In 1975, Al Huntley coached his first Long Beach Little League baseball game at Stearns Park—35 years later, he gave his final postgame speech to his team (the Angels, who gave him a going-away present with a win by 10+ runs).

In those years, Huntley has coached hundreds of players who went on to star in the Moore League (current players like Thomas Walker, Soloman Williams, Chase DeJong, and Chris Hubbard were there to say goodbye).  His tough-love style and sly sense of humor were discussed fondly by those who gathered to watch Huntley’s last game, as former players took over the PA mic between innings to say thanks, and posed for pictures with him in between innings.

“He doesn’t coddle you,” said Walker.  “He…well, whatever the opposite of coddling is, that’s how he is.”

Huntley, a coach on the 92/93 Long Beach Little League World Series championship teams, says those years were his favorite memories.  “Winning two in a row,” he said, “that was like, ‘Now I can die happy.’  I’ve been very lucky, I’ve gotten to coach a lot of great players.”

One of the players he’s gotten to watch grow up is his grandson Oliver Van Buskirk, who went on from Stearns to hit the walk-off homerun in the PONY World Series championship.  Huntley said that was a favorite memory as well, and recalled tearing up in Pennsylvania when the ball cleared the fence. 

It was a fitting moment for a coach who’s helped create the large extended family that is Long Beach Little League, just as Wednesday was a fitting finale to a decorated career.  The throng of well-wishers waiting to shake hands and take pictures was so thickly packed that it took Al Huntley over an hour to make his way off the field at Stearns Park, a field he’s called home for so long.

Enjoy a few photos from coach Huntley’s last night, and feel free to email me at mike@lbpostsports.com if you’d like any of these in their full size.

Coach Huntley takes a glance at the scoreboard

Coach Huntley and a host of former (and current) players

The memorabilia case at Stearns Park

Coach Huntley’s final postgame speech, 35 years after his first on the Stearns Park fields