Sportsmanship Strikes Out When Coach Attacks Rival

John Hills was hoping to coach his teen-age baseball team to victory in a Senior League all-star tournament game Monday night. What he got instead was a beating that still left him hospitalized Friday.

“I just can’t believe something like this would happen,” Hills, 46, said from his hospital bed. “My team was in total shock. My son was going crazy.”

Hills, of Lockport, said he was coaching first base for the 13-, 14- and 15-year-old all-stars from the Lemont area when he was attacked by a rival coach.

By the time it was over, Hills said, he had several broken ribs, a broken nose and a grapefruit-sized bruise behind a knee, where he was struck by a bat. He was listed in satisfactory condition at LaGrange Memorial Hospital, about 25 miles southwest of Chicago.

The rival coach from the Bridgeview district, George Loy, was handcuffed and taken from the field by Willow Springs police, who charged him with two counts of battery. A Bridgeview juvenile also was charged in a juvenile petition with one count of battery for striking Hills with a bat, police said.

Loy was unavailable for comment Friday.

Hills gave this account:

The trouble began when he complained to the umpire that a 16-year-old Bridgeview team coach was calling plays at first base, usurping the authority of the adult umpire. Later in the game, when Lemont took the lead, Loy threatened to beat Hills.

“He said, ‘I’m going to take those glasses off and bash your face in,’ ” Hills said. “I said, ‘It’s only a ball game, come on . . . I leaned down to pick the scorebook up. The next thing I know, he was on top of me.”

Said Hills’ 15-year-old son, also named John: “I was like, could somebody help my dad out?’ It was hard for us just to sit there and watch some guys beat up on my dad.”

But the younger Hills said he still is a dedicated baseball fan.

“Baseball is the American pastime,” he said. “It’s fun to play. I just couldn’t believe anybody had to act like that to play baseball.”

Senior League district officials were not available for comment.