Message:
Likeable Cousino a winner
by Ron Montri, Evening News sports writer
It took about five seconds for me to decide that I liked Brian Cousino. I met him almost 40 years ago at the Monroe County Fairgrounds. We were huddled in the doorway of the Merchants Building near the 4-H exhibits, trying to escape a light rain. The year was 1965 and someone n I don't remember who n introduced me to a young Monroe Catholic Central student. He was friendly and easy-going, the kind of person who acts like an old friend even though you just met him. I was a big fan of the Chip Hilton books then and he reminded me of Hilton n young, athletic, handsome and friendly, the All-American boy. I found myself envying Cousino that day, wishing I could be so at ease around strangers. I doubt if he recalls that long-ago meeting, but I remember it well. We didn't have summer camps and traveling all-star teams in those days. Brian was one of the first athletes that I met from another school. I liked him immediately and followed the rest of his high school athletic career, his minor league baseball career and eventually his teaching and coaching career. I never dreamed in 1965 that we would spend a good share of our lives crossing paths as a sports writer and a high school coach. Thirty-eight years and more than 500 victories later, he's still the same friendly man. He's a great ambassador for his school, his profession and his sport. I've never sat in on one of his classes, but I'm betting he also is an outstanding teacher. It's hard not to like him. He's the only guy I know who could walk to home plate with an opposing coach and introduce the umpires by saying, "This is my dad, Roy. And this is my Uncle Carl.'' Yes, Roy and Carl Cousino were the umpires for an Ida baseball game back in the 1970s. But that was okay. The other coach knew Brian was a straight shooter. He's the only coach in Ida history to win a state championship in any sport. He did it twice and got to the state finals two other times. He started as a baseball coach but shifted to softball and found his greatest success there. Some transplanted baseball coaches may have been driven crazy by the constant cheers of softball players, but Brian is a chatterbox himself. He did much more than stand in the third-base coaching box and keep up a steady stream of "Cousinoisms.'' He built the softball program from a team that played on a recreation diamond tucked behind the elementary school to a state power with a first-class field. He won his 500th game Thursday, but all he wanted to talk about the next day was the death of his close friend and fellow Ida driver's education instructor Matt Seppala. Cousino will be stepping down at the end of the season, leaving some very large shoes to fill. I'm putting in a plug for Jeremy Potter to be hired as Ida's next varsity softball coach. As Cousino said, "He's like a young version of me.'' To repeat another Cousinoism, "He would be the right guy in the right spot.''