In the spring of 2020, with his sophomore year baseball season—and everything else related to his junior year spring—canceled by COVID-19, Saints baseball player George Windels ’22 decided to use his spare time to dive into the legacy and lore of St. Andrew’s baseball program. He and his mother, Wall Street Journal reporter Anne Tergesen P’17,’22 worked with Saints baseball former Head Coach Bob Colburn P’80,’82,’87 to research the team’s history and interview former players. Of course, for many players, their most indelible memories of SAS baseball center around not just big wins or broken records, but Coach Colburn himself. In the end, George and Anne assembled an oral history of the program, a few excerpts of which you can read here. If you’re a former member of a Saints baseball team and you’d like to be interviewed for this project, email magazine@standrews-de.org.

 

Larry Court ‘62 (shown in the second row, second from the left)

Larry Court, who played for St. Andrew’s from 1958 to 1962, was on the team when Coach Colburn arrived in 1961. According to Court, “baseball was not taken seriously before the arrival of Coach Colburn.” Pre-Colburn, Court says Saints baseball won just a handful of games. “Colburn came and set us in the right direction,” Court says. “He had a unique relationship with a lot of us.”

When Colburn “first assembled the team, he thought he knew what he wanted to do,” Court says. “However, [the players] all thought that we knew everything.” After a brief power struggle, Colburn “took control halfway through his second year and it was never the same again.”

In 1962, the team went 8-4, its first winning season since 1951. Court remembers one particular game against Wilmington Friends in early May of his senior year. Court was on the mound, and in the first inning, he walked the second hitter and then picked him off. After walking the second batter, Court did not allow another player to reach base, nearly throwing a perfect game. Another notable game was against Gilman, which had a reputation as the best prep school baseball team in Baltimore. St. Andrew’s won 6-2, and after the game, the Gilman players wouldn’t speak to their rivals. 

A great example of how the Colburns, and Colburn’s wife Dottie in particular, took the team under their wing came during a game against Westtown early in one particular season, in which the two teams had to play in snow. To help the players warm up, Dottie made hot chocolate. Court notes small acts like this show how St. Andrew’s baseball connected players. 

“Baseball was a major part of what I took away from St. Andrew’s,” Court says, who notes his niece, Sarah Rohrbach ’06, served as team manager. “We are great Colburn believers,” he says. He continues to have a great relationship with Dottie and Colburn. “I threw out the first pitch when the field was named after Bob [in 2005],” Court says. “Dottie was supposed to do it, but she asked me to do it.”

 

Curt Coward ’64 (shown center, wearing white during warm-ups)

Curt Coward was on one of the first St. Andrew’s teams that Colburn coached. In his senior-year season, Coward went 6-0 and earned All-Conference honors as a pitcher. As the team went 12-1 that year and won the league championship, with its only defeat coming in a walk-off loss at Westtown, there were many highlights. Some 58 years later, the 1964 team and several of its members still hold St. Andrew’s baseball records.

Coward remembers one moment in particular against Tatnall in the season opener. The “intense and detail-oriented” Colburn had been preparing the team to go up against Steve Lincoln, an “outstanding” left-handed pitcher with a blazing fastball and a devastating curveball. The team took batting practice against the pitching machine at maximum speed for days. However, when the day of the game came, Lincoln was sidelined with a sore arm and a pitcher with lesser skills started. Geared up for great pitching, St. Andrew’s scored 35 runs that day–-still a standing record. “It looked like beach balls floating to the plate,” says Coward, who hit a home run as a pinch hitter in the last inning. Because the team was ahead by a huge margin, instead of being congratulated by his bench, Coward was booed by his teammates as he rounded the bases. “I was actually ashamed, even though it was the only home run of my career,” he says.

Late in the season, St. Andrew’s played a double-header against St. Elizabeth’s on a dance weekend with the league championship on the line. Coward pitched a complete game the Thursday before and was not scheduled to pitch. So before the game, Coward and the girl he was going to the dance with had breakfast together and “gorged themselves on pancakes.” Coward recalls arriving at the game “very full and in no condition to play.” But when the starting pitcher walked the first eight hitters he faced, Colburn put Coward in the game. On the mound, Coward felt as if he had a “bowling ball” in his stomach, but ended up winning the game.

In the second game against St. Elizabeth’s that same day, the St. Andrew’s starting pitcher ran out of gas in the bottom of the last inning of a tied game. Coward came in with two outs and the bases loaded. Up to the plate came a St. Elizabeth’s player against whom Coward had also competed in basketball and whom he “really disliked.” With a full count and the game on the line, this batter fouled off five consecutive pitches. Frustrated, Coward “threw the hardest pitch” he had ever thrown, and the batter did not swing. The umpire called it a strike, and St. Andrew’s went on to win the game in the next inning, sealing the conference championship.

Coward has fond memories of his teammates. “Sandy Dillon ’64 was a true five-tool baseball player who went on to play on the D1 level at Virginia,” Coward says. “Dennis Blair ’64 was an outstanding catcher and a very good hitter before he became a Rhodes Scholar and four-star Admiral.” He adds that Max Baldwin ’64 had a “cannon for an arm” in left. Chip Burton ‘66, Lee Tawes ‘65, and Dave Walker ’65 anchored “a very solid infield” and Rufus Barrett ’64 and Tom Lackey ‘64 “rounded out an exceptional pitching staff.”

Coward has a particular memory of Dave Walker, “who was built like a tree trunk and intimidated everyone.” Walker was the first baseman, and, unbeknownst to Colburn, kept a folded wire coat hanger in his glove “to make the flat side hard as a rock.”  Whenever Coward attempted a pick-off, Walker would “slap the guy silly” with his glove. According to Coward, “There was a fair amount of whimpering but zero retaliation.”

Aside from winning and the beatings Walker dished out, Coward remembers the team listening to Dennis Blair’s Beatles records on a battery-powered record player on the bus traveling to and from away games.

As for Colburn, according to Coward, he was “an extraordinary student of the game” with a “wonderful attitude.” “Coach would get on you but only in an encouraging way,” he says. “We all loved him and Dot and wanted to win for them.” Coward also appreciates Coach Larry Walker—who “brought the juice. He was intense and always fired up”—and Assistant Chaplain Ned Gammons, the team’s other assistant coach and the brother of ESPN’s Peter Gammons, was “our resident baseball scholar and Yoda.”

“It was a magical spring,” Coward says. “Bob Colburn made it all happen.”

 

Terry Wild ’65 

Terry Wild came to St. Andrew’s in tenth grade from Tower Hill. He describes St. Andrew’s as “the most profound educational experience of my life,” in part because it instilled “life values.”

During his time, St. Andrew’s had a good baseball program, with a 12-1 record in 1964 and a 10-4 record in 1965. Although Wild had suffered from polio, Colburn was very encouraging, and in 1964, Colburn called Wild up to the varsity team as a relief pitcher. By 1965, he was a starter. “Coach Colburn never got angry at a player, and he had an endearing style of coaching,” Wild says. “[He] was bright, serious, and intellectual about coaching baseball.” On the mound, Wild was a lefty, and loved “making good pitches, especially the curveball to righties, and I loved being on the field, competing, and felt honored to be on the varsity team.” The pinnacle of Wild’s time on the diamond came in 1965 when he pitched an entire eleven-inning (yes, eleven) game against Westtown.

 

Brian Crow ’77

Brian Crow was the shortstop during his time in Middletown. He played on “some really good teams that were competitive with some of the best in the state,” Crow says. The Saints won the conference Brian’s junior year, propelled by strong players at all positions and a sense of camaraderie. That year, the team went on a nine-game winning streak. It only lost four games all season, and all except for one were lost by just one run. Even though the team saw a few key players graduate after Crow’s junior year season, the team was still a success his senior year. Crow’s final two games came in a double-header against Westtown in which St. Andrew’s won 7-0 and 4-1. These two key wins propelled the Saints past Friends in the standings and secured their second consecutive conference championship.

Crow remembers Colburn’s “love of the game” and his keen “attention to detail.” “He drilled us,” says Crow, who still uses the time management and other skills he learned from Colburn in the business world. Colburn also modeled excellent “sportsmanship, being humble after a win and dignified after a loss.” In one game at St. Elizabeth’s, a team that “had our number,” St. Andrew’s was down by three runs the whole game. The St. Elizabeth’s pitcher was on a roll, “mowing down our guys,” Crow says. In response, Colburn directed his players to start bunting, exposing a weakness in St. Elizabeth’s defense. St. E.’s fell “into confusion,” and St. Andrew’s went on to score runs “without getting the ball out of the infield,” propelling the team to victory. “The advantage that we had was Coach Colburn,” Crow says. During his 1976 season, Crow and the Saints secured the 100th victory of Colburn’s career, an impressive milestone for any coach.

 

Mike Lilley ‘79

Mike Lilley played on strong St. Andrew’s teams alongside Crow and Khalil Saliba ‘81. In Lilley’s sophomore year, the team won the conference championship and even beat a few strong public school teams.

Although the team did not win the conference title his senior year, it beat Seaford with Keith Sipprelle on the mound. Another highlight for Lilley, who served as a captain, occurred during a game against St. Elizabeth’s. With the Saints ahead 1-0, Lilley was on the mound throwing a no-hitter. In the last inning, Lilley walked a batter, who stole second base and scored on a dropped infield pop-up, evening the game at 1-1. Then, a big left-handed hitter smashed a triple to the gap, putting St. Elizabeth’s up 2-1. After the inning, Lilley threw his mitt in frustration while walking into the dugout. Colburn grabbed him by the arm and yelled at him for throwing the glove, which made Lilley realize that there were “more important things than winning or throwing a no-hitter.” Colburn “believed in a proper way to play baseball.” According to Crow, this was “emblematic of Bob’s respect for the game and sportsmanship: He talked the talk and he walked the walk.” Lilley says that Colburn went after him “because I was a role model of sorts. Colburn was a demanding coach. He wanted to win but the right thing to do was driving his decisions.”

 

Khalil Saliba ’81, Current Trustee (Shown next to Coach Colburn below; recipient of The Henry Prize for Greatest Service in Athletics, 1981, and also voted Most Athletic by his classmates, 1981.)

Khalil "Karl" Saliba was a varsity middle infielder and catcher from 1977 to 1981. Although the team was unable to compete in the state tournament at that time because summer break started before the tournament, St. Andrew’s was competitive with some of the best teams in the state, including St. Elizabeth’s, Salesianum, and Seaford, which produced multiple major league players.

Saliba remembers some intense games, including two hard-fought losses against Seaford, the defending state champions, but also a 3-2 win behind the arm of Scott Sipprelle. In those games, Saliba remembers thinking that Seaford “seemed nervous,” and that “St. Andrew’s gained a lot of respect by not shying away from big games.” According to Colburn, Saliba “demonstrated why catchers do not have to be 6'5” and 230 lbs. He was an intense player who made others around him play better by his example.” Saliba finished his high school baseball career by playing in the Delaware All-Star Game, in which he got a couple of hits as the designated hitter. Saliba remembers Colburn as “a highly respected figure at the school, and a big reason why people would decide to play baseball.”

 

Scott Sipprelle ’81, Head of the Board of Trustees

Pitcher Scott Sipprelle did not have a blazing fastball, but he did have a good breaking ball and a knuckleball, and knew how to mix these pitches to keep hitters off-balance. During a game at Tatnall, Sipprelle shut-out the Hornets, throwing a complete game against a strong opponent. 

“Scott pitched a great game,” Colburn says. “Sipprelle was pitching so slow that on impact, his pitches wouldn’t break a pane of glass.”

On the diamond, Sipprelle loved the thrill of competing with some of the strongest teams in the state, including Tower Hill, Wilmington Friends, and Tatnall. In particular, he enjoyed playing bigger schools in out-of-conference games.

Sipprelle says Coach Colburn is “deeply ingrained” with his memories of St. Andrew’s.

“He was a very emotional, exciting person to be around,” Sipprelle says. “His players really wanted to please him.” Once, during pre-season, Colburn had to go to Sipprelle’s room long after lights-out to tell Sipprelle and some other rambunctious players to go to bed. Rather than protesting, the players “were disappointed in themselves,” Sipprelle recalls.

Above all, Sipprelle remembers the camaraderie that came with playing baseball at St. Andrew’s. He remembers the bus trips in which players brought boom boxes to blare music. In his senior year, Sipprelle and several of his best friends shared the experience of being in leadership positions on the team. “Baseball was closely correlated with the excitement that comes with the spring at St. Andrew’s,” Sipprelle says.

 

RJ Beach ’82

RJ Beach was a key player in the early 1980s on one of St. Andrew’s most successful teams. As a new junior, Beach first visited the school during his sophomore year at Concord High School. “The first thing that caught my and my father’s eyes was the condition of the baseball field,” Beach says. “I had never seen a field in such good condition.”

At St. Andrew’s, his favorite year from a baseball perspective was his junior year, as the team was “very confident” and “not intimidated by anybody.” There was “great camaraderie” on the team. The team had a “lot of great battles with Tower Hill,” including one in which Tower Hill won on a suicide squeeze in the fourteenth inning.

Beach was an impressive player who still shares a record for the most triples in one season. Both his coach and class advisor, Colburn was “one of my favorite people at St. Andrew’s,” Beach says. “He was an extremely knowledgeable coach, an outstanding chemistry teacher, and a very caring advisor who played a big role in my decision to become a teacher and coach.” Beach recalls that “to everybody that Coach Colburn had interactions with, he was calm, cool, collected, but he would get fiery in games” and was “well known for his occasional clipboard breaking, which all the players loved to see.” Despite his occasional ferocity, Colburn was “humorous, passionate about the game, and stood up for his players–the king of Delaware high school baseball.”

 

Charlie Stayton ’03 and Paul Koprowski ’03 (Stayton is No. 8, Koprowski is No. 14, standing next to Coach Colburn)

The St. Andrew’s baseball team was perhaps at its best during Charlie Stayton and Paul Koprowski’s time at the school, with multiple state tournament appearances and a roster full of great players and coaches. Stayton earned All-Conference catching honors in the 2001, 2002, and 2003 seasons. Each remembers key walk-off hits.

Stayton’s occurred against Tatnall, the team to beat at the time, to secure the conference title in the last inning when St. Andrew’s was down by one run with two outs. Koprowki’s came on a hit over the second baseman, with a broken wrist. 

Given Colburn’s tendency to break clipboards over his knee, he brought “an old-school intensity” to the team, Stayton says. They both recall Colburn defying orders from both his doctor and Dottie, to temporarily stop throwing batting practice. When Dottie would drive by the field, Colburn would leave batting practice and hide.

Colburn “covered every point of minutia, including bunt defense and where the pitcher should cover bases,” says Stayton. He remembers Colburn going out of his way to get him to play in the Carpenter Cup Tri-State All-Star Tournament at Veterans Stadium, the then-home of the Philadelphia Phillies. The two also remember fine-tuning their skills with coaches including Bill Brakeley, a St. Andrew’s alumni and a former minor league player. Stayon says he appreciated the leadership of Michael Primiani ‘02, “a super nice guy and an excellent hitter and first baseman. He was hands down the best hitter at St. Andrew’s in this strong period for the team.”

 

Chris Speers ’07

Chris Speers, the son of former Associate Headmaster Will Speers, grew up on the St. Andrew’s campus. When in grade school, Speers often watched Saints baseball, and Colburn often watched Speers play MOT Little League in his seventh and eighth grade years. At St. Andrew’s, Speers made the varsity squad his freshman year, playing second base before transitioning to third and then shortstop.

During Speers’ freshman year, the team played the defending state champion Caravel early in the season. The Saints quickly went up 4-0 and held on to win by 6-5, demonstrating Colburn’s ability to “compete against any school,” Speers says. Colburn “loved the process of developing players,” he says. “Coach’s determination and dedication to the team was shown in how he was often hit by the ball in [batting practice] and would shake it off and keep pitching.”

Dottie was always an “unsung hero” of the team, Speers says, as she was “always at home games, and sometimes away games.” Dave Miller and Mike Hyde, two longtime assistant coaches to Coach Colburn, were a big part of the program, Speers says.

Another highlight of Speers’ time as a player came on Trustee Weekend during a game in which the team was getting demolished by Tower Hill. Scott Sipprelle ‘81 and Will Speers were watching from the sidelines. As Speers stepped up to bat, his father turned to Sipprelle and said, “I’ll give $500 to the Annual Fund if my son hits a homerun.” Sipprelle said that he would triple it. Speers hit a homerun, earning $1500 for the Saints Fund. “It was my first and only home run of my St. Andrew’s baseball career,” he says.

 

Jake Myers ‘12

Jake Myers played for the Saints from 2009 to 2012, with a strong record that included two no-hitters.

One game that stood out to Myers occurred in late April of his freshman year against Wilmington Friends, when Myers himself was not on the mound but rather, playing second base. Going into the seventh inning, St. Andrew’s was down by one run when it scored two runs to go ahead. The game ended on a 6-4-3 double-play that gave that day’s pitcher, senior Dan Primiani ’09, his first varsity win ever. The victory was especially sweet because Primiani had achieved his win in front of his parents at Frawley Stadium, a minor league stadium in Wilmington, and St. Andrew’s had prevailed against a better team.

Another freshman-year highlight occurred against Sanford, in which St. Andrew’s won 10-0, giving Colburn his 400th win. Myers pitched from the fifth inning on and closed out the game, after starting pitcher Josh Speers suffered a leg injury. In Myer’s sophomore year, he helped lead the team to a 9-4 win against an imposing Tatnall team, which had a player committed to play Division I college.

“I had a special relationship with [Coach],” Myers says. “He was the kindest coach I had at St. Andrew’s. He would stay behind after practice to help you get extra reps. Before pre-season camp, he drove myself and John Cochran ‘11 down to the field to get pre-season reps.” 

Myers recalls Colburn getting emotional in the heat of the game. There was, as Myers remembers, a “mystique about the tantrums that he may or may not have thrown.” A few years after Myers graduated from St. Andrew’s, Colburn won a sportsmanship award before a game, and then in the first inning of the same game, he broke a clipboard over his leg out of frustration. “Colburn did a lot for Delaware baseball,” Myers says. “But what stands out is how he was always there for his players, day-in and day-out. Colburn was very helpful for me to seek advice on what I wanted to do with my life.”

 

Learn more about Saints athletics here or view which alumni have gone on to play after high school here. View our student-athlete records here.