There are those who say John Huizenga was born with a bat and ball in his hand.  After all, it seemed like Huizenga was playing baseball every spare minute from the time he was big enough to toddle around the bleachers at Marsh Field.

He was a three-year starter for Muskegon’s legendary baseball coach Harry Potter during the days when Big Red baseball ruled the roost. He took his hitting and fielding talents to Western Michigan University where he started as a sophomore catcher.  Huizenga was named a first string All-American during his junior year when he batted .409 while playing the entire 42-game schedule without a single error.

The Detroit Tigers liked what they saw in Huizenga and drafted him in the fourth round in 1965. But it turned out to be a dead-end road.  Huizenga started out playing Class A ball at Daytona Beach, Fla. and Rocky Mount, N.C., where he hit .279. The next year, he improved that average to .302 and was named to the All-Star team.  In December of 1966, Huizenga was purchased by the Baltimore Orioles before being bought back by the Tigers the following May.

Huizenga played Class AAA ball in Toledo but, seeing little opportunity to move into a starting catching spot for the Tigers – Detroit great Bill Freehan had that position locked up – Huizenga decided to quit baseball and take up teaching.

He coached Whitehall’s baseball team for 25 years, compiling a 398-177 record, while winning 13 West Michigan Conference titles and seven county championships.  Huizenga, who also refereed various sports, doubled as athletic director during the latter part of his coaching career, which ended in 1993