Mike Hannah, 57; All-American Baseball Player At Ohio U (1969-70
Bill Schenley
Photo:
http://www.ohiou.edu/ohiotoday/spring98/jpegs/wren1.jpg
(w/Mike Schmidt and Bob Wren)
FROM: The Newark (Ohio) Advocate ~
By Kurt Snyder, Reporter
Rick Pease lost a brother-in-law Sunday. His sister,
Sue Ann, lost a husband. But for Pease, he also lost
a best friend and -- in a way -- a hero.
Area baseball icon Mike Hannah, 57, died Sunday in
Columbus. He was at Port Columbus International
Airport, waiting for Sue Ann to return from a trip, when
he had a heart attack in his truck.
It was 47 years ago that Mike Hannah's fame on local
ballfields began when he helped the Mound City
Kiwanis Club to the Shrine Tournament championship.
Hannah hit a three-run home run and a grand slam
during a 12-run first inning against Schiff Shoes in a
15-9 victory at White Field. Pease was an
impressionable youth, 3 1/2 years younger than Hannah.
Imagine Pease's excitement when Hannah, who was
starring at Newark High School in the mid-1960s,
began dating Sue Ann.
"I just envied him and watched him and tried to emulate
him growing up," Pease said. "When he started dating
my sister, I was like a kid in a candy store."
Hannah, who was inducted into the Newark High
School Hall of Fame in 2001, graduated in 1967 and
headed to Muskingum College, where he was a
freshman standout for the basketball and baseball teams.
It was then he was spotted by Ohio University baseball
coaching legend Bob Wren.
Wren offered Hannah a scholarship, and Hannah
accepted. Batting in front of Mike Schmidt, Hannah
was an All-American in '69 and '70 and set the
Bobcats' single-season record for batting at .427.
The Bobcats reached the College World Series in
1970 and finished fourth in the country. He still is
among the leaders in the Bobcats record books for
career batting average at .371 and slugging percentage
at .633.
"He would have me pitch batting practice," said fellow
NHS Hall of Famer Gary Walters of the time when
both were in the Post 85 system. "He was tireless.
He had me throw him so many curveballs, my arm still
hurts.
"He was as good a baseball player to ever come from
Newark."
Hannah, who was drafted several times during his
amateur career, spent four years in the Cleveland
Indians organization before an injury derailed his career
just days before a scheduled trip to the majors.
Hannah coached the professional Newark Buffaloes
in 1994 and was an assistant for brother-in-law Rick
Pease at Licking Valley through the 2006 season,
and he managed the Licking County Athletics to a
runner-up finish in the Babe Ruth World Series last
summer.
He still served as a scout for Valley during the recent
season under coach Rick Houston.
Hannah never stopped coaching. With former Valley
standout Tyler Blake struggling with his offense during
the his recently completed freshman season at Tiffin
University, Hannah took Blake and younger brother
Cole out to Valley's baseball field and threw batting
practice on Easter morning.
"Whenever someone was struggling, he always asked
us if we wanted him to throw more batting practice," Blake
said. "He wanted to help us get going in the right
direction."
For everything Hannah did on the field, he never
highlighted his own accomplishments. Instead, it was
Pease who met the likes of Schmidt, Steve Swisher and
Dennis Eckersley through Hannah.
"He was probably the most humble person I have ever
met," Pease said. "You hear some of these guys that,
'They have done this, or they have done that.' You
would have had to take a stick of dynamite and put it
under Mike to get him to talk about the things he
accomplished."