Head Baseball Coach Marty Paulsen retires after 54 years – 1969 thru 2022

   1969 – 2022      54 Years      Overall Record    611 – 444

Go to link below for 75 years of Fond du Lac Baseball celebration (East. 1947 – 2022) and review all 54 teams Marty coached 1969 – 2022

https://www.cardinalathleticalumni.com/celebrating-75-years-of-fond-du-lac-baseball-established-in-1947/

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1969  1st Year Head Coach  Marty Paulsen  >  Fox River Valley Conference Champions

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Fond du Lac Baseball Announcement regarding the retirement of Head Coach Marty Paulsen after 54 seasons. Congratulations on an amazing career – 54 years & 7 decades. His overall record sits at 611-444. Between 1,100 and 1,200 players come through the program.

It was in mid-May when Fond du Lac baseball coach Marty Paulsen decided the 2022 season would be his last. And Thursday, the 76-year-old Paulsen led his team on to Joe Braun Field for the final time at home to cap a career that spanned 54 years and seven decades. 

Fond du Lac beat Kaukauna 5-4 in nine innings in a game that was completed Friday, and the Cardinals (8-14) begin WIAA postseason play Tuesday with a regional semifinal game at Slinger. The Cardinals honored Paulsen before Thursday’s game, presenting him with a framed No. 14 jersey as well as welcoming back players from the program’s past who had played for the legendary coach.

“It was about two weeks ago and I just came with the idea that, ‘OK, now’s the time,'” Paulsen said. “I first told my wife (Cindy), then my athletic director Dave Michalkiewicz. Then last week I told my players and my assistant coaches. “It just kind of came to me that this could be the year. There was nothing negative that went into the decision, it was all positive. You can’t do this forever. I don’t want to be out here 88 years old and in a wheelchair.”

Paulsen’s longevity puts him in select company in the state. His overall record sits at 611-444, which puts him third in all-time wins behind Royall’s Joe Vitcenda (634-374) and Pecatonica’s Jim Strommen (619-222), both of whom are still active in coaching. Paulsen is already a member of the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in January. 

Paulsen began his coaching career in Fond du Lac in 1969 and hasn’t had a chance to enjoy the spring without baseball in those 54 seasons, and that’s one of the reasons why he decided to retire from coaching. “I have my wife, Cindy, who has been extremely supportive,” Paulsen said. “She’s been with me all 54 seasons and out of Fond du Lac in March, April or May for those 54 years. We could never do anything in the spring because we had open gyms and things like that. 

“The program is in great shape. We have all the kids back (for the 2023 season) except for two. I can move on and there’s a few other things I want to do besides baseball. But I’m a huge baseball fan and I’ll be around and support whoever it is. Now I’ll be able to get to a (MLB) spring training once or something like that.”

Paulsen retired from teaching in 2006, but still substitute teaches in business and marketing at the high school. His legacy has had a tremendous impact on the community, according to Michalkiewicz. “Marty is Fond du Lac baseball,” Michalkiewicz said. “It’s going to be an unbelievable loss when he’s not on the field and in the dugout and along the third-base line next year. And that’s just not for the high school but for the baseball community at large and just what he’s meant to the state of Wisconsin as well as Fond du Lac for the past 54 years.”

The number of players Paulsen has coached in the Fond du Lac system is remarkable and he figures he has had between 1,100 and 1,200 players come through the program. “It’s just incredible what I’m hearing back from the players from years and years ago,” Paulsen said. “There were a couple from 40 years ago and they actually said that they learned a lot from me and I chuckled in my mind and thought, ‘That’s kind of nice. I guess they thought I knew something back 40 years ago.’ It’s just amazing. I’m hearing from people in California who played for me and haven’t been in contact with them for 40 years. It’s just phenomenal.”

Paulsen added: “My first team (1969), I’m still friends with. They’re only four years younger than I am, and a lot of them look older than me. And I always tell them that when I see them.”

Paulsen led the Cardinals to a state tournament appearance in 1969 and the team also reached state in 1970, 1984, 1985, 1999 and 2019, along with a Division 1 state title 2000. He noted his assistant coaches over the years, including current assistants Rusty Kryzanowski and Mark Otterstatter, have been critical in his success. Paulsen said the 2000 championship team will always be special, but also pointed to another top squad — his 1989 team — that was undefeated heading into sectional play but came up short of a state berth.

“My son (Chip) was on that team,” Paulsen said. “We were undefeated all year and then we got beat in the sectional. We didn’t make the state tournament and that was too bad.”

Tony Gerharz, the baseball coach at Oshkosh West, said he’s known Paulsen since the early 1990s when Paulsen’s son played for the Oshkosh Giants and when the Cardinals joined the Fox Valley Association. “He was the first coach to get me involved in the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association and it has been a great experience ever since,” Gerharz said. “Marty’s best qualities as a coach is he enjoys and nurtures relationships with players, coaches, umpires and all involved in the functioning of a baseball organization. He encourages his players to work hard and have fun. That is what sports are all about, having fun and building relationships. He has been such a positive influence on baseball in the Fox Valley area, but also all over the state.” Gerharz added that Oshkosh West and Fond du Lac have engaged in some classic games over the past 20-plus years. “I would guess almost every head coach in Wisconsin knows Marty, has listened to Marty stories and enjoyed spending time with him,” Gerharz said. 

Sharing those “Marty” stories is something Kimberly head coach Ryan McGinnis has experienced. “Marty is a gem,” McGinnis said. “He has so many stories and one is funnier than the next. He has a passion to compete and a passion to laugh and enjoy life. Those two combined are pretty cool, pretty rare and extremely refreshing. He is one of those people that never seems to have a bad day. He is able to take any situation and find the positive. He values relationships more than anything else. “He is a special, special person and I have a great deal of respect for him and what he has accomplished both as a baseball coach and an educator.”