Generations of Joy: Burroughs names new baseball complex Katzman Park
Named after longtime Burroughs baseball coach Andy Katzman
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Decades in the making, John Burroughs School announced on Saturday that their renovated baseball complex will now be named Katzman Park after Burroughs alum Andy Katzman.
“Andy Katzman is Burroughs Baseball,” Burroughs baseball assistant coach Davey Desloge said.
“One of the most beloved people in Burroughs’ history is Andy Katzman,” Burroughs baseball head coach Scott Deken said.
The Burroughs baseball program has won four state titles. Katzman has been part of every championship team.
“He was a player and a pitcher on the 1985 state championship team, then he wins state as a coach in the 1990s and the 2000s, and then when we won in 2023,” Desloge said. “If you’ve played baseball or been a part of the baseball program for Burroughs for the last 40-plus years, Andy Katzman has played a role in your life.”
“I’m usually not short of words, but this time around I am,” Katzman said. “It’s your life flashing in front of you.”
Generations gathered for the reveal of Katzman Park, including Coach Katter’s former players.
“Getting to work with Katter from when I was not very good at baseball, to being where I am today as a collegiate pitcher and being able to close out like he did in ’85 is pretty special,” Jack Enger, senior captain on the 2023 Burroughs baseball state championship team, said.
“No one brings more life to the ballpark than Katter does,” said Tucker Desloge, senior captain on the 2023 Burroughs baseball state championship team and son of Davey Desloge.
“If it’s the fourth quarter of the football game, no fan is going to walk up to the coach on the field and start talking, but that happens all the time in baseball and mostly it’s guys that want to talk to Andy [Katzman],” Deken said.
Over the years, Katzman created community through baseball.
His daughter Molly Katzman is the ultimate Bombers cheerleader.
Burroughs included “Molly’s Porch” in Katzman Park.
“To have Molly’s name associated with the porch, I think it really represents what sport is truly about,” Katzman said. “About the joy of competition, the joy of ing one another, the laughter, because at the end of the day, we really are just playing a game. Why not make it fun, why not make it enjoyable, and why not at the end of the day create some memories that will last a lifetime?”
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