He loved the Cougars, so they named the field after him

Baseball was a huge part of Al Warnecke’s life, but even his favorite sport took a backseat to his love of family and the Central High School Cougars.

On Saturday, the field where Warnecke spent thousands of hours as former head coach and athletic director was dedicated in his honor. From now on, every Cougars’ home game will be played at Allen Warnecke Field.

Warnecke, who died in April 2014, spent 39 years as a teacher, coach and later the athletic director at Central. He also starred in baseball at Central and was the valedictorian of Central’s first graduating class in 1971.

“As soon as he got his teaching degree he came back and started teaching at Central,” said current Central baseball coach Kevin Crask, whose 15-2 squad was ninth in the nation in the latest MaxPreps Small-School Baseball Poll.

Warnecke was Central’s baseball coach from 1981 to 1990. The idea to name the field in his honor was a popular one and taken to the school board by Cougars football coach Brian Short.

“We probably had around 300 people at the game Saturday,” Crask said. “It was really big. The kids knew the reason why everybody was there.”

Warnecke was the type of person who did many things behind the scenes to make sure that things ran smoothly at Central.

“He was a guy that wanted the best for Central,” Crask said. “He would do anything to help you but he did not want to be in the spotlight. Yet without him, a lot of things at Central couldn’t function.

“He loved Central High School and he loved the athletes. He’s still missed ... it’s hard to understand that he’s still not there.”

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 8:42 PM with the headline "He loved the Cougars, so they named the field after him."