Mark Kish graduated from Boyertown High School in the mid-1970s, went to play baseball at the University of South Carolina and has lived down south ever since.
But he never forgot Richard “Dick” Ludy, his junior high physical education teacher and American Legion baseball coach, a man that had such an impact on the boy’s life that Kish credits Ludy for inspiring him to become an elementary P.E. teacher and coach in his own career.
Ludy died on Sept. 26 in Sanatoga at the age of 88. He is survived by his wife, Faye, sons Brian, Chris and Jason, their spouses and children. In addition to his own family that he leaves behind, Ludy had countless surrogate children that he helped guide and mold as a P.E. teacher in the Boyertown School District for 23 years.
“There are people in your life who you don’t forget, and he was one of them in mine,” Kish said by phone from South Carolina on Monday night.
Perhaps where Ludy made his biggest impact in the community was as a baseball coach, both with Boyertown American Legion (1971-85) and Boyertown High School (1974-85). At the high school level, Ludy won 248 games stacked against only 12 losses, winning eight Ches-Mont championships, three District One titles and the 1981 PIAA state crown.
He presided over the golden age of Boyertown Legion ball, quite possibly the most successful program in the national organization’s history. Ludy compiled an overall record of 630-112, with a 313-29 mark in the Berks County American Legion League. Ludy guided the Bears to 14 Berks County League Titles, nine state titles, four Mid-Atlantic Regional Titles and four American Legion World Series appearances: 1977, runner-ups in 1980 and 1983 and winning the 1982 World Series right here at the then brand-new Bear Stadium.
Kish remembered Ludy as “kind and friendly, someone who treated you like a person but also knew how to get his point across if you needed a talking to.” He was a coach who not only coached his players baseball, but tried to get them ready for life after high school and athletics.
Ed Schiavo played on that first World Series team in 1977 and owns the distinction of being the first player Ludy coached who got drafted professionally. When he was 18, Schiavo was drafted by the New York Yankees and intended to sign a contract with a scout who was driving in from Harrisburg. But before the scout could arrive at Schiavo’s apartment, Ludy and his coaching staff showed up and talked Schiavo into using his final year of Legion eligibility to refine his pitching arsenal and hold off on signing.
The scout was understandably furious, and Schiavo said many Boyertown residents at the time perceived Ludy’s act as selfishly holding back a player from his dream just to have him for another season of Legion ball. Not so, says Schiavo.
“I never felt like he was stealing my dream away,” Schiavo said. “I’m thankful I played that last year. I was drafted again, matured another year and in my view became an even better pitcher. Dick Ludy was the most driven coach I ever played for. He guided me as I developed, pitching-wise. It was a really fun experience for me; it’s something I’ll never forget and am thankful that I was able to be a part of it.”
From a coaching perspective, Ludy didn’t reinvent the wheel. The game of baseball is much different today and is coached as such with its high velocity pitchers and analytical technologies for hitters, but in Ludy’s era he was as old school as they came. He coached fundamentals – bunting, exceptional defense, creating havoc on the basepaths and pounding the strike zone as pitchers. Kish said Ludy taught “pressure baseball,” because if you perfect the fundamentals and use them as a means to inflict pressure on an opponent, then they, as kids, would not yet be equipped to handle such stress.
And it worked.
“It was kind of mean,” laughed John Ludy, Dick’s nephew who played for his uncle during Boyertown’s World Series blitz in the early 80s. “He’d get these kids (on the other team) to not respond well to pressure and make them throw the ball around the park and rag on them. That’s what he figured out. It might not be the prettiest and it wouldn’t play the same way today, but he honed it to perfection. It wasn’t sexy, but it was a privilege to play on those teams.”
As much as the sport has evolved and changed throughout the years, baseball is still baseball, especially in Boyertown. Schiavo called the small town “a mecca for baseball nationwide,” and Ludy was at the forefront of a brand of baseball that is still taught today, at least in some capacities, at both the high school and Legion levels.
And Ludy had more far-reaching impact than just his tutelage on the baseball diamond.
“He was very instrumental in me getting into education and coaching,” Kish said. “And Dick treated me like a person even after my playing days were over. He always made contact, even after our work together as player and coach was over. He didn’t just say, ‘OK, you’re done,’ and move on to the next person. I remained in his life and vice versa until he passed.
“I’ve been down here almost 50 years now, but he’s just a person you don’t forget.”
As Schiavo put it, Ludy was someone who “absolutely lived baseball and knew it well” and was “obsessed with fundamentals.” But there was another side to Ludy as well. John Ludy fondly remembers riding bikes with his uncle and cousins and spent so much time over at their house that he still remembers the phone number off the top of his head.
“There was real depth to him, more than people realized,” John said. “Maybe it didn’t look that way from the outside, but he was very caring underneath. It’s not like he knew everything. He was very open to other people’s thoughts and was a learner of what worked and what was effective. He was very generous and humble.
“As he got older, I’d visit him a lot. The last time I talked to him, it was about forgiveness, God, salvation. I was honored that he would come to me with questions about that kind of stuff.”
Richard “Dick” Ludy was many things: teacher, coach, father, grandfather, husband, Army veteran and graduate of both West Chester State University and Temple University. He was involved with his church, loved to read biographies and history books and was an avid fan of Phillies, Eagles and 76ers.
As John Ludy said, baseball wasn’t Dick’s identity. It was, however, the vehicle he used to touch the most lives. A Sept. 30 post by The Boyertown Bears Legion Team concluded by saying:
“A way to sum up Coach Ludy’s mark on our program was teaching young men how to play baseball the right way, and passing on his passion for the game to those gentlemen, so they can pass it on to the next generation. His Legacy will last a lifetime because the children of those whose lives he impacted will pass it down for generations to come.”
There was no public service for Ludy, but his loved ones stated that contributions can be made to Canine Companions for Independence or the Alzheimer’s Association in Richard’s memory. To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Originally Published:
