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Hall of Famer Dennis Woods Passes Away
2nd in All Time Wins in Ohio
Dennis Woods — a longtime Northeast Ohio baseball coach since 1964 — passed away Aug. 13.
Woods coached at Glenville, Cleveland Heights, Lake Catholic, VASJ, and Brush helped push him to 817 career wins at the high school level. That total is third all-time in Ohio for wins in a career, according to the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
His 57-year coaching stretch began in college at Case Western and then Cuyahoga Community College before he went to Glenville, his first head coaching stop in high school. With the Tarblooders, he won 11 conference championships and led the team to a state championship game appearance in 1973.
No matter where he stopped along the way, Woods’ focus was always on the kids rather than any accolades he collected along the way. As longtime area coach and athletic director Mick Mohner highlighted, his passion and love for the game had lasting impacts on several of his former players.
“Dennis’ impact on high school baseball spanned several generations of coaches,” Mohner said. “He knew them all and was a mentor to everyone he knew. You learned things by talking to him, listening to him and just watching him in action. He was an icon in our area and for years he helped keep baseball alive in the inner city. It would be impossible to understate his impact. But most of all to me, he was a great friend.”
When he left Glenville, Woods headed to Cleveland Heights for a short stint before spending 19 years at Lake Catholic.
With the Cougars, he won 355 games and led them to four regional round appearances and a state semifinal appearance in 2012.
Dennis was one of a kind,” Colacarro said. “I have never been around a harder working coach. He worked tirelessly every day, in season and out of season, to make our program what it has become. Even in his ‘golden years’ he gave his all in everything he did.
“His players meant everything to him and he treated all of them as if they were his own. To say that he is a legend is an understatement. He coached in his 70s and 80s with a passion of a 30-year old. There are few like him and the baseball community will mourn his passing.”
After a four-year stint at VASJ, Woods went to Brush for a season. While leading the Arcs, he had Devon Bolling on staff, who took over during the season for him.
With it being his first season as a head coach, Bolling leaned on Woods to learn how to lead a program the right way. He is going to take the lessons that he learned from Woods through his coaching journey and try to lead the program just like Woods did.
Coach Woods’ legacy as a program builder continues to have a lasting impact on so many in Northeast Ohio,” Bolling said. “The time recruiting the hallways, checking grades, tutoring, improving facilities, grooming fields, driving kids to and from practices and making sure they ate on those early Saturday mornings and before games. He poured everything into each kid and program he was involved in. It was rare to show up at any ball field in Northeast Ohio and not have a former player come give him a hug or a coach he mentored share old stories.”
