Nov. 3, 2012
Paul Keyes succumbs to cancer
Sean Ryan: Remembering a Friend
Remembering Paul Keyes
By Phil Stanton
CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
@roadtoomaha
Coach
Keyes, Keydog, Paul. However you knew him, Paul Keyes was
unique.
I was fortunate to interact with Coach Keyes in
multiple ways. I got to know him as a competitor when I was the
Sports Information Director at the University of Richmond. Coach
Keyes was as competitive as anyone on the field during a game,
but was extremely amicable before and after the contests. He
loved to talk baseball, whether it was with his own staff,
visiting staffs, umpires, scouts, members of the media.
I worked with Coach Keyes while Director of
Athletic Communications at VCU. It was great to watch him on a
daily basis. But he treated me the same as he had when I was
with the enemy, the Spiders.
In my role with CollegeBaseballInsider.com, Coach
Keyes was a valuable resource and a great sounding board,
someone terrific to talk with about college baseball. He had his
hand on the pulse of the sport not only on a local and regional
level, but on a national level as well. I always thought Coach
Keyes should have been on the NCAA Division I Baseball
Committee. He would have done a thorough and accurate job of
selecting the at-large teams for the NCAA Tournament. He knew if
Pepperdine was more worthy of a bid than Georgia Southern. Coach
Keyes gave us excellent suggestions on items to put on the site,
including the Open Dates pages, where coaches could look to
complete future schedules and attempt to find replacement games
after rainouts.
Coach
Keyes was a very competitive person. He obviously wanted to win
in baseball and he loved trivia. Coach Keyes was very good on
sports trivia, including his beloved New England Patriots, and
the best I’ve known on uniform numbers of professional athletes.
He also enjoyed movie and music trivia, especially a couple of
his favorites, James Bond and Aerosmith.
Along with his love of VCU Baseball, Coach Keyes
loved CAA baseball. He enjoyed matching wits with longtime head
coaches Ronnie Atkins of Richmond, Billy Brown of George Mason
and Mark Scalf of UNC Wilmington, among others. Coach Keyes
always looked forward to the CAA Tournament, talking baseball
with the other participants while trying to win a conference
title. And he enjoyed conversing with the veteran baseball SIDs:
Carol Hudson at Old Dominion, Curt Dudley at James Madison, Ben
Trittipoe at George Mason, Tom Riordan at UNC Wilmington, among
others.
As much as he loved baseball, Coach Keyes loved
his family so much more. He had nothing but great things to say
about his wife, Trish. He was very proud of his kids and was
elated to see them at VCU games. Coach Keyes was especially
excited when his parents were able to see his Rams play.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Keyes
family, as well as the VCU Baseball family.
Rest in peace, Coach Keyes.
(photos courtesy of VCU Media Relations Office) |