Former baseball players show their appreciation to their former coach

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) - To the city of Biloxi, Spud Wieniewitz was the man who coached baseball for years, led the baseball team to 8 championships while changing the sports world in the city.

But to his players, he was a teacher.

“Spud taught us about life as he did baseball,” said Carl Rackley.

“Teaching us to do things the right way no matter what it was. Whether it was school, baseball or life,” said John Welter. “He taught us to do it the right way. He insisted we do it the right way.”

“The effort that went into making sure that us former players could play a game that we loved to play back in our teenage years was incredible,” said Brian Kozlowski.

To Spud, he was trying to pass along what he learned when he was growing up.

“I guess I just had that need to kind of be that person to help these guys, give them a little guidance as they’re growing up where I grew up,” said Spud Wieniewitz.

Spud says he was able to teach his players and bring them to many championships with a little help from his wife.

“She’s been a big guidance in all the things I’ve done and allowed me to coach and be apart of the community like she and I’ve both been being both retired teachers,” said Wieniewitz. “I’m very honored. Very honored and appreciate them saying that I and an impact on them, so I’m just thankful and grateful.”

“He deserves it. We love him. He’s been an extremely influential man in a lot of our lives,” said Kozlowski.

“Thank you Spud. Thank you for everything. We love you,” said Welter.

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