St. Cloud Cathedral Coach's Decades-Long Legacy
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (WCCO) -- Like a lot of great coaches, he is an institution.
"I just knew I loved teaching and I loved baseball," he said. "In those days, I was still playing amateur ball in the summertime."
Time has not stood still -- the games, the wins and generations of players in between.
"He actually coached and taught my dad and both of my uncles before me," St. Cloud Cathedral catcher Zack Sufka said.
He's stuck around for the game, the players and even the park.
"I feel like I'm a kid, in a good way," Karn said. "I can feel like I'm both 7 years old and 70 years old or 17 years old."
His coaching staff are no strangers at St. Cloud Cathedral either, including 89-year veteran Nick Chanaka.
"Our four coaches -- we had one that just turned 50, Charlie Berg, he's in his 60s, Bob's in his 70s and I'm in my 80s," Chanaka said.
Winning is a good reason to stick around, too -- state championships have been a big part of Karn's tenure.
"You have to have a really good group of players who have played a lot of baseball, love to play and understand the game, and who believe that the fun is going to take them a long ways if their fortunate" Karn said. "
The kids aspire to be a part of the team, because it's helps define their school.
And throughout everything, he's always been in the classroom, teachin -- and still is -- with the same love he brought to the school 46 years ago.
"He does things differently than a lot of coaches," St. Cloud Cathedral Athletic Director Emmit Keenan said. "Heck, he's going to be 75 years old and still teaching three English classes a day."
He's still not thinking about getting out, but about winning another game, and teaching some more lessons to his players.
"I would like them to say that they had fun playing, they learned skills of baseball and they learned how to be good teammates, and how to care about each other," he said.
Karn says all he wants is to stay on the ball field, where life just seems to make sense.
"You don't want to be anywhere else," he said. "When you're here, this is the only place you want to be."