Patience pays off
KARNS CITY — Nothing could keep Josh Smith away from baseball.
First, as a player. Now, as a coach.
The 2004 Karns City graduate was recently named the Gremlins' new varsity baseball coach. He replaces Dave McElroy, who resigned after last season.
Karns City finished 15-6 last season, winning 13 of its final 15 games. Smith was in his first year as a paid varsity assistant.
“He has always been all about baseball,” KC athletic director Brian Markle said. “He played football for us, too, and I remember when he tore up his knee (during football) his senior year.
“I felt sick for the kid. But Josh had the surgery, rehabbed like crazy, came back and played that spring.”
Smith was named league MVP during his senior baseball season. He was a three-time league all-star and went on to play college baseball at Mercyhurst North East and Slippery Rock University.
“I played catcher, first base and third base at SRU,” Smith said. “I was a regular catcher in high school, but Slippery Rock had a guy named Matt Adams behind the plate, so I had to play other positions.
“Occasionally, I'd spell Matty behind the plate.”
Adams is still in baseball, as a major league now with the Atlanta Braves.
Smith remained involved in the game as well, entering the coaching realm following his playing days.
Nicknamed “Sluggo,” when he was 6 years old — after then Pittsburgh Pirate catcher Don Slaught, who carried that nickname — Smith began working with Little League kids at the UAA fields in Karns City and served as a volunteer assistant coach for his alma mater for five years before getting the paid position last year.
“All I wanted to do was give back,” Smith said. “My dad used to leave work at lunch time to get the baseball fields ready so we could play.
“He never missed one of my baseball games or any of my brother's and sister's soccer games. He's a true role model for me.”
Smith works in the same plant in Petrolia his father worked in for 40 years.
“All of those plants used to have baseball teams and they brought in ballplayers to work there,” Markle said. “Going back to Josh's grandfather, that may have been how the family lineage got started there.”
Smith played on some of the best baseball teams in Karns City High School history. His teammates included Nathan McCollough, Travis Trimbur and Jake Wilson.
“We lost maybe four or five games total in my four years there,” Smith said.
Mike Woodward, former A-C Valley head baseball coach who was an assistant under McElroy last year, will return as one of Smith's assistants in 2018.
Smith is still looking for his other assistant.
“Mike will be a big help to Josh,” Markle said. “Working with a budget and other (administrative) things, he may need some assistance with.
“But when it comes to passion and knowledge of the game, how good he is with the kids and how much he cares about this school, Josh Smith is the man for this job. He's never left the neighborhood.”
Smith said he has been “talking to some of the buddies I played with” about helping out next season.
“I love the game of baseball,” he said. “I want to help kids succeed and do their best. Seeing a kid's face after he hits a two-run homer or lines a single up the middle ... That's what I'm in this for.”
