Year In Review: Coon Rapids' Bright Wins National Coaching Honors

Year In Review: Coon Rapids' Bright Wins National Coaching Honors

Following the conclusion of a 57-year coaching career this spring — the past 32 as an assistant at Coon Rapids High School — Don Bright was named the National High School Baseball Coaches Association’s Region 5 Assistant Coach of the Year for Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Bright also taught in Anoka and won several state titles playing amateur baseball.

“The thing about it is you meet so many people,” Bright said. “Jeff Lindstrom, the head coach for the (Coon Rapids) Redbirds, said, ‘Bright, we can’t go to a ballpark where you don’t know somebody.’ I said, ‘Jeff, I’ve been around a long time.’ First of all, there are very few umpires I don’t know, whether it’s Shakopee, Chanhassen, Cold Spring, you name it. That’s the neat part about it. You play hard on the field, and after the game it’s a big baseball family.”

SOURCE: Hometown Source