3rd District baseball director makes Hall of Fame

OSSEO — Third District American Legion Baseball Director Bruce Young of Shakopee is one of this year’s Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame inductees.

In addition to running the 3rd District, Young is the Division I State Tournament Director.

Young’s career as a Legion coach began in 1986 with Minneapolis Hellenic Post 129.

“I enjoyed coaching the Minneapolis kids,” Young said. “My son Joe was a Minneapolis kid and a started coaching him in youth baseball.”

During his early years as a Legion coach, Young was a college basketball and baseball assistant coach. He worked in both sports at Macalester College and was also a baseball assistant at Concordia University in St. Paul.

Young’s Legion coaching career took a new direction when he applied for the Apple Valley job. “My friend Larry Engen lived in Apple Valley and told me they were looking for a Legion coach,” Young recalled. So the contact was made with Apple Valley Legion Athletic Director Dick LeSavage.

Young’s reputation as a college coach helped him land that job. He quickly put Apple Valley on the map in the 1990s and won the Division I title in 2002 when the tourney was held in Marshall.

“That team defeated Excelsior in the finals,” Young said. “Our guys were thrilled to win it.”

Apple Valley finished second in state in 2004, 2007 and 2009 to earn berths in Legion regional tournaments.

“It was a tremendous experience watching our kids enjoy success in the regionals,” Young said. “We had a great coaching staff with people like Al Newman, Bill Goodman, Jeff Buck, Tom Butler, Gregg Bjorklund, Rod Teichrow, Patrick “Sarge” Ryan and Jeremy Engen. They worked with the kids on baseball fundamentals and taught the right values. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Young said he appreciated the teamwork among baseball directors as much as he appreciated his working relationships with assistant coaches.