Wooster honors Elyria native, legendary coach Duane Sunagel

ELYRIA – When the College of Wooster established its Paul Barrett Coaching award in 1975, little did they know that Elyria native Duane Sunagel would someday join the list of those rewarded. Sunagel, a College of Wooster grad and former baseball player, will receive this year's Barrett award, honoring and recognizing coaches who have had an impact on the lives of student-athletes with encouragement to succeed and by helping them develop self-confidence, ambition, a sound work ethic and other skills and values to be helpful for their success in their adult lives. The award is given to Wooster alumni who dedicate their lives to coaching. Sunagel and Jennifer Snaguski, a former Lacrosse player at Wooster, are this year's recipients. "Fifty-five straight years I was either coaching or playing baseball or softball," Sunagel said. "Last year was my first year out." Snaguski and Sunagel will be presented with their award by the "W" Association at an up-coming home game of their choosing. Sunagel hasn't made his decision yet but is leaning on having it presented at a Wooster softball game in the spring. "It was a surprise to me," said Sunagel. "When I got a letter in the mail from the "W" As-sociation president telling me I was selected as the winner, I was surprised. I called a couple of my buddies that I know asking if they had nominated me. I gave Rupes (Kevin Rupel) a call and he said he had nominated me several months ago." Along with the award comes a $1,500 grant that the recipient could designate going to one of the athletic programs at Wooster. Even though Sunagel was a baseball player, his heart is with softball so he wanted the softball program to benefit from the grant. Rupel was a teammate of Sunagel's at Wooster and recently retired as Sports Information Director at Baldwin Wallace. Among those honored with the Barrett Award include former Elyria Catholic football coach Jim Rattay, who led the Panthers to state championships in 1976 and 1983. Sunagel graduated from Elyria High in 1978, Wooster in 1982 and founded the very successful SunDogs Summer Softball team as a way to give his daughter Erin a place to play competitive softball when she was 11 years old. The SunDogs became a primary feeder program for Elyria High softball and many of his former players went on to play at the collegiate level. Two of those – Tess Sito and Dara Toman – went on to play professionally with the Akron Racers. Sito, of course, pitched Elyria High to four straight trips to the D-I state softball final, finally winning the championship in her senior year in 2009. She went on to play at both Cleveland State and Georgia before playing professionally. Toman graduated as Cleveland State's career record holder in home runs (60), runs scored (145), total bases (443), triples (8) and runs batted in (154). "She was a teammate of Tess' at Cleveland State," Sunagel said. "She was a year or two younger than Tess. After Tess left Cleveland State, she won a 'Player-of-the-Year' award in the Horizon League. She had her own bat named after her – The Toman." His teams won numerous state championships and went on to national acclaim, winning the NSA Super World Series championship in 2004. The SunDogs were the ASA national runner-up in 2009 in a field of 139 teams. His summer teams won over 400 games. The runner-up season was really special for a variety of reasons. First, the SunDogs had to climb back through the loser's bracket by winning 11 straight games to reach the semifinal round in 100-degree heat at Las Vegas. They were scheduled to play the Southern California Pumas but a van carrying the team to the tournament was involved in an accident and several of the players were injured. The manager of the team called the tournament officials to say they'd have to forfeit which would have put the SunDogs in the finals. However, when it was determined that none of the players were seriously hurt, the Pumas requested a chance to play. It was up to Sunagel and his team to play the game rather than advance. "When it came down to the final four, one team we were supposed to be playing got in a car accident," said Sunagel. "The (tournament) director came over and told us that they had been involved in an accident. She came back later and told us that team could be here by 10:30 and asked if we would let them come back into the tournament and we said yes. "But it really hurt us on the field. We ended up beating them 5-4 and now we have to beat the Tampa Mustangs twice. We're on our third game of the day and they were just playing their first. They had all their pitching available. We lost 7-5 but it was a great effort. We were told on a radio show out there that we had great sportsmanship." Sunagel went on to coach at Wellington High School before retiring in 2002. The Dukes won five sectional championships and advanced to the district finals three times in his eight years at the helm. Two of his teams were ranked in the top 10 in the state. Under Sunagel, Wellington produced 60 All-Lorain County players, 18 all-district and 39 all-conference players. Sunagel was named Northeast Ohio District and Lorain County Coach of the Year four times. He previously coached at Midview and Rocky River and concluded his career as an assistant coach at Elyria High, helping his former player, Meghan Bashak. At Wooster, Sunagel played two years and was a letterman on the 1981 baseball team. He missed his senior season due to mononucleosis. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in physical education. He currently serves as event manager at Wellington High School and assists the OHSAA as an official scorer for district softball tournaments. He previously held many volunteer positions with the Elyria Parks and Recreation Department and spent time as a volunteer coach for Elyria High, Elyria Catholic and Lorain County Community College, as well as the American Legion Post 12 baseball team and Little League baseball and softball. Sunagel spent 31 years with the Ohio Department of Public Safety. He and his wife, Sue, still live in Elyria. They've raised three children, Erin, Blake and Tony. Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.