Ted Petoskey

] The Reds called up Petoskey in June, and one newspaper noted that when he was called up, Petoskey was "batting above the .400 mark, leading the (Piedmont) league in home runs, runs driven in and practically everything else." [cite news|author=Connelly, Dick|title=Spying On Sports|publisher=Hamiton Daily News Journal|date=1935-06-06] He was two-for-five with a stolen base and a .400 batting average in four games for the 1935 Reds, but he played his last game for the Reds on June 20, 1935.

Petoskey played for the Durham Bulls in the Piedmont League in 1936, where he was hitting .428 in late May. [cite news|title=Bulls Play At Night Monday: Return to Home Lot at Durham to Engage League-Leading Norfolk Tars in Piedmont Tiff|publisher=The Burlington (N.C.) Daily Times-News|date=1936-05-20] He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1937, [cite news|title=Sewell Hurls Shutout Ball: Leafs In Tie With Syracuse After Beating the Red Wings|publisher=The Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, N.Y.|date=1937-06-02] where he was leading the International League in base hits in mid-June. [cite news|title=Jeffies Hits Top Slugging: Takes International Honors for Week; Plays With Montreal|publisher=The Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, N.Y.|date=1937-06-19] He continued to play with the Leafs in 1938 and 1939, [cite news|title=Petoskey Brings Football Skill Into Baseball Outfield With Effect|publisher=Syracuse Herald|date=1937-03-27] [cite news|title=Toronto Leafs Chalk Three Straight Wins With Hope for New Gains|publisher=The Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, N.Y.|date=1938-05-21] [cite news|author=Bulmage, Elmer|title=Toronto's Baseball Club Needs Punch at Bat, and None Is in Sight Yet|publisher=Syracuse Herald|date=1939-04-10] [cite news|title=Skidding the Sport Field with Skid|publisher=Syracuse Herald|date=1939-06-13] before being sold to the Toledo Mud Hens in July 1939. [cite news|title=Toronto Club Sells Petoskey to Toledo|publisher=The Wisconsin State Journal|date=1939-07-09] He was released by Toledo in March 1940. [cite news|title=Dodd Popular Fella At Two Coach-less Dixie Schools|publisher=The Daily Times-News (Burlington, N.C.)|date=1940-03-16]

Coaching career

Basketball coach at South Carolina

During the off-season from his summer job as a minor league baseball player, Petoskey coached the University of South Carolina basketball team from 1935-1940. In five seasons as the Gamecocks' head coach, the team had a record of 36–67. [cite web|title="2006-07 Men's Basketball Media Guide"|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/scar/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/06-07-mg-records.pdf] CBB Yearly Record Start
type=coach
conference=
postseason= no
poll=noCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name = University of South Carolina
conference = no
startyear = 1935
endyear = 1940CBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1935–36
name = South Carolina
overall = 11–8
conference = 1–6
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1936–37
name = South Carolina
overall = 13–7
conference = 8–4
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1937–38
name = South Carolina
overall = 3–21
conference = 1–13
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1938–39
name = South Carolina
overall = 5–18
conference = 3–8
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1939–40
name = South Carolina
overall = 5–18
conference = 3–8
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record End
overall = 37–67
poll=no

outh Carolina and Wofford (1940–47)

Until 1940, Petoskey had been coaching in the offseason, while still playing baseball in the summers. In August 1940, he announced his retirement as a player to take a full-time position as the head baseball coach at South Carolina, a position he held from 1940–1942. [cite news|title=untitled article on page 5|publisher=The Portsmouth, N.H. Herald|date=1940-08-05]

In August 1942, Petoskey was hired by Wofford College as its head football coach and director of physical education.cite news|title=Petoskey Joins Wofford Staff|date=1942-08-21|accessdate=2007-12-10|publisher=The Burlington (N.C.) Daily Times-News] At the time, Petoskey had been playing for the Columbia Reds in the Sally League. [cite news|title=Mihalic Walks 5 Times; Barons Defeat Pels 6-4|publisher=The Delta Democrat-Times|date=1944-08-28] [cite news|title=Back to Baseball|publisher=Northwest Arkansas Times|date=1942-08-14] Petoskey remained at Wofford through 1947, taking time off at times to revive his baseball career. In 1944, Petoskey was a player and manager for the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association in 1944. [cite web|url=http://www.birminghamprosports.com/birminghambaronsmain.htm|title=Team Overview|accessdate=2007-12-07|publisher=birminghamprosports.com] [cite news|title=Reds Buy Catcher|publisher=The Stars and Stripes|date=1944-08-18] In 1945, he left Wofford for the summer to play for the Buffalo Bisons in the International League. [cite news|title=Plays Pro Baseball|publisher=The Burlington (N.C.) Daily Times-News|date=1945-06-11] He returned to Wofford after World War II. Wofford had suspended its football and basketball programs in 1943 and 1944, but Petoskey announced that the school would bring both programs back in the 1945–1946 school year. [cite news|title=Wofford College To Resume Football|publisher=San Antonio Light|date=1945-01-07] He also served as coach of the Wofford football team. [cite news|title=Little Four In S.C. Rebounds From War Low|publisher=Florence, S.C. Morning News|date=1946-02-13] [cite news|title=Wofford|publisher=Florence, S.C. Morning News|date=1946-10-15]

Baseball coach at South Carolina (1948–56)

In 1948, Petoskey returned to the University of South Carolina where he was the head coach of the baseball team until 1956. He also served as an ends coach for the South Carolina football team. [cite news|title=SC-Clemson Game for 'Big Thursday'|publisher=The Florence (S.C.) Morning News|date=1952-10-15] [cite news|author=Alyta, Ken|title=Terps, Duke, USC Sweep All-Loop|publisher=The Gastonia (N.C.) Gazette|date=1953-11-25] [cite news|title=Marvin Bass Joins USC Grid Staff|publisher=The Daily Independent (Kennopolis, N.C.)|date=1956-01-20] In twelve seasons as South Carolina's head baseball coach, Petoskey compiled a record of 113–120. Petoskey's baseball players remembered his love of playing poker and his bringing the team home hungry after a tough loss to Duke. In what team members remembered as the "hunger game," an angry Coach Petoskey told the players to "get on the bus," and the team rode from city-state|Durham|North Carolina to city-state|Columbia|South Carolina (236 miles) without having eaten.cite news|author=Spear, Bob|title=Names on Page Stir Treasured Memories; Former Bus Driver for USC Teams Reminisces About Players, Coaches|publisher=Charlotte Observer|date=2007-02-22] Another time against Furman University, the Gamecocks blew an 11–2 lead in the 8th inning to lose 12–11. On the bus, Petoskey had "that look," and the driver figured the team would receive a tongue-lashing. "He said, 'I don't want to hear a word out of you guys, and that goes for you, too, Bussie.'"

Baseball Coaching Record at South Carolina [cite web|title="2007 Baseball Media Guide"|url=http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/scar/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/07-media-guide.pdf] CBB Yearly Record Start
type=coach
conference=
postseason= no
poll=noCBB Yearly Record Subhead
name = University of South Carolina
conference = no
startyear = 1940
endyear = 1956CBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1940
name = South Carolina
overall = 8–9–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1941
name = South Carolina
overall = 10–8–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1942
name = South Carolina
overall = 6–11–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1948
name = South Carolina
overall = 6–14–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1949
name = South Carolina
overall = 15–6–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1950
name = South Carolina
overall = 16–9–1
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1951
name = South Carolina
overall = 6–15–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1952
name = South Carolina
overall = 9–8–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1953
name = South Carolina
overall = 8–11–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1954
name = South Carolina
overall = 10–10–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1955
name = South Carolina
overall = 10–10–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = noCBB Yearly Record Entry
season = 1956
name = South Carolina
overall = 9–9–0
conference =
confstanding =
postseason = no
ranking = no
ranking2 = no

CBB Yearly Record End
overall = 113–120–1
poll=no

Later years

In December 1956, Petoskey announced he was leaving the University of South Carolina to work for the New York Yankees, as a baseball scout for the Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and eastern Tennessee territory. [cite news|author=AP wire service report|title=Yankees Sign Petoskey to Pact|publisher=The Florence (S.C.) Morning News|date=1956-12-29] As a Yankees' scout, he signed Duke catcher Steve Crihfield to a contract. [cite news|title=Duke Catcher Crihfield Signs Yankee Contract|publisher=The Florence (S.C.) Morning News|date=1958-06-03] And in 1959, when the Yankees moved spring training for their farm system to Columbia, South Carolina, Petoskey was responsible for the logistics and preparing Capital City Park. [cite news|title=Columbia To See Baseball Players In Spring Training|publisher=Aiken Standard and Review|date=1959-02-03] He served in the mid-1960s as the director of recreation for the South Carolina Department of Corrections. [cite news|title=S.C. Recreation Society To Stage Convention Here|publisher=Florence Morning News|date=1966=11-08] Petoskey died in city-state|Elgin|South Carolina at age 85 in 1996.

His son Ted Petoskey, Jr., followed his father playing end in American football. Ted, Jr., was chosen to play end for the South Carolina high school team in the 1959 Shrine Bowl against the North Carolina team, [cite news|title=Shrine Bowl Lineups Announced|publisher=Aiken Standard and Review|date=1959-12-04] and was named South Carolina high school AAA Lineman of the Year. [cite news|title=Elite Sports Attendance for Jamboree|publisher=Aiken Standard and Review|date=1960-01-27] He went on to play end for the Clemson Tigers football team from 1962–1964. [cite news|title=Gamecocks Can't Halt Streaks This Season|publisher=Burlington (N.C.) Daily Times-News|date=1963-09-11]

ee also

*1932 Michigan Wolverines football team
*1933 Michigan Wolverines football team
*Michigan Wolverines Football All-Americans
*Cincinnati Reds all-time roster

Notes

External links

* [http://www.bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fballam/aapetosk.htm Bentley Library Biography and Photograph of Petoskey]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=petoste01 Baseball-Almanac.com]