Mario: A Mentor for All Seasons

For those who don’t believe one person can make a difference, meet Mike Maio, El Camino Real High’s feisty, 59-year-old former baseball coach. His legacy is going to last a lifetime.

During a meeting last Friday, Maio stunned his players by announcing his retirement, bringing an end to a 16-year reign that included four City Section championships this decade.

“You could have knocked those kids over with a soft breeze,” one observer said.

Underestimated from the moment he took over the Conquistador varsity in 1983, Maio taught his players to never quit, never choose wrong over right and never lose perspective on what competition was all about.

Along with teaching life lessons, Maio made sure El Camino Real played baseball better than most teams season after season.

Critics never figured out Maio’s coaching secrets. They questioned his baseball knowledge. They suggested his success was solely because El Camino Real is located down the street from the talent-laden Westhills PONY league.

Maio never paid attention to what people thought of him as a coach. He always had one objective--prepare his players for the day they wouldn’t be playing baseball.

“I think he felt a different obligation to his players than other coaches,” said Montreal Expos outfielder Ryan McGuire, a 1990 El Camino Real graduate. “He spends a lot more time developing people than players. I learned more about becoming a man than hitting or fielding, which doesn’t mean I didn’t learn about baseball. Every word he fed us he lived his life by.”

It was difficult for Maio to finally call it quits. He is among the last from a generation of coaches hired into the Los Angeles Unified School District in the 1960s who didn’t wear uniforms, believed in teaching fundamentals and discipline and paid their dues before finally reaching the varsity level in the 1970s and ‘80s. One by one, the Jerry Cords, Steve Mardens and Darryl Strohs have left the baseball scene, leaving only Maio in the region.

“It was very tough, one of the toughest things I’ve had to do,” Maio said of his decision to give up coaching. “I’ve been laboring with it. It was emotional for me. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to have been associated with the kids. I love them and I’m going to miss them.”

Maio came to Los Angeles in 1965 from Trinidad, Colo. He taught physical education at Patrick Henry Junior High and later coached football at Belmont and El Camino Real. He spent 16 years as a junior varsity baseball coach before El Camino Real gave him a chance to coach the varsity.

Maio’s last two years demonstrated how underrated he was as a baseball strategist. He made the surprising decision in 1997 to use All-City pitcher Shaun Fishman strictly as a reliever in the playoffs. The only way the Conquistadores could make it to Dodger Stadium was for Fishman to pitch in every playoff game. That’s what he did, and El Camino Real won the title.

Last season, in what senior pitcher Johnny Koegel refers to as “a coaching masterpiece,” Maio took an inexperienced team that started 0-4 and nurtured it to an upset over heavily favored Chatsworth in the City 4-A title game at Dodger Stadium.

The championship game provided a final example of what Maio does best--prepare his players to come through at the decisive moment. He groomed pitcher Kurt Birkins all season for the chance to pitch against the City’s best pitcher, Mike Kunes of Chatsworth. Birkins delivered the greatest performance of his career, pitching 10 innings and striking out 12 in a 5-2 victory.

Maio said he is giving up coaching because he doesn’t have the energy “like I used to.”

He will be tough to replace, but the lessons he preached won’t be forgotten.

“He taught us about life, morals, ethics, values, and they’re going to stick with us a lot longer than playing baseball,” Koegel said.

Frequently in this day and age, after a team wins a high school championship, the coach is accused of cheating or illegally recruiting players. Despite four City titles, not once did I hear someone accuse Maio of breaking a rule. He had integrity, and everyone knew it.

“Nowadays, you get people who want to coach to put their names in lights,” McGuire said. “Coach Maio, all he wants is to coach because he loves the game and wants to teach.

“Hopefully, his legacy will be he left his mark on enough of his players that we can pass on what we learned to others, and in that sense, he’s still coaching.”

Eric Sondheimer can be reached at his e-mail address: eric.sondheimer@latimes.com