Mission baseball coach retires after making a lasting impression

ST. IGNATIUS — If you ask Mission Valley baseball players and coaches about Mission youth coach Randy Keeble, you’ll hear a lot of the same.

He loved baseball, coached tough and fair, and won a lot of baseball games – at least 80 percent, fellow coach Stuart Morton said.

A lead figure in St. Ignatius baseball , Keeble also managed the Mission summer baseball program, organized the teams and recruited coaches, Morton added.

Keeble produced great players for Legion ball, making his mark coaching 13-15 year-olds at the Babe Ruth level.

Keeble coached three teams to undefeated seasons in a row in the late nineties and won six or seven championships.

Now he is finally putting up the whistle.

While Keeble’s kids earned wins, his coaching style earned him the respect of those he coached. After spending time under Keeble, many of those kids went on to play college ball.

Plains ball player Brandon Thompson was one of those kids.

Thompson played at Lewis-Clark State, is spending a year playing junior college ball while recovering from an injury and has his eye on big-time baseball at Oregon, Oregon State, Gonzaga or University of Washington.

And he still remembers the year he played for Randy in St. Ignatius.

“Everybody really liked him,” Thompson said of Keeble. “He was a players’ coach.”

Thompson said Keeble treated the boys like men when it came to the game. The result was a winning attitude.

“He just got me to work a little harder and focus more mentally. Now I look it as, ‘this is what I wanted to do - I wanted to win and make sure everyone else wanted to win. And it’s more fun when you’re winning,” Thompson said.

Thompson’s words were echoed by coaches and players from around the valley. 

Different players remembered what part of their game most improved under Keeble.

For Thompson, a first baseman and pitcher, it was fielding and work ethic.

For Mission player Jake Bosley, it was the little things Randy taught him before the jump to the Mission Valley Mariners.

“He was real big on baseball and small-ball type stuff like bunting,” Bosley said. “And that stuff really helped me make the transition to Legion ball.”

Bosley played Babe Ruth for Keeble the year before the coach took a break in his long tenure as a youth coach and moved to Arizona.

For a couple years, Keeble’s absence left a hole in Mission baseball Ronan Babe Ruth coach Bob Gauthier said.

When he returned to the valley, he got right back into coaching and the program rebounded in a big way, Gauthier said.

“He’s been the face of baseball and throughout the years I’ve had the pleasure of coaching with him and against him,” Gauthier said.

Gauthier served on the board for the baseball league with Keeble for many years. His attendance record showed dedication.

“He never missed one,” Gauthier said. “If you called a meeting, Randy was there, always level headed, and you could count on him to do what is right.”

In one of his last years coaching, Keeble led the Mission Rockies to a championship. Arlee High School senior Cubby Pierre won’t soon forget playing on that team - especially not day one.

It was the day Pierre learned he would be a short-stop.

“Right once I got there he told be I was doing to be the short stop,” Pierre said. “He moved me from first base. He just knew.”

Pierre has played the position since.

And though plenty of those who know Keeble will tell you he means business on the baseball diamond, Pierre said it came with fun too.

“I remember one time I hit a shot down the third baseline and hit Randy and he said ‘how can you do this to me?” Pierre said.

Respect for Randy came from a simple truth, Pierre said - the boys who played and their coach had something in common and it made a cement bond.

“He loved the game as much as we did,” Pierre said.

And if it wasn’t evident when he was coaching, Keeble’s play proved it to his boys.

“I remember he went out there one day and played with us,” Pierre said. “He was so smooth it was unreal even though he’s older, he was turning double plays with us. It was amazing.”

Nothing like showing the kids you still got it.