Bobby Moegle, coach – on how he got into coaching
I was in my third year of professional baseball at Winston- Salem, North Carolina. I was also doing some graduate work at the University of Texas in the fall, and I became acquainted with a man named Buddy Gilstrap, who was on the staff there. I told him that if he heard of a good coaching job in Texas to offer my name. We were playing at Raleigh one night in the summer of ’59, and I got a phone call from the Lubbock athletic director. He offered me the Monterey job without an interview based solely on Buddy’s recommendation, Lubbock because it was a college town and would be a better place to start. So on Aug. 1, 1959, I came to Lubbock. I had never been here before, but I was ready to enter the coaching ranks.
Moegle has been a baseball coach at Monterey High School in Lubbock since Aug. 1, 1959. Moegle was inducted in to the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 1988 and the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in 1989. He was named Texas Coach of the Year in 1972. He has a record of 894 wins and 207 losses, making him the most successful coach in Texas high school baseball history. His teams have been to 10 state tournaments and recorded 28 district championships in 32 years.
In his first year at Monterey, Moegle coached the school’s first district championship team for a 22-7 record. The following year, his team made it to the state championship game but lost 3-1 to Baytown. Moegle’s first state title came in 1972 with a 2-1 victory over Houston Bellaire. Future professional reliever Donnie Moore led the Monterey Plainsmen with 18 wins and 222 strikeouts on the season. Monterey also won the state championship in 1974 with a 4-2 victory over Houston Spring Woods.
The team won its fourth consecutive district title May 3 with a win over the Coronado Ponies.
Joey Gonzales, catcher
Some coaches try to make practice fun. Not coach Moegle. He says if practice is fun, you’re probably not practicing. We get a lot of practicing done, but we also know how and when to have fun as a team. Winning the fourth consecutive district title last Friday was the icing on the cake.
Allan Wolf, pitcher
It was a great feeling to beat Coronada again. We really wanted to win district. Coach Moegle inspired us to work hard and to live up to our potential. We did.
