Jeff Reese is back!
My first memory of Jeff is running up to him as a 5 or 6 year old and giving him a hug. I was in preschool or kindergarten and he was standing by the office window at NRHEG. He had just walked in the front door and I ran up and gave him a hug.
I have fond memories of Jeff as my gym teacher in middle school. Even at that age I enjoyed conversation. Jeff entertained my questions with a smile. I vividly remember bragging about my stats in our classes' slow pitch softball tournaments. My claim to fame was I could hit the ball far enough it would end up in the parking lot and I could walk the bases.
When we weren’t talking about my fame on the diamond, we talked about Twins baseball a lot. At that age I watched the Twins every night and memorized every stat there was to know.
Jeff retired from coaching in 2013. I was a freshman at the time.
My only experience with him as a player was during pitchers and catchers practice along with a few regular practices.
I can still recall how precise his practices were. Down to the minute.
Jeff was wearing his famous “stopwatch” again Tuesday night during the Panther home opener.
As I walked up to the dugout, I overheard Mark Domeier announce Jeff as an assistant coach and immediately dismissed it. He must have referenced the stadium, or maybe this was an honorary thing. There was no part of me that expected to see Jeff sitting in the dugout when I walked in.
But there he was.
For those who don’t know, Jeff has his own special stool with a baseball base/bag as the seat. He told me students in shop class crafted it for him many years ago.
It’s nights like Tuesday that make a person appreciate their community even more.
Throughout the game and afterwards, I spoke with Coach, Mark Lee and Jeff about how this happened. It appears that it was a mutual affair. Apparently both Jeff and Marc wanted Jeff to return to coaching, but it was Jeff who called first.
When Jeff returned to coaching in 2016 at Mankato Loyola, he said the reason he wasn’t coaching in New Richland was because he was looking for a head coaching position and didn’t want to unseat then head coach, Drew Paukert. Also, he was coaching his nephew.
The reason Jeff retired from coaching this time around was due to his health. Jeff was diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago and just returned home about a month ago from an assisted living facility in Mankato.
Chatting with Mark, he admitted that part of the reason for our gratitude was we get to spend this time with Jeff. As Mark said, we don’t know how many days Jeff has left.
Jeff wouldn’t tell me exactly what the doctor said, but told me his cancer isn’t curable, but it is treatable.
On this particular day, Jeff had already undergone a day of chemo, but still came to the ballpark.
But as Jeff told me he wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else.