Longtime Valley baseball coach feels time is right to retire

Steve Mossburgh began coaching for the same reason many other coaches start. He wanted to coach his son.

But it’s been 24 years since Mossburgh first began coaching his 6-year-old son Luke and a Palmer Little League squad. And until recently, Mossburgh was still coaching.

Mossburgh, who served as head coach of the Alaska Road Warriors American Legion baseball program for six seasons, has decided to finally take a step away from the diamond after a long career as a local youth baseball coach.

Mossburgh — who coached at the youth, prep and legion levels — once thought his coaching days would end when his son’s career did. But even after Luke graduated from Palmer High in 2000, Mossburgh continued to return to the field every spring and summer.

“I figured when he quit, I would quit. I didn’t quite turn out that way,” Mossburgh said. “I didn’t think I would stay, but I’ve always enjoyed doing it. I thought why not hang around and keep doing it?”

Mossburgh enjoyed it so much, he stuck around for 11 seasons after Luke graduated.

Mossburgh has spent 13 years with the Wasilla-based American Legion program, the last six as the team’s head coach. Even though his son moved to Colorado for college after graduating, Mossburgh continued to have members of his family right by his side. Just like Mossburgh, his wife, Tanya, and daughter, Cheriee, have been staples within the Legion program for more than a decade.

“Baseball has always been a family thing for us,” Mossburgh said. “This is what we do. We’re a big baseball family. We enjoy it.”

Tanya and Cheriee could be seen at every Road Warriors game for years keeping score. They also help with the maintenance of McManus Field, the Road Warriors’ home ballpark next to the Bumpus Ballfields softball complex.

“I know without my daughter and my wife, I couldn’t have done it by myself,” Mossburgh said. “They’ve been there every step of the way with me. They were always right there with me.”

The work that came in addition to coaching the team is a difficult part of the job, Mossburgh said — fundraising and maintaining the field. This is all on top of his full-time job. He’s worked at Anchorage Municipal Light and Power for 30 years, the last five as a foreman.

After his 10-hour workdays, he’ll take off to the field and either coach the team or work on the diamond.

“It gets to be a grind,” Mossburgh said.

But it’s something he loved enough to keep doing. Mossburgh took particular pride in the renovation of McManus Field. The Mossburgh-led legion program gave the old Wasilla-area baseball field a virtual facelift in recent years. Donation of time and resources from a countless number of local businesses and residents can also be thanked for the upgrades.

Home and away dugouts were rebuilt, a storage equipment shed was added and a new backstop was installed along with new chain link fencing down the right and left field lines.

The outfield wall is now painted a bold blue, and “Home of the Alaska Road Warriors” is written in red script in large letters in centerfield.

The outfield grass is also in its best shape in years.

Under Mossburgh, the Road Warriors have become a contender in the 49th state once again. Last season, the Valley squad finished runner-up in the state tournament, losing narrowly to Dimond in the championship game. The finish earned the squad the right to travel to an American Legion tournament in Montana.

“To me that was just the most amazing thing to have happened to me in baseball,” Mossburgh said. “That was a good team. That was probably one of the best teams I’ve ever coached.”

Mossburgh climbed the local baseball ladder alongside his son for the first half of his coaching career. He coached teams in the Palmer Little League’s junior and senior divisions. Once Luke hit high school, Mossburgh was the Palmer High junior varsity coach for a pair of seasons, and the varsity coach for the final two years of Luke’s playing career.

After Luke graduated, Mossburgh served on the Colony High baseball staff for three years.

Mossburgh toyed with retirement three years ago, but he didn’t want to leave the Legion program without a stable coaching staff. But this year, he’s confident there’s a group to take the reins. Assistant Myrl Thompson will take over as head coach.

Mossburgh officially retired after the final game of the Todd Ryan Memorial tournament earlier this month. There are still a few weeks left in the season, but Mossburgh will be out of state for much of July.

“I didn’t think it’d be fair to be gone the middle part of the season and be back for the second game of (the state tournament),” Mossburgh said. “I told them we’d be there to cheer them on.”

Mossburgh said it was certainly tough to step away.

“It’s hard. These guys are just a fantastic group of kids. This is the one of the funnest teams I’ve coached. And they have talent, too,” Mossburgh said.

Mossburgh grew up in Kansas and played football and American Legion baseball. After high school, Mossburgh enlisted in the Air Force. He moved with his family to Alaska in 1980.

Mossburgh is set to retire from Anchorage Municipal Light and Power next year, and he and his family plan to move back to Kansas.

His coaching career may be done, but baseball will continue to be a big part of his life. It just may involve making the drive from Kansas to Chicago with his son Luke to catch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/matsu_sports.