4/19/2009 - Levens Keeps On Winning
Whenever I hear the name Ed Levens, I can’t help but smile.
In all my years in the business I have never had a coach fill up my notebook or give me sound bites as colorful as what the veteran Jefferson softball coach has provided me over the years.
Levens is a dream for the people in the sports media. You give him one question and you will always get an insightful, yet often hilarious, answer to your question before you find yourself talking with Levens just like you would if you were sitting next to him at a ballgame and not with a microphone or notebook in his face.
Some of my favorite interviews over the years have been conducted with Levens and it is always a joy to talk to him on the phone about the season or any subject that might come up from trout fishing, to realignment, to seeing his grandchild.
You never come away feeling like you just wasted your time talking with “Lev” as he is affectionately called by his players and fellow coaches at Jefferson.
Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Levens is also one of the best coaches in state history, softball or otherwise?
That is the beauty about Levens. You would never know that the guy just became only the second softball coach in New Jersey history to win 600 games. Levens reached the milestone last week after the Falcons bumped off a very good Montville team 3-1.
Levens (602-151) joins Pete Fick of Hunterdon Central (620 wins) in the exclusive club. But as Levens is always quick to point out with a smile in his typical Levens’ way, Fick has five years on him. Levens is in his 29th season and Fick his 34th at the Group 4 power.
Irregardless, what Levens has accomplished is nothing short of amazing. Taking a program that was at the bottom of then-Skyline Conference and building it into a state power is a testament to him and the great players and assistant coaches Levens has had over the years. And believe me he has had plenty of them.
Michele Fischer was his first great player in the 1980s and since then the list of All-Stars is too long and impressive to mention every player by name but the ones who stick out in my mind are the players I have covered the last 20 years, including a special foursome who led Jefferson to 101 wins in four years.
Pitcher Kristyn DePasquale, catcher Colleen Miller, second baseman Becky Turton and first baseman Jackie Shedlock helped bring the Falcons back to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s after a short dry spell in which the Falcons came back to the pack a little bit in Sussex County Interscholastic League play.
That quartet helped Levens win his first two Morris County Tournament titles plus two section crowns, including a berth in 1999 Group 2 state final, a 1-0 loss to Kingsway. That group laid the foundation for the great teams of 2003 and 2004 which won state crowns.
The 2003 Group 3 final was a classic which I will always remember. Most people will remember the walk off homer Dawn Gilchrist belted to top Hamilton West, which was by far one of the most dramatic endings of a sporting event I’ve ever covered, and rightfully so.
But forever etched in my mind will be the victory dance Levens did in left field as Gilchrist crossed home plate. Levens jumped up down by himself as the pressure and disappointments of five previous losses in the final game melted away in the hot sun in Toms River.
The Falcons followed that season with another great run fueled by the outstanding pitching of Carolyn McCrea, who went 27-2 in one of the most dominating seasons put together by a pitcher I’ve ever seen. The Falcons won the “Triple Crown” as they captured the SCIL, Morris County Tournament and Group 2 state titles.
There is no argument that Levens benefits from a tremendous feeder program and he is the first to tell you that. But he molds the players into winners, which is harder to do than teaching a kid how to slap or bunt.
He is a master motivator and has a sense for game situations and his player’s abilities that is second to none. Any coach can tell you when to bring in the infield, or steal or when to play small ball. Levens’ gut game time decisions are what separate him from the rest of the pack.
He has the uncanny ability to put players in situations to succeed, and more importantly, he gets his players to believe that they can succeed when called upon.
And great examples of that are the numerous postseason games Levens has won when the Falcons were shorthanded due to the Senior Prom. There was a stretch that it seemed that the Jefferson prom was always held on the day of a big state tourney game and Levens would go into battle without some of his top guns.
But Levens and the Falcons would always find a way to win and one I will always remember was in 2003 when he sent up a raw freshman to pinch hit in Dedra Pritchard and she delivered the game-winning hit to send the Falcons into the state semifinals.
Levens’ players would run through the proverbial wall (and some would run through a real wall, like former catcher Morgan Dunlap and Gilchrist) for him which is becoming rare these days. Levens is definitely old school in his style, but he has adapted as the years have gone on, which is the mark of one of the great ones.
There is nothing more entertaining than watching Levens work the third base coaching box, where over the years he has taken a few shots. His clever comments and quips keep both teams entertained. But don’t be fooled. Levens loves to win and takes it very serious, especially when he puts his cap on backwards. Just ask any of Levens’ former linebackers he coached in football what that means.
And Levens loves being the underdog, a role the Falcons relish, which is hard to believe considering Levens has guided the Falcons to 18 SCIL titles, 11 section crowns, four Morris tourneys and two state championships.
So is Levens going to hang up it anytime soon? Well, he is retiring from teaching after 43 years and in his Levens’ style he told me that everyone he started with back in 1966 is either dead or retired so it is time. But the former Hackettstown High School star athlete still wants to coach and Jefferson should oblige him as long he wants to coach.
A man that has done so much for Jefferson, softball, and more importantly his country as a proud Vietnam veteran, should leave on his own terms. And when he does, as he joked to me after he won his 600th, the school should name a field or a “latrine” after him in his honor.
A field would be the proper honor, but knowing Levens, he would just be as happy with a latrine because he has had people laughing so hard over the years that a nearby bathroom is a necessity.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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