Sunday Chat is a weekly feature that appears on The Blade’s print and digital platforms each week.
To Tim Gerken, St. Francis de Sales is not just a quality high school with a rich sports history, but it represents family.
That special connection, which spans 56 of his 66 years, began in the fall of 1968 when the eldest of William “Dutch” Gerken and wife Sue's five sons progressed from Longfellow Elementary to Start High School — for one day.
Incoming freshman Jim Gerken came home that day and told Dutch, a 1948 Central Catholic graduate, that he'd rather go to St. Francis. His wish was accommodated and, as Tim Gerken says now, “The rest is history.”
Jim, an ace baseball pitcher who also played football for the Knights, graduated from St. Francis in 1972.
He was followed in order by brothers Tom Gerken (1974, baseball, basketball), Jay Gerken (1975, baseball), Tim (1976, baseball, basketball), and David Gerken (1979, baseball). Sister Susie Gerken graduated from Notre Dame Academy in 1980, and was a cheerleader for St. Francis.
Tom and Tim were starters on the Knights' 1974 baseball team that reached the Class AAA state semifinals, and Tim and Jay teamed up on a City League championship baseball team the following year.
Tim went on to play two years of baseball at Ohio's Marietta College, where he later became an assistant coach for three years while still in school. He was on the staff under head coach Don Schaly for the first of the Pioneers' six NCAA Division III national championship seasons in 1981.
After earning his bachelor of science degree from Marietta (biology major), Tim worked in a sporting goods business for a few years while also serving as a basketball assistant under Dave Boyce at Northwood, becoming the Rangers' head coach for one year (1984-85) when the eventual highly-successful Boyce (618 wins, 410 at Perrysburg) moved on to Galloway Westland.
That same spring, Tim returned to St. Francis to assist his former coach, Ohio Hall of Famer Don Kober (659 wins, 33 seasons), beginning a 36-year run with the Knights' baseball program — 21 (1985-2005) assisting Kober, then 15 more as head coach (300-135 record, 2006-2022) before retiring from coaching.
His teams won four straight Three Rivers Athletic Conference titles (2016-19), and his 2013 team finished 29-3 and reached the Division I regional finals.
A biology and anatomy teacher at St. Francis since 1985-86, when he also married wife Mary, Tim also spent 15 years as football assistant under Hall of Fame coach Dick Cromwell, and two as a basketball assistant.
On Jan. 31, Tim was presented with the Ohio High School Athletic Association's prestigious Sportsmanship, Ethics, and Integrity award at the Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association's annual awards banquet in Columbus. The OHSAA presents this award to one Ohio coach in each sport each year.
Tim and Mary have one grown daughter, Chelsea, a 2010 Notre Dame grad.
The Blade: What does your recent award from the OHSAA mean to you?
Gerken: “To be honest it has been rather humbling. It's such an honor when a group of your peers — those who understand the profession — choose to honor you and your program. These are never individual awards, and we've always taken it seriously in doing things the right way on Bancroft. Maintaining the integrity of high school sports has been a staple with the Knight baseball program for quite some time. Jim Kubacki and Don Kober set a fine precedent before I was fortunate to follow in their footsteps.”
The Blade: How did your roots growing up in West Toledo help shape you?
Gerken: “It was a big part of what transformed me as a player and coach. It was a hotbed for sports back in the ’60s and ’70s, and I was fortunate to have brothers and a host of neighborhood friends who just loved to play and compete. We battled in grade school and throughout high school, and several of the guys who went to Start and Central still remain friends today. I am not sure if competitive neighborhoods still exist anymore, but I feel fortunate for all of my childhood experiences.”
The Blade: You're one of five brothers who all played sports at St. Francis in the 1970s. What impact did that have on the family?
Gerken: My [eldest] brother, Jim, set the tone in 1968 when he attended Start High School for a day and came home and said to our dad, ‘I want to go to St. Francis.’ This obviously had a huge impact on me and all my brothers, and my sister Susie, who ended up going to Notre Dame and becoming a St. Francis and University of Toledo cheerleader. Back in those times, it was not common for public-school kids to attend one of the Catholic high schools, so it is safe to say St. Francis had quite an impact on the Gerken family. My family has always felt like St. Francis is a second home to us.”
The Blade: What legacy did your dad leave on you, your brothers, and St. Francis?
Gerken: “My father had a tremendous influence on who I have become as both a teacher and coach. He coached several different teams as we grew up, and he was very competitive. He loved underdog challenges. He loved baseball, and I learned and developed my aggressive approach as a baseball coach from Dad. 'Dutch,' as he was known, was one of the founding fathers of the first athletic booster clubs at St. Francis — the Knights of the Roundtable. He also worked on the football chain gang from 1968 until we had to convince him it was time some 40 years later.”
The Blade: What stands out to you most from your prep athletic career?
Gerken: “I just feel extremely fortunate to have been able to play with so many outstanding athletes and had the opportunity to compete at such a high level. Playing for three different Hall of Fame coaches — Jim Robinson, Val Glinka, and Don Kober — is something I will always cherish. To think I also coached with Don Kober for another 20 years is really special, let alone getting an opportunity to coach alongside Hall of Famer Dick Cromwell in football for 15 years.”
The Blade: What are best memories from all your time at St. Francis?
Gerken: “Playing alongside my brother Tommy as a sophomore second baseman at the 1974 state final four ranks right up there. Ironically, that was Don Kober's first year as a head coach and, 25 years later [1999], I was his assistant when we went back to the final four. A close second had to be the following year [1975] when I played alongside my brother Jay, and we beat Start in the City championship game.”
The Blade: Who is on your personal Mt. Rushmore of St. Francis athletes?
Gerken: “The only way to narrow it down would have to be by era, and with multiple-sport athletes. Randy Whatley [1970] is one of the first great athletes I witnessed at St. Francis, and I still remember stories about his days at OSU under Woody Hayes. Denny McNamara [1985] played on some of the all-time best St. Francis baseball teams and was an impact player on the first state championship football team [1984]. Scott Loy [2010] was a three-sport star [football, hockey, lacrosse] and went on to play lacrosse at Syracuse. Lastly, Drew Tucker [2025], a current three-sport athlete who started all four years in all three sports [football, hockey, baseball]. He broke the career points record in hockey and is likely to set the mark for career hits in the spring. Pound for pound, one of the best to play on Bancroft.”
The Blade: What has it meant to you to be a Knight for life?
Gerken: “It has meant everything to me, and I could not be more happy to be able to call St. Francis my home away from home. It has given me and my family so many great memories and relationships through the years that I can't thank the St. Francis community enough. I have been truly blessed to be a Knight.”
The Blade: Is there a most meaningful humorous story you can share from your time as a player or coach?
Gerken: “Ironically it involves a player whose son currently plays for [Warren, Mich.] DeLaSalle in the league St. Francis now plays in. We were playing down in Miami, Florida, against a top-ranked Miami Bible team, and Timmy Wagner made an uncharacteristic mental mistake. I slammed my fungo [bat] against the dugout step and was left with only the handle in my hand. I love fongos, and this was no ordinary fungo. It was one that Denny McNamara gifted me from the Japanese national team from his days with the Tigers organization. We ended up burying the broken bat down the in the bullpen after the game. Wags gifted me a personalized fungo a few months back when he was in town for his son's game. He still remembers that as well.”
First Published March 23, 2025, 2:30 p.m.
