ONTARIO, Ohio — Blake Balogh hasn’t ruled out a career in coaching, but the younger of Joe and Diane Balogh’s two sons isn’t so sure he would want to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“Those would be some big shoes to fill,” said Blake, a 2013 Ontario graduate.
The elder Balogh won his 500th career game over the weekend when the Warriors dispatched Bellevue 65-29, becoming just the 46th coach in state history to reach the milestone according to the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association website.
All 500 of those coaching victories have come at Ontario, where Joe Balogh took over the fledgling program for the 1985-86 season.
To put the milestone in perspective, consider:
• Balogh has won games in four decades, two centuries and two millenia.
• Balogh’s first win came on Nov. 29, 1985, two days after Rocky IV was released.
• When Balogh took over the program, Ontario hadn’t won a sectional championship since the 1972-73 season. The Warriors have won 17 sectional crowns and 20 conference titles in his 30 full seasons as head coach.
• In Balogh’s 30 full seasons, Ontario has finished below .500 only three times.
• Ontario has won 20 or more games in a season 11 times during Balogh’s tenure.
• Ontario’s 61-47 loss to Sandusky on Dec. 4 snapped a 29-game home winning streak that dated to the 2012-13 season. Ontario won 34 consecutive home games from 1996 to 1998.
• His .729 winning percentage (500-186) ranks 14th among the 46 members of the 500-win club.
An All-Ohioan at Edgerton in northwest Ohio, Balogh began his coaching career at Fort Loramie, where he was a junior varsity coach. He arrived in Ontario in 1984 and was an assistant for one season before taking over for Bud Livingston.
He has been on the bench ever since.
“To win 500 games is a remarkable accomplishment,” longtime Ontario junior varsity coach Tim Henige said after Saturday’s victory. “To win 500 games all at the same school is almost unheard of. You just don’t see it anymore.”
The Warriors were 13-8 each of Balogh’s first two seasons, but slipped to 7-14 in his third year. Ontario didn’t win a single tournament game during those first three seasons.
“He had a couple of seasons where he struggled and nowadays he would be gone, but back in the ’80s he was given time to build it,” Henige said. “He has told us that a lot, that younger coaches aren’t given the same opportunities that he got.”
The Warriors turned the corner during the 1988-89 season, going 17-5 and winning a sectional championship. The following year, with the high-scoring Chris Morris leading the way, Ontario was 24-1 and captured its first district title before falling to Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary in the regional semifinals. The Warriors scored more than 100 points three times that year and averaged more than 80 points a game.
Beginning with the 1993-94 season, Ontario would win 20 or more games six times in eight years. The 1994-95 Warriors won sectional, district and regional titles before falling to eventual state champ Orrville in the Division III state semifinals.
His 300th win came early in the 2003-04 season. He reached No. 400 in Ontario’s 62-59 victory over Galion in the Division III sectional championship game on March 5, 2010.
“When you get to a milestone you think about the number of people who are involved in the success. In reality I’ve never won one of those 500 games. It’s been the guys that we’ve had,” Balogh said Saturday night. “There’s so many people to thank and my wife is the first person I need to thank just for putting up with this for 30-some years.”
Both of Joe and Diane’s sons played for their father at Ontario. Oldest son Steven lives in Florida and recently got married. Blake is a junior exercise science major at The Ohio State University.
“That was one of the neater things, being able to coach your own kids,” Joe said. “We never really dealt with any kind of issues. Sometimes when you have a coach’s son, you have to deal with issues and we never really had anything like that. It was a blessing.”
Playing for his father was something Blake Balogh relished.
“I’ve been a part of this since I was a baby,” Blake said. “I know how much the program means to him. This isn’t just a win for him or this team, it’s special for everyone who has ever played at Ontario and dad wants to spread the wealth to them.”
Another blessing, Joe said, was the stability among his coaching staff. Henige has been on board for more than 20 years. Varsity assistant Carl Schnittke played on Balogh’s 1985-86 team and has been his chief lieutenant for more than two decades.
“That consistency has been invaluable. When the kids don’t want to see me or talk to me, they can smooth the edges over,” Joe said. “By the time I get the kids, the basics have been taught.”
So did Balogh ever consider moving on from Ontario?
“At one point I did interview at another school in the area, but the best decision was to stay here,” Balogh said. “I’m really happy that we have.”
Shortly after his 300th win in late 2003, a reporter (me) asked Balogh if he had another 300 wins in him. So how much more does the ageless Balogh — he’s 58, for the record — have left in the tank?
“There’s going to come a point in time when you get out. I’m not really sure when that will be, but it will probably be sooner than later,” Balogh said. “Coaching friends who have retired have always told me that they knew when it was time. I hope that is the case with me. I don’t want to stay too long.
“We’ve got great kids. We’ve got a great group this year and we’ve got some good ones coming, but we’ll have to see.”
The longer Balogh stays on the bench, the better off the Warriors will be.
