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GLENS FALLS -- The 61-year-old man stews in the dugout. He sits and stares straight ahead, oblivious to the commotion around him. He is the coach of a baseball team, a squad that has just lost. It's a rare occurrence in this summer, but it still happens too often for the old skipper. So after the final out has been recorded, John Mayotte takes a few minutes to burn inside, allowing the emotions and feelings churning in his stomach to die down before he's ready to stand up and go on. His wife, Amelia, says he used to be worse; he would take losses so hard that all she could do was bake brownies to cheer him up. Now, Mayotte just needs a few minutes of silent reflection. Maybe it's the hundreds of other times he's won that kick in and remind him losing isn't so bad. Maybe it's the 37 years of molding young men's lives, teaching them about positioning your feet when turning a double play and how to lay down a bunt, and about life, too. Baseball is still a passion, but for Mayotte, it's no longer life and death. "I'm a very intense person, and I hate to lose," he says. "I'm not a sore loser, but I just hate, hate to lose."
This summer John Mayotte hasn't done much losing. As the first coach of the Glens Falls Golden Eagles, he has guided the team to a large lead in the New York Collegiate Baseball League standings, while remaining close to his Hudson Falls' roots. This latest success is just one more notch on the victory belt of one of the diamond's most successful leaders. At every stop, be it Coxsackie-Athens High School, Eckerd (Fla.) College, Troy State (Ala.) University, or the Cape Cod League, the stocky man with the light gray hair and dark eyes has proven himself a winner, coming out on top more than 800 times on the collegiate level alone. And his young charges know it. "I heard what a great coach he was, but to see him up close ... he's just been amazing," Golden Eagles outfielder Terry Blunt says. "He's a fun guy, a great leader, and just someone you want to be around every day. "With him," Blunt says, "I knew we'd win." A humble start John Mayotte was born in Hudson Falls, and took to baseball like a socialite to diamonds. He spent hours on the playgrounds in town under the guidance of Tony Luciano and others, learning anything and everything he could. "I wasn't a great ballplayer; I was a pretty scrappy guy, a middle infielder-type," Mayotte recalls. "Best compliment I ever got was that I'd do anything to help my team win in innings seven through nine." Mayotte graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Glens Falls in 1959, then went to Adirondack Community College. After that, he matriculated at Castleton (Vt.) State, playing baseball while falling in love with teaching. "I'd spent some time over the summers working with kids as a playground instructor in Hudson Falls, and I worked with some kids at Castleton, too," Mayotte says. "I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but there was a critical shortage of teachers at that time, so I thought it'd be an ideal time to try it." With Amelia by his side, Mayotte's first job was at Coxsackie in 1965. In just eight seasons at the small school, Mayotte won a half-dozen state Class C sectional titles (there was no state tournament in the 1960s). He taught sixth grade, worked like a maniac preparing his team and won over the community. "I got lucky; those were the golden years of great young athletes in our area," Mayotte says. To this day, Mayotte has the highest winning percentage in Section II Baseball coaching history, at .833. In 1974, though, Mayotte felt the desire to move on to a new challenge, and accepted a position as a graduate assistant coach at the University of South Florida. After a year and a half there, he got his first chance to manage a college team, when Eckerd, a Division II powerhouse in St. Petersburg, came calling. Building a reputation "He knew exactly what he wanted to do and how to go about doing it," says Bill Mathews, an assistant under Mayotte from 1978-80. "He was really intense, but he had a unique ability to get through to each kid." Mayotte wasted little time taking Eckerd to a new level. The school was ranked No.1 in Division II three times, and even beat the Chicago White Sox in an exhibition game one year in the mid-1980s. "Nine-five we beat them," recalls Mayotte, the man with an encyclopedic memory. "And they were playing six of their regulars." Even better, Mayotte says, was beating the University of Miami, then arguably the top Division I program in the nation, four times in 10 years. Mayotte won more than 400 games at Eckerd and brought the Tritons to the Division II regionals nearly every season. His reputation was such that from 1981-85 he was asked to coach in the prestigious Cape Cod League, where Mayotte worked with sluggers like Jeff Bagwell and Albert Belle. "Never had a problem with Albert," Mayotte says, anticipating the question. "Worked hard, and absolutely loved baseball." Amelia says she and John were happy in St. Petersburg, but Mayotte's success attracted attention. In 1989, while in Alabama for the Division II regionals, he heard Troy State was looking for a new coach. A few weeks later, the Mayottes were packing for Alabama. Success, then problems Once again, Mayotte wasted little time making his new team a success. Despite being hindered by what he called "the worst playing field in the Southeast," Mayotte led the Trojans to the Division II College World Series in 1993, then to the NCAA Division I Regionals in 1995 and 1997. In 13 seasons, Mayotte went 386-273-1, and became an integral part of the school. "I can't tell you how many times I saw John and his wife at women's volleyball games, men's basketball games, practically every event at our university," says Dr. Jack Hawkins, then and now the chancellor at Troy State. "He and Amy were pillars of the community." Mayotte might still be coaching at Troy if not for the arrival of athletics director Johnny Williams. Mayotte says he and Williams clashed from the start, and the last few years in Alabama "were not fun at all." For the first time, Mayotte looks downward and begins to spit his words out in anger. "The things that man did to me were just unbelievable, things you would think no human being would ever do to another," Mayotte says. "I mean, if you want to fire me, you don't like the way I coach or don't like me as a person, that's fine, go right ahead. But treat me like a human being." Two circumstances combined to end Mayotte's career at Troy in 2002. One, he began scheduling top-tier opponents, which in turn brought the Trojans' win-loss record down to .500 or worse. And two, Mayotte says he lost all support from Hawkins after kicking one player off the team for bad behavior. According to Mayotte, the player was Dr. Hawkins' daughter's boyfriend. "I got all kinds of great letters and phone calls (from Hawkins) for a long time," Mayotte says. "Then when the kid got kicked off the team, all of that stopped, and any support I had from him stopped." Williams did not return phone calls seeking comment, and Hawkins didn't want to discuss the circumstances of Mayotte's departure, calling it "an extremely sensitive situation." Fed up with Williams and facing health problems (his ulcer was getting worse), Mayotte resigned at the end of the 2002 season. For the first time in 37 years, Mayotte had no young men to lead. "It took a while to get over the way things ended, but now I can say it was the best thing that ever happened," Mayotte says. "We went back to Florida, I de-stressed a lot, and my life got a whole lot better." Coming home Mayotte might still be in Florida this summer if not for his mother-in-law. Still living in Hudson Falls, she clipped out an article in the Post-Star announcing the NYCBL expansion into Glens Falls, and mailed it to Mayotte. "The itch was starting to come back," Mayotte says. "I felt better, I was going to a lot of games, and I was starting to miss being on the field." And so here he is, rejuvenated at 61, leading kids who weren't even alive when he was making his name at Eckerd. He gets to the ballpark early and leaves late, usually because there's somebody from his past waiting to greet him. Maybe it's the mechanic who grew up down the street, or the old friend who still instinctively calls him "John Peter" even though Mayotte hasn't used his middle name in decades. Watch him during batting practice, instructing Chris Carlson to put his hands a little closer together, or giving offensively-challenged shortstop Jeremy Goldschmeding a couple of tips, and you can see a man completely at ease. "I can't believe how much passion he has, for an older guy who's been around so long," Carlson says. "He acts so young, and he's capable of being your buddy one minute and your coach the next." "I think he's as happy as he's ever been," Amelia Mayotte says. The coach has Glens Falls cruising toward an NYCBL playoff berth, and maybe even a championship. For the scrappy kid from the neighborhood, it would mean a lot. "I've accomplished great things and certainly winning an NYCBL title wouldn't be the biggest championship, but it might be the most special," he says. "To do it at home, in front of all these people who have known me my whole life, would really be extraordinary." John Mayotte's career highlights -- owns highest winning percentage of Section II high school baseball coaches: .833 -- took Troy State University to two NCAA Division I regionals (1994, 1997) -- took Eckerd College to Division II World Series -- has more than 800 career wins in college baseball -- coached six seasons in the Cape Cod League
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