IUP Baseball Alumni Feature: Article 4
Bruce Yard, Health & Physical Education Teacher, Coach and former Professional Player
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1991-93)
Anyone who knows and understands baseball, realizes how difficult it is to reach the minor league level, let alone the Major Leagues. Sometimes, coming from a small high school and Division II institution makes that path more difficult. One thing that is to be known, it only takes one set of eyes to think that you have what it takes to play professionally, and Bruce Yard had just that.
Considered a local talent, Yard attended IUP after graduating from Apollo Ridge High School, which is located approximately 20 miles from Indiana. Making an immediate impact on the diamond, he earned PSAC West Rookie of the Year honors in 1991. The future in baseball seemed bright for Bruce after his freshman year, and it held true throughout the next two years. Yard hit .409 as a sophomore and earned the "Toughest Player to Strike Out in the Nation" award. This award is given to the student-athlete who has the lowest strikeout average based on strikeouts to total at-bats in a single season. Yard finished his sophomore year striking out only three times. More impressively, he struck out six times during his entire collegiate career. He was also named first team All-PSAC West shortstop after his sophomore season and was selected to several preseason All-American teams prior to his junior year. Bruce finished his IUP playing career with a .342 batting average, 82 runs scored and 118 hits (all in only three seasons).
As every baseball player, Bruce aspired to play professionally, which after his junior season became reality. In late spring of 1993, he was drafted in the 42nd round by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was invited to Major League and Triple-A spring training camps on numerous occasions. Making it as high as the Double-A level, he spent five years in the Dodgers system before retiring in 1997. He finished his professional career with a .270 batting average, 150 runs scored, 61 doubles, six triples, nine home runs, and struck out 109 times (127 walks) in 1,156 total at-bats. In the five years of his professional career, Bruce played for Yakima (Northwest League), Bakersfield (California League), Vero Beach (Florida State League), and San Antonio (Texas League).
He returned to IUP to earn his bachelor's and master's degrees and also stayed on as an assistant baseball coach with then-head coach Tom Kennedy from 1997 through 2003. Through everything that Yard had accomplished in his athletic career, he was inducted into the IUP Athletics Hall of Fame in fall 2010.
Bruce is currently in his 18th year as a Health & Physical Education teacher at Freeport High School in Freeport, Pennsylvania. Not shying away from coaching, he is the defensive coordinator at his scholastic alma mater along with coaching track and field. He recently resigned as a junior high basketball coach and now coaches his son's AAU 8th grade basketball team.
Anthony Rebyanski: You've had the opportunity to coach and teach. Do you find yourself using coaching tactics in the classroom and if so, how has coaching helped you in the teaching profession?
Bruce Yard: Definitely. There are many similarities between teaching and coaching and usually great coaches are just great teachers of the game. I believe each has helped me become better with the other. The discipline in coaching has helped me become a better teacher, while the patience needed as a teacher has helped me become a better coach.
AR: Although teaching and coaching are very similar professions, they are very different. Would you ever (either now or in the past) have considered getting into coaching rather than teaching? Why or why not?
BY: If you were to ask me back in 1997 when I retired from professional baseball what my future would look like, I would have said that I'll be a college baseball coach or an athletic director at a big high school. Twenty years later, I am a health and physical education teacher and loving it. Being a teacher allows me the opportunity to coach many different sports and I really enjoy that aspect.
AR: You have an extensive background in coaching, including baseball, football, track and field and basketball. Which one of these sports today is your most favorite to coach and why?
BY: That is a tough one! I am an all-round, sports guy. I really enjoy all sports, they teach you something different about yourself and build you into a successful person. However, for me personally, football in Western PA is tough to beat. The Friday Night Lights experience is unmatched. What an athlete goes through playing high school football is pretty special. The mental toughness you have to have to be successful translates into real life. Coaching football really challenges you in so many ways, from teaching technique, to in-game adjustments...they all need to be precise. It is a tremendous challenge to do it well.
AR: The world of minor league baseball can be a roller coaster ride, both mentally and emotionally. As an player who excelled at the highest level in Division II at IUP, did you ever find yourself caught up in the "roller coaster ride" and what was the instance?
BY: Funny! That summarizes my whole minor league experience! Very seldom did I ever stay on one team for the whole season. Usually around the all-star break I would get shipped to another team to make room for the new prospects. I racked up plenty of frequent flier miles. It was common for a utility player to move between ball clubs several times a year.
AR: In the game of baseball, you make life-long friendships with people that you may never see again except for when you play together. Do you stay in touch with any of the players you had the opportunity to play with that made it to the highest levels of professional baseball?
BY: Yes I kept in touch with several guys who made it to the big leagues for a number of years. The two that I kept in touch with the most were Matt Herges and Paul LoDuca. Paul and I were roommates. When they would come to play in Pittsburgh, I would always go to the game to see them and we'd catch up afterwards with dinner.
AR: The year you won the "Toughest Player to Strike Out" award, you struck out three times all year. One of your former teammates (Don Dell, '93), who is currently the principal at the school you work at, was a part of that team. Since you rarely struck out, he told me that when you did on the one at-bat at Clarion, the entire team (including him) thought, "…if Bruce just struck out, we are in trouble today." Looking back, how does that make you feel knowing that you're teammates thought that highly of you as a hitter?
BY: Anytime you get the respect from your teammates it's a special thing, but don't let Donny fool you. He didn't strikeout much either. I really took pride in not striking out. I always felt like it was embarrassing to strike out. Put the ball in play and good things can happen!
AR: As an athlete, everyone has a role model that they follow. Who was your role model as a player and why were they such?
BY: My brother JT, without a doubt. He was my big brother who I competed against in everything. He never let me win when I was growing up and pushed me to highest level. I know I would have never had the success I did without him. A great memory I have is we would play against each other in whiffle ball using the Pirate's lineup. Batting left and right handed just like the Pirates would, down to the bat twirl of Willie Stargell and Dave Parker. Good memories.
AR: What is your most memorable IUP baseball playing experience?
BY: WOW…there are so many! Such great friends, teammates and coaches I had. We were a tight family. It was always an adventure driving the vans to Florida for our spring trip. Thirty college kids in 4 vans going to Florida! Lots of great memories there! We also made the playoffs all three years during my time at IUP, which of course raised the level of play. Playing a sport in college is such a fantastic experience! Playing for Tom Kennedy and Kevin McMullan was very special too. There aren't many people in the world who love the game as much as Tom does, and I challenge you to find a tougher competitor than Mac!
AR: What is your most memorable experience in professional baseball?
BY: I would have to say how it all started. Just realizing the lifelong dream was pretty cool...Getting that phone call saying you have been drafted is a memory I'll always cherish. The whole minor league experience was invaluable too. Learning how to deal with the everyday grind of long bus rides at the lower levels, to being on an airplane every five or six days flying from city to city and then try to play your best game of your life. Because there are no guarantees that you will have a tomorrow, so I always tried to play that way.
AR: If you could give every athlete one piece of advice, what would you want to tell them?
BY: Dream big and don't be afraid to fail. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't achieve something. You don't want to live your life looking back saying "what if." Leave no regrets!
What they are saying about Bruce Yard:
"Bruce Yard is one of the finest baseball players ever to play at IUP. He possessed great skills, great preparation and he executed. He is also a great family man and a true gentleman."
~Tom Kennedy, former IUP baseball assistant and head coach
"The thing that separated Bruce from the rest of us, besides his natural talent, was his intense desire to get better. He was never satisfied or complacent. He was the first one at practice and the last to leave. If someone was slow to take their turn during batting practice, he took that moment to jump in the cage and get some extra swings. That same desire is still evident in Bruce's life. It was not just an athletic character trait during his baseball career. It is a life-long character trait that we should all try to emulate."
~Don Dell, former IUP baseball teammate and current co-worker
"Bruce was a tremendous athlete and still has a vast knowledge of the game of baseball. He was, and still is a great competitor in everything he does. Bruce is a great family man and a quality person both on and off the field, which makes Bruce who he is to this day."
~Garry Wurm, IUP baseball alum and friend
"As a young baseball player, I was fortunate enough to have been able to see Bruce play in the local leagues around the Indiana area. He was a player that I looked up to and tried to learn as much as possible from watching him play the game. During my collegiate playing career, I was fortunate enough to have played for Bruce while he was an assistant coach. He was the type of person that everyone gravitated towards and wanted to learn as much as possible from him. He had a passion and knowledge for the game of baseball second to none, and enjoyed passing that on to younger players."
~
Anthony Zambotti, IUP baseball assistant coach, IUP baseball alum
