Boys basketball: Keith 'Butch' Sooy's legacy will live forever

For anyone who knew him in Lorain County, he'll always be Butch. He may not have been as flamboyant or boisterous as Mitch Gillam or Bob Walsh. Maybe he didn't have a signature whistle like Jim Lawhead, or sing "New York, New York" like Bob Guinta, but his place in Lorain County basketball lore is undeniable. Butch Sooy, as we all called him, died Monday. His legacy will live forever. "He'll always be Butch," said his younger brother Tom. "I didn't know his name was Keith until he was probably in the fifth or sixth grade. He was born before me so by the time I came along, he was already Butch. I was known athletically as being Butch's brother." As the story is told, Sooy's only sister, Phyllis, couldn't pronounce the name Keith and called him Butch and it stuck. Unfortunately, his older brother Ken and Phyliss preceded him in death. Keith "Butch" Sooy epitomized the word "class" when it came to coaching. Like Guinta at Elyria Catholic, Sooy never received a technical foul in his 568 games coaching varsity basketball, whether it was Firelands, Elyria or Medina, where he retired as a head coach in 1998. That streak continued as an assistant coach for several schools right up to this past season at Highland. He never swore or drank alcohol. Of those 568 games, 423 were in the win column. He won 188 at Firelands in 11 seasons, 65 in four years at Elyria and another 170 at Medina in 11 more years. His teams won eight league championships at Firelands, one at Elyria and four at Medina. "The way he handled himself during a game," Lawhead said. "He was so composed, self-controlled. He sat and never got up. He'd cross his legs and watch the game. He had prepared his team so well that he didn't have to whistle and get up for direction or whatever. He was just an amazing personality, and he was very successful wherever he was." Don't mistake his businesslike approach to the game. He was as competitive as anyone. He graduated from Keystone in 1964 and was fourth in his class academically. He was a star player on the basketball and baseball teams. "He was my hero," said Tom, who would follow Butch's footsteps as an athlete at Keystone, graduating in 1967. Ken graduated in 1960, and all the Sooy brothers were terrific multisport athletes. "He was someone you looked up to. Everybody knew him being a small town, a small environment. Even Ken, I wondered how am I going to compete here? "(Butch) was someone I was always very, very proud of. I think every year, every time I had the chance to come back, I always tried to make it a point to get back to see at least one of the games he was coaching every year. My dad and I would hook up and go. A lot of great memories." Tom laughs when told of Butch's mild personality. He remembers good, old-fashioned matchups against his older brother in the backyard or driveway. "Growing up, he had a bit of a temper," Tom said. "He used to beat the crap out of me. We'd play one-on-one a lot and we'd have games like 10-9, 10-8 and he'd always win. It was one of those relationships — older brothers. "He didn't like to lose. He was a competitor. I'm sure there were a lot of restless, sleepless nights after a loss for him." Curt Karpinski was also was a great athlete at Keystone but a couple of years behind Sooy. Karpinski became a Hall of Fame baseball coach at Elyria. "Obviously, he was a heck of an athlete," Karpinski said. "When our parents would get together and we'd be playing baseball or stickball out in the driveway, he would show his true potential as to what he could do. There was no doubt he was a great athlete and he was a player." "Butch was just an exceptional man," said longtime softball coach Jim Piazza, who lived with Ken Sooy after Piazza's father died. "He helped a lot of people. If you notice, toward the end of his career, when he stopped being a head coach, how many young coaches he groomed and stayed around because he loved it and wanted to stay around." Sooy's competitiveness changed a slowpitch softball rule in Elyria. Because of his ability to foul off pitches as he waited for one he could hit hard, the rule was changed to an out for a foul ball after two strikes. That was in the 1970s when slowpitch softball was huge in the area. After graduation from Keystone, he went to Findlay College on academic and athletic scholarships, earning a bachelor's degree in 1968 in health and physical education with a minor in math. He earned a master's in 1972 from Akron. He started his teaching and coaching career at Midview for two years before going to Elyria for two. His junior varsity baseball teams at Elyria were a combined 24-0. He left Elyria in 1972 to become the Firelands basketball coach and almost immediately made an impression. Art Daniels, a senior on Sooy's first team at Firelands and an established high scorer for the Falcons, may be the only person to play for and coach with Sooy. "I can't say enough good things about the guy," said Daniels, who took over from Sooy at Elyria when he left for Medina. "From his calmness on the bench to his attention to detail and his willingness to help other kids. Not too many guys come around like he did." One thing about Sooy's teams, it always seemed like they took more foul shots than the opponent. His teams played sound defense but avoided fouling. "The defense is kind of what he was known for," he said. "When he became our coach at Firelands, he taught us things defensively that we had never heard before. They weren't radical things. They weren't things that nobody ever thought of but just the little fundamentals that he stressed and we worked on and worked on some more." "I came up in '86," said Todd Brubaker, one of Sooy's players at Elyria. "It was his second year there. Every time I'd see him, he always reminded me how he promoted a point guard that shot 19 percent. That quote still lives with me today. "He was definitely instrumental in my development not only as a player but as a person. He called all the time checking on you. He did all those things outside of basketball." Brett Larrick, Elyria's successful basketball coach, was a close friend of Sooy's son, Ryan, growing up. "I was really close with the whole family," Larrick said. "I was best friends with Ryan. I remember the times Butch coached us in tee-ball all the way to Little League. We ended up being in the Majors and All-Stars. "Being around his teams as ball boys at Firelands and Elyria, wearing the uniforms and looking up to all the guys that were playing for him. Even to this day when we would talk, especially during the season, he would just simplify it. He has a calming sense and a way of just simplifying the game. That goes down to the fundamentals, working on the basics and keeping it simple." Larrick and everyone else who stayed in close contact with Sooy would get a text from Sooy on their birthday, anniversary or Christmas. His thoughtfulness was obvious and appreciated. Sooy and Pat were married in 1968 and had a son, Ryan. There will be a celebration of his life April 18 at Medina High School's gym. Visitation is from 1-3 p.m. and 4-6 p.m. with a service at 3. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Let's Make a Difference, P.O. Box 241, Medina, 44256. The organization supports children in Medina County, and Sooy helped with its summer camps. Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.