Editor’s note: In the Colorado Classics series, The Denver Post takes a weekly look at individuals who made their mark on the Colorado sports landscape and what they are doing now.
Lou Garramone was in the right place when he played baseball for Denver North High School in the early 1940s.
Denver’s north side always had good baseball players in those days, and Garramone was one of them as the team’s second baseman. With the feisty Garramone among the top 10 hitters in the league, the Vikings won the city championship in 1942. The value of the championship was enhanced by the caliber of the opposition, with the likes of John Adams and Carl Stearns at Denver East, Lacey Curry at Manual, Jack Girtin at Denver West and Butch Thomas at Denver South.
“We had some really good teams at North,” Garramone said, recalling teammates such as Lowell Stuckey and Chuck Lilly. “Our coach was B.O. Moles. He never said a word to us, and sometimes we had to listen to the announcement of the lineups to know if we were playing.”
Garramone not only played, he did it so well that his next stop was Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, where he played for Pete Butler in arguably the best college baseball program in the state. The Bears were fixtures in the NCAA playoffs, but didn’t win a title.
While at North, Garramone also played football. His versatility on the playing fields made it an easy transition into coaching. His coach’s office was at Denver West, where he coached and was on the faculty for 35 years. His head coaching assignment was baseball, taking over the job in 1960 when coaching staffs were shuffled to fill the staffs at three new high schools: Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln and George Washington.
Now 83, Garramone has reminders of his coaching days. He doesn’t have a trophy case, but a wall at his home features pictures of his teams and players. Garramone is the trophy.
“You find that the championships become less important in time,” said Highlands Ranch basketball coach Bob Caton, who played basketball and baseball for Garramone at West. “When your former players come back and see you and they maintain an association, that’s what’s most important. It didn’t matter if you were the best player he had or the worst player he had, he cared for you.”
A year ago, a group of former Cowboys, including Caton, Bruce Abeyta and Aaron Carruthers, reunited to celebrate Garramone’s 82nd birthday.
Gary Rhoades, Bob Radovich, Jim Lockner, Gary Jacobs, Dick Garcia, Ken Padilla, LeRoy Dack and John Barnes are others who call Garramone “Coach.”
Barnes, who had stints as head baseball coach at Colorado State-Pueblo and UNC, gives Garramone high marks as a coach.
“He was a teacher, a motivator, a mentor and a person you always could count on,” Barnes said. “We played in a tough league. The rivalries were very keen. At West, we always seemed to come up a little short.”
Garramone remembers it well.
“We finished second once, but we never quite could get there,” Garramone said. “We played South for the championship and we lost 6-4. The game was called in the fifth inning because of snow. We still considered it a feather in our caps. West was the only high school that didn’t have its own baseball field. We played our home games at West Fifth and Federal.”
That was in 1962, when Garramone had probably his best team, including Garcia, Dack and Padilla.
Garramone coached at West on a staff that included Jack Girtin and Mike Jurich.
“I was pretty fiery as a coach,” Garramone said. “I used to get upset at umpires a lot, but maybe I was looking for excuses. Sometimes, it’s hard to admit that the problem was your own.”
But Garramone was well liked by his peers. Most opposing coaches probably rooted for him when the Cowboys were playing someone else.
Garramone’s career dates to a different Denver, a time when each high school had boundary lines.
The northsiders who followed him down the baseball path included Virgil Jester, Ben Dreith and Pat Haggerty.
After his playing days, Garramone became a teacher in the Denver Public Schools system. But with only five high schools, coaching jobs were hard to find.
“I was teaching in elementary school, but each summer I would visit the five high school principals,” Garramone said. “Wilford Woody finally gave me a job at West.”
Garramone can be found most days reading a book. He attends some Rockies games, and during the spring he can be found most any afternoon watching a high school baseball game. He’s a fan.
And he lets everyone know of his Italian heritage.
“When I was growing up, it wasn’t the best to be Italian because of World War II,” Garramone said. “Now everybody wants to be Italian.”
Staff writer Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
