Varsity 541

Dominiak, Schneider set to be honored by peers

Text Size: A | A | A

 Print this Article
 Email this Article
 Respond to this Article

Recognition wasn't the reason Chuck Dominiak and Don Schneider gave their time to the Rogue Valley baseball community, but that's exactly what they're in store for Nov. 14.

They will be part of a five-member class set for induction in the Oregon High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville.

Dominiak will be one of three coaches honored, along with former Sutherlin coach Joe Jaukkuri and Junction City's Cal Fagan. Schneider and Pete Ward of Portland will receive merit awards for their contributions.

Dominiak and Schneider each were taken by surprise when they received notice of their impending honors, but each is grateful.

"That was completely unexpected," Dominiak said from his Las Vegas home on Monday. "It kinda brought tears to the old eyes. When you go into coaching, you never expect anything like this. There's so many good coaches like (Medford's Jim McAbee) and (Klamath Union's Dave Steen), and you don't even think you're in the same classification as those guys. I just appreciate these people even considering me."

Dominiak guided the Crater High baseball program for 19 years before retiring in 2003. Under him, the Comets reached the state playoffs 15 times, winning a state title in 2000. His teams posted six consecutive 20-win seasons from 1996 to 2001.

Prior to coming to Crater in 1982, Dominiak was an assistant coach for five years at Sweet Home and then spent five more years directing the Brookings-Harbor program.

"I remember my first year there at Crater," said Dominiak, who turns 60 in January. "Medford was Medford and Jim McAbee was coaching and beat us up pretty good. I went home thinking, 'Geez, maybe I'm over my head here.' Then you keep working on it and pretty soon we got some good assistants and loyal players and things improved and everything just clicked after that."

A prominent memory of Dominiak's, beyond winning a state championship, was when he started incorporating a team breakfast Saturday mornings before Crater's games.

"I thought the kids weren't eating breakfast the way they should, and Hans Smith Sr. convinced me to just go ahead and have a breakfast for everyone," said Dominiak. "For the last eight or nine years there, my wife would make breakfast for all the kids and coaches. They'd all come to the house around 7:30 in the morning and it just got to be one of the things we enjoyed doing."

Truth be told, Dominiak said he was pretty uptight in the early stages of the breakfast gatherings, spending much of his time stewing over how they should all be out getting the field ready to play and doing more to get ready for the games.

"But the more we did that, it dawned on me to relax a little bit," he added. "The kids really enjoyed it and looked forward to it, and I think the whole thing really loosened me up. I was so tightly wound back then, it really helped me not be so uptight."

That's not to say Dominiak didn't run a tight ship. A self-described "old-time discipline guy," Dominiak said the first advice he'd give to any new coach is to incorporate discipline and have a set of rules that are clear and unwavering. Stressing execution was a staple in his near 30 years of coaching.

"Toward my last eight to 10 years at Crater, you'd run practice efficiently and demand more of the kids at practice so they enjoyed the games," he said. "We always put more pressure on the kids to execute in practice and if they didn't do it, it was just between the team and the coaches and we would run them until they got it right. Then at game time, we'd just tell them to just go out and enjoy it."

Dominiak said he was particularly proud of Crater's ability to have success in a loaded Southern Oregon Conference.

"The league we were in was tougher than heck," he said. "I always enjoyed that and I think that kinda makes the kids better and makes the coaching better, too, because you have to be on your toes at all times."

Dominiak moved to Las Vegas in 2005 to be closer to his two daughters and grandchildren. He later "got bored" and started his own pool cleaning company.

Schneider's impact on Southern Oregon baseball has been less visible than Dominiak's but not less important.

He has served as a scorekeeper for the North Medford baseball team since offering up his services to McAbee in 1986 and has been the volunteer general manager of the Medford Mustangs American Legion program since taking over full-time for John Purcell in 1988.

Schneider's passion for keeping score originated when he went to games at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, and he found himself going to the Medford High games once he returned to the area in 1982.

"I asked Jim if he'd like a professional scorekeeper since he didn't have anyone keeping the book for him, and he said, 'What do you mean, do you want to get paid?'" recalled Schneider. "I told him I didn't want to get paid, I'd just be glad to keep score for him. And that's how it all started."

Schneider has since added scorekeeping duties for the North Medford football and boys basketball teams to his volunteer efforts.

"I just always have kept score at games I've gone to," he said. "I like the kids and I like the coaches, and it's a fun thing for me."

The same goes for his role with the Mustangs, who finished as the national runner-up this past summer. Former coach Leo Noahr and then-GM Purcell asked if he'd be willing to assist with the program, and he jumped at the chance in 1986. As a former Mustangs player himself, Schneider knew of the program's benefits and it certainly fit in with his love of baseball.

After a couple years working alongside Purcell, Schneider eventually took over as GM and has been a prominent figure in the lives of some of Southern Oregon's finest ever since.

"It's nice to work with kids that you don't read bad things about in the newspaper down the road," added Schneider, who turned 76 in June. "These are all just really good kids, and the work ethic with all the coaches has always impressed me and I like being a part of it."

The Hall of Fame induction banquet is open to the public and will begin at 6:15 p.m. with a no-host social and a dinner at 7. Cost is $35 per person. For tickets or more information, contact Pete Ness at peterj.ness@comcast.net.

u

X-RAYS ON THE foot injury sustained by South Medford quarterback Josh Milhollin during last Friday's loss at Roseburg revealed mostly good news, according to Panthers head coach Bill Singler on Monday.

Milhollin's foot is not broken and is being treated more like an arch sprain on the top of his foot. Although the senior is cleared to play in this week's regular-season finale, that doesn't necessarily mean he'll be able to. His ability to tolerate the pain will be chief in deciding if he gets behind center on Friday.

"He's got to treat it," said Singler. "He's going to have some pain and he's been icing it, and we won't be asking him to do any running or anything on it this week."

Should Milhollin not be able to play, the Panthers would again turn to current wide receiver Allen Fitzsimmons to step in and play quarterback.

Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail khenry@mailtribune.com