellent. His passion is a drive for the kids to not be okay, not be mediocre, not be average."
Last year, Weiner and Crumbley were in the stands at Legends Field watching a state tournament game, still stinging over their region semifinal loss a week before. Crumbley handed Weiner a game ball he picked up and told him to keep it until this season so the Tiger pitchers could warm up during the week leading up to the state championship with the same kind of ball they use at the tournament.
Such planning and confidence has led to stats like these: three players drafted in the first round of the major league draft; 15 straight seasons in the region playoffs; a 35-10 postseason record; Baseball America's National Championship in 1997 with a 34-3 record and an overall record of 490-138.
"He is the epitome of what baseball is as far as success in his team," Yingling said. "If you don't set the goal to be able to compete with Jesuit, then you're not going to have a great baseball program."
J.J. Crumbley, that's John Joseph, better known as the coach's son, knows about his father's love for the game. He also knows about his wrath when something doesn't go the way it's supposed to on the field.
Against Clearwater Central Catholic, Coach Crumbley used a visit to the mound to summon the infield and yell at J.J. after a couple of fielding miscues. It was a non-district game in the middle of spring break.
"We talk baseball all the time. Anything and everything. We go play by play through the games again and again and again, talk about all the outs, all the strikeouts. What pitches were good here, what pitches were good there," J.J. said. "When I get down on myself he's my motivation, he's one of the reasons I play."
The air will be hot and most likely humid, and once again it will be dark Wednesday night. But there will be John Crumbley, 42 years old, throwing strikes in batting practice as his team prepares for Miami Belen Jesuit.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Westwood Lakes in the late 1960s will seem like a million miles away. In reality, it will be right there at Legends Field.
Legends Field, an appropriately named place for a coach such as Crumbley to end a season.
