Mark Cummins never saw this coming. Last Saturday, the Live Oak High baseball program honored Cummins before its annual alumni game, retiring his No. 17 jersey in a ceremony that caught the longtime coach and teacher off guard.
“I was totally blindsided,” said Cummins, who coached the baseball team from 1987 to 2011, amassing 462 wins, ten league titles and guiding the Acorns to the 2008 Central Coast Section championship, the lone section title for baseball in school history. “I was very surprised and very honored. It’s not something I was looking to get, but it was very special. They say there is no crying in baseball, but the honor was getting to me a little bit. I was trying to hold it together, and I was deeply honored. Having some of my former players there was a really cool deal.”
Live Oak coach Matt Brotherton helped spearhead the event, as he reasoned it would be a perfect way to honor Cummins since the 2008 team was also going to be honored for winning the CCS title 10 years ago. Brotherton played under Cummins in 1987, and later coached under him as the junior varsity coach.
Safe to say, Cummins had a huge impact on countless individuals. Several people heaped praise upon Cummins in the ceremony, with DUB Baseball’s Erik Wagle giving perhaps the biggest compliment.
“He taught us to treat players the right way, and he’s definitely the Godfather of baseball in this area,” Wagle said.
Even though Cummins hasn’t coached baseball in a while, he still remains active and visible at Live Oak, serving as the girls tennis coach in the fall, the boys golf coach in the spring along with being a P.E. teacher. Brotherton, who was a senior in 1987, said the fact Cummins did not judge him and showed grace is something he’ll never forget.
“I didn’t do well in the classroom in my junior year, so I didn’t play on the team that year,” Brotherton said. “But he gave me a chance as a senior without any residuals. He didn’t hold anything against me, and he gave me a chance to earn a starting spot on the team. A lot of times in high school you get pigeon holed, but he was above doing that. He’s a role model, and there is not enough good things you can say about him.”
Brotherton said Cummins established a proud tradition at Live Oak, and the program still has many of Cummins’ imprints on them.
“We still do almost everything based in large part of what he did over the years,” Brotherton said. “Doing his routine is what Live Oak baseball does now. He established the tradition and legacy, and that didn’t start until he came on. He created the alumni game and put a sense of pride in the program we still experience today.”
During the ceremony, a banner for the 2008 team also was unveiled on the fence in left field, and virtually the entire starting lineup of that team was in attendance to see it. Cummins also had his family members in attendance, including his wife, his two sons, a stepson and stepdaughter.
One of the players from the 2008 team, Stephen Smith, is now Cummins’ son-in-law. Even though the wins and accomplishments were significant, Cummins said the greatest fulfillment he’s received is seeing former players graduate and become leaders themselves.
“I’m more proud of how the players turn out,” he said. “They’ve gone on to be lawyers, doctors, dentists, police officers and a lot of coaches and teachers. That is the best part—seeing how they developed into great men after they graduated and moved on. I hope I had a little to do with that in trying to teach hard work, dedication and to keep on going.”
