MOUNT PLEASANT - Members of the 1962 Central Michigan baseball team were back on campus and inside the CMU Events Center Friday evening to celebrate the 50th anniversary of historic head coach Bill Theunissen's final season.
Theunissen, the namesake for CMU's baseball stadium, led the Chippewas to a 151-114-1 record during his 10 seasons as the head coach before stepping down to take over as an academic dean at the university for 24 years.
Dave Keilitz, a sophomore on the team during Theunissen's final season who later went on to be the head baseball coach and athletic director of CMU, organized the event that 18 of the original 24 members of the '62 squad were able to attend.
"We have 18 of 24 possible players back and as coach Theunissen's 50th year we thought it would be a great time to get everyone back together," Keilitz said. "Some of the guys haven't seen each other in 50 years and haven't seen coach in a long time. It's a special weekend and a great time to get together and pay tribute to coach Theunissen."
The Friday evening reception was just the first of a weekend full of events for the CMU baseball program, which will include a brunch for the '62 team Saturday morning and the program's annual golf outing that afternoon.
"Its really hard to put it into words, but baseball has no age," current CMU head coach Steve Jaksa said. "This is a great group of guys. I was so excited when the idea came about to have this 50th anniversary celebration. The turnout shows the tradition in this program and it really started with Bill Theunissen. This was his last club and it was a special club. They could really play the game."
