Longtime Cathedral baseball coach Bob Karn is set to be inducted into yet another Hall of Fame, this time the National Coaches' Association HOF in South Dakota.

Karn has previously been inducted into the Cathedral Athletics, Minnesota Baseball Coaches Association, Minnesota State High School League and Minnesota Amateur Baseball Halls of Fame.

"It's always really humbling to receive any honor, but real honestly coaches don't win games- players do," Karn said. "Being able to be associated over a number of years with not only great baseball players and their parents, but also with the administration at Cathedral."

Karn, a 1959 graduate of Cathedral, has been a teacher and coach at the school for 49 years, including 48 years as the head baseball coach. During that time, Karn's teams have won a total of nine state championships as he became the winningest coach in Minnesota high school baseball history.

"To be able to continue to do both teaching and coaching for this number of years requires a lot of really dedicated support from everyone," Karn said.

Karn has shown no signs of slowing down in his 49th season, as Cathedral has posted a 12-8 record to earn the fourth seed in Section 6AA. Simply put, baseball is in Karn's blood.

"Baseball has a rhythm that's been a part of my life since I can remember, going back to playing catch with my dad," Karn said. "It's always been a part of who I am."

Karn says that he truly enjoys the teaching aspect that comes with coaching high school baseball, where college and professional coaches are more "manager" than "coach" in a lot of cases.

"I like the teaching part, I like the teaching in coaching," Karn said. "I think the two words are very synonymous, in the big leagues and in colleges and places I think you are more of a 'manager'," Karn said.

"In high school you are always trying to coach and help people to achieve a potential they have inside of them," Karn said. "And to see things in a way that they maybe wouldn't be able to by themselves."

An English teacher at Cathedral, Karn is not adverse to waxing poetic when it comes to the game he loves.

"Baseball is a little different sport than most," Karn said. "The great quest of baseball is to find a way to get home, you start at home, you leave home and you try to get back home, kind of like we do in our lives."

The induction ceremony will take place on June 26th in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Crusaders will play against Long Prairie-Grey Eagle on Monday at 5 p.m. at the MAC in St. Cloud.

 

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