Leyden’s Wolf decides it’s time

Gary Wolf wanted to see if one more summer with the game he loves would change his mind.

When that didn’t happen, Wolf followed through on his decision to step down as the head baseball coach at Leyden after a successful 23-year tenure.

“It was definitely a surprise,” said Rob Hamann, a 1995 Leyden graduate who played baseball and basketball for Wolf and has been his varsity assistant the last six years.

Wolf said he began to consider stepping down during the spring when Leyden was on its way to a school-record 28-6 finish that included a West Suburban Gold title and a trip to the sectional finals.

But Wolf wanted to be sure he made the right decision so he asked athletic director Randy Conrad if he could coach the summer-league team.

“I was hoping something would change my mind and I appreciate Randy giving me that opportunity,” Wolf said. “I still love the game and every part of it but I felt it was time for a change. I enjoyed every single part of (head coaching) but I thought it was time.”

A 20-win season turned out to be the average for Wolf during a career where he went 451-346 with four regional and three conference titles and a fourth-place finish in the state summer tourney.

Wolf also coached Team Illinois three times and has been the West Suburban’s head coach since the inception of the junior showcase at Stevenson.

He also was a basketball assistant for 17 years to the legendary Norm Goodman and Bruce Buhrandt and a football assistant for seven years.

“He showed me the value of being a coach and pouring your life into students and young kids,” said Hamann, who pitched professionally for five years and made it as high as Class AAA in the Blue Jays organization. “He had a lot of energy every day for a long time. He was always ready to give what he had and not let any situations go by to teach kids and mold them.”

On the baseball field, that meant playing the game and representing the school the right way, maintaining a positive attitude toward success and displaying the proper work ethic.

Wolf gave a lot of credit for the program’s success to support from administrators such as Conrad, assistants such as Hamann, Tim Dykes and Mike Fazzio and parents and other coaches in the Leyden community.

And Wolf also understood how blessed he was to be part of a school with such a rich athletic heritage and legendary coaches in Goodman, Chuck Farina (wrestling) and Jack Leese (football).

“It was an honor and privilege to represent Leyden as a head coach over the last 23 years,” Wolf said. “There wasn’t a day where I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to be in that position.”

Hamann, who is in his ninth year as a teacher at West Leyden, has seen his relationship with Wolf grow to a friendship.

Wolf stayed in contact when Hamann played basketball and baseball at Aurora University and also attended Hamann’s wedding.

“He’s had a great impact on a lot of kids,” Hamann said. “He’s a fun guy to be around and he knows everyone and jokes around with everyone.

“One of the things that impressed me a lot was he really valued my input right away. Even while I was learning and probably not making the best decisions, he would always ask for my input and act on it.”

Wolf has three more years before he can retire as a special-education teacher. He wants to remain in the baseball program as an assistant, plans to help coach basketball and has already been helping with the football program.

And Wolf will have fond memories of his surprising final team that broke the previous single-season school record for wins of 27 in 1994.

“It was such a good year and a good cap for him,” Hamann said.

“I had no idea we’d have that kind of success and it seemed like a magical type of year,” Wolf said. “To come through like they did, wow, what a special group. It was almost like a storybook ending with this group.”