A little over a year ago, the Shorewood community lost a beloved member, Coach Wyatt Tonkin.While his passing hit many people, some of the most greatly affected by this loss include the Shorewood Baseball team.
Even though Tonkin is no longer with us, his legacy still lives on in Shorewood baseball. With home games happening at Meridian Park baseball fields, Shorewood community members have started to refer to it as “Tonkin Park” and “Tonkin Field” in memory of him.
Tonkin’s legacy not only lives on in the field, but the players as well.
“Every day at practice, we’re warming up, or if it’s a game, there’s a Wyatt Tonkin sign out on the fence and we all go up and we tap it right before a game and then right after a game, especially if we played really bad, we tap it,” senior Joseph Facilla said.
Another way that the team commemorates Tonkin is by wearing patches on their hats with his initials, W.T., in his honor.
Tonkin himself left a lasting impact on all of his players, whether they are still here at Shorewood or have graduated.
“He made connections with everyone that was on the team, and after his passing, a lot of people reached out from all over the place. There was a bunch of people that had graduated 10 years ago that played for Tonkin that were reaching out,” junior Reid Oliveto said.
Tonkin was able to touch multiple different people’s lives in so many ways, leaving a lasting impact on almost everyone he interacted with.
Although Tonkin was strict, he was always pushing his players to be the best they could be, on and off the field. “In games, no matter if we were winning by a bunch or losing by a bunch, he would always keep us in the game, making sure we were focused.You could never ease off, you always had to be doing your best,” junior Cole Gillingham said. With a new coach this year, practices for the players have been different. Having to adapt to a new coach’s playing style has been difficult, but the way that the coach has come in has been very helpful to the team to adapt to his new coaching style.
“The way that Ben Andrews, our new coach, came in was very subtle, like he wasn’t trying to change a lot all at once. Obviously, there’s stuff that’s different now, but I think it’s good that he just kinda settled in and change happened over a course of time instead of all at once.” Facilla said.
Having to lose such an amazing and impactful mentor has been hard, but Andrews has done a good job of stepping into his new role as coach of the Shorewood baseball team.
When Tonkin passed, Shorewood baseball was hit hard by the loss of their beloved coach. But, Coach Tonkin’s legacy will continue to live on for many years to come through his players, whether they have graduated yet or not.
“Because he coached for so long, and the impact he had on many people spread wide, so we have players from the past that come back, and they want to be a part of Shorewood baseball even when they leave. So just that connection that Tonkin had spread to lots of people, so that they wanna still be a part of Shorewood baseball,” Gillingham said.
