Harrisonburg Turks

Member of the Valley Baseball League and NACSB.

  • 1955 VBL Champions
  • 1958 VBL Champions
  • 1959 VBL Champions
  • 1962 VBL Champions
  • 1964 VBL Champions
  • 1969 VBL Champions
  • 1970 VBL Champions
  • 1971 VBL Champions
  • 1977 VBL Champions
  • 1991 VBL Champions
  • 2000 VBL Champions
  • 2012 VBL Champions
  • 2023 VBL Champions

Coach Bob Wease Reconnects with Former Turks at ABCA Convention

The game of baseball presents so many benefits to those involved. Coaches have the privilege of being a vital part of young men’s lives, players have the opportunity to learn not only a game but learn important life lessons with a small knit group of teammates and coaches, and player’s families add to their extended family meeting others over the years and sharing the heartaches and triumphs of their sons together.

The 2018 ABCA Convention was held January 4-7 in Indianapolis, IN. Harrisonburg Turks Coach Bob Wease was excited to make the trip when he heard the names of recipients receiving awards. 1990 Turks player and Head Coach of the 2017 National Champion University of Florida Gators, Kevin O’Sullivan was named D1 Coach of the Year.

Longtime friend and Head Coach of championship teams from the Universities of Pepperdine, Florida, and Arizona, Coach Andy Lopez was inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame. 

Coach Wease also had the opportunity to talk to 1990 Turks player and Head Coach of the 2015 National Champion University of Virginia Cavaliers, Brian O’Connor. Wease was in attendance at the 2015 ABCA Convention when O’Connor was named 2015 D1 Coach of the Year.

Coach Wease also had the pleasure of running into a number of other former Turks players, now college coaches, like 1992 Turk and Purdue Head Coach Mark Wasikowsi, attending the convention. It’s always exciting to see the young men that once played a summer or two of their college baseball careers in Harrisonburg at Veterans Memorial Park. Years later they are grown men, some husbands and fathers, and some that have been fortunate enough to stay in the game through coaching, instructing, scouting, and recruiting. As a summer coach you know that even though you were only a brief blur of eight weeks during the summer in their careers you still shared good memories on and off the field, established a friendship that in some cases lasts a lifetime, and maybe made a helpful impression on a young man’s life.

At the convention Coach Wease was asked the question, “Bob, why do you still do it? Why don’t you let some of the younger guys have a chance to coach the Turks?” Wease didn’t hesitate a minute. He replied, “Well, I guess it’s because I still enjoy it.”