Inductees

Listening to old baseball stories never gets old, and veteran baseball coach Ric Lessmann likely has a million of them.

Here’s one of the more memorable ones: Recruiting for his team at Meramec Community College and doubling as a scout for the Cincinnati Reds in the late 1980s, Lessmann got a tip about Brian Boehringer, an outfielder for Northwest High School of House Springs, Mo.

The coach was told Boehringer “threw it right down the line, like a bullet,” and Lessmann went to have a look himself. Soon, he was on the phone with the Reds scouting supervisor.

“He said, ‘You should make a pitcher out of him,’” Lessmann recalled, and that’s what happened. Boehringer emerged as one of Meramec’s top pitchers and ultimately enjoyed a 10-year career in the big leagues, pitching in two World Series.

Call it part of Lessmann’s 46 outstanding seasons as a head coach, in which he earned 1,365 victories, sent more than 250 junior college players to four-year scholarships and secured pro contracts for 40 players.

The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame is proud to induct Lessmann with the Enshrinement Class of 2015.

Ask him about his secret for success, and Lessmann doesn’t hesitate. “Good players,” he said, and later added, “Baseball is a game of teams, players and stories.”

Overall, Lessmann was 1,365-556 (.711), including 27 years at Meramec and 17 at NCAA Division III Washington University. He coached his first season at his alma-mater Harris Stowe Teachers’ College.

At Meramec, Lessmann built a national reputation for teaching excellence, compiling a 963-318 record (.752). He is the nation’s third-winningest junior college coach, never experienced a losing season and guided the Warriors to nine Juco World Series berths. They won it all in 1974.

Just as impressive, Lessmann jumped in 1993 to Washington University, known for its academics. The respect from many in the game only grew as Lessmann compiled a 396-231 record (.632), which included 11 seasons of at least 20 wins and three consecutive seasons (2005-2007) of at least 30 wins.

After retirement, he asked former Meramec player and current Missouri-St. Louis coach Jim Brady if he needed a pitching coach. Brady hired him on the spot.

“How do you turn down a legend? You can’t,” Brady said. “It’s like having a dad in the dugout.”

A lefthander, Lessmann signed his first professional baseball contract in 1955 with the New York Yankees and pitched in Class D ball, even throwing a no-hitter.

However, his pro career was short-lived, and Lessmann set about on becoming a baseball coach. He earned a degree from Harris Stowe in 1960 and a master’s from Washington University in 1963, three years before Dr. Glynn Clark, founding president of Meramec in St. Louis, brought him over to coach baseball.

Eight of Lessmann’s players reached the big leagues: 2013 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductee Scott Bailes, Joe Boever, Scarborough Green, Lonnie Maclin, Donnie Wall, T.J. Matthews and Boehringer.

Turns out, the day Boehringer was spotted, he was only in the outfield as part of a pre-game warm-up. Had a Meramec assistant arrived 10 minutes later, his arm might never have been seen.

Two years later, Boehringer was offered a scholarship by Nevada-Las Vegas during a West Coast trip and was a fourth-round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1991. He pitched for the 1996 World Series champion Yankees and the 1998 NL Champion Padres.

Lessmann got the most out of his teams. Consider that the Warriors won 15 Midwest Community Athletic Conference championships and made 15 Central District V Sectional Tournament appearances.

Lessmann was the 1974 National Junior College Coach of the Year. He was elected to the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992, the NJCAA Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991 and received the 1972 John Wray Award for outstanding athletic achievement in sport from the St. Louis Baseball Writers Association.

Lessmann also enjoyed the support of his family – wife, Jackie; daughter Tracy; and son Scott and daughter-in-law Kathy. He and Jackie have two grandchildren, Ted and Tyler.

“If you were anybody in the St. Louis area that had aspirations of playing at a higher level and then at the professional level, Meramec was the place,” Brady said.

Brady marveled about Lessmann’s work at Washington, which won 34 games in 2006. That was part of 12 consecutive winning seasons and a stretch of three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

In 1995, Lessmann became the 18^th college baseball coach to reach 1,000 victories.

“Wash U., they were a so-so program and he ends up bringing them to a level they probably had never seen before in the course of their history,” Brady said. “It’s just kudos to him. He was able to adjust his style. The bottom line is, he knows the game.”