Neil Devlin From the Colorado Dugout: Interview with Cherry Creek Head Coach Marc Johnson

He didn’t want anyone to know, which is indicative of the way he is.

No, Marc Johnson, about as much of a baseball fixture in Colorado as a backstop, practically refused to let his players, their parents and followers, and school administrators center on Monday’s opportunity to win his 800^th game. Class 5A Cherry Creek needed the road victory at Arapahoe to clinch at least a tie for the Centennial League and secure a regional host site later this week.

Of course, it was as self-less as it was ludicrous.

All told, the Bruins whipped the Warriors 12-2 in five innings, tied with Grandview (a team they beat twice) for the Centennial championship, completed their regular season at 17-6 overall to secure a host spot in this weekend’s big-school regionals and handed one of the schoolboy game’s nicest, most-knowledgeable men his 800^th career victory.

“It was really fun,” Johnson said on Monday evening, “and I tried to keep it from the kids. They were trying to win the league championship and they still got it done, so that was kind of cool.”

Not many 74-year-olds actually use the term cool, but Johnson certainly has earned the right.

To wit:

--- This is a guy who left the U.S. Army in 1971 and joined the Bruins as an assistant during the 1971-72 school year. It was two years after Woodstock and the breakup of a musical group you may have heard of The Beatles.

--- Johnson’s record now is well-rounded – he stands exactly 800-200. “Can you believe it?” Johnson asked. We’re 17-6, so I was 783-194 coming into the season. What are the chances of that happening?”

--- In Colorado annals, he stands only behind Eaton’s Jim Danley, who was 807-162-2.

--- While Danley’s career winning percentage is 83.1 percent and tied nationally with an Oklahoma coach, Johnson’s 80 percent stands third.

--- Johnson also stands tied for third in state history with eight titles, most recently winning in 2012 is tops among big schools. His Bruins won five in a row from 1995-99.

--- His 1995 team that included Brad Lidge and Darnell McDonald not only beat a fabulous Arvada West group in the final that was the defending state champion and featured the likes of eventual Cy Young winner and Hall of Fame inductee Roy Halladay and NFL running back Kevin McDougal, but also was unique in that it contained eight positon players and the rest pitchers in addition to completing the Colorado Triple Crown. Cherry Creek remains the only in-stater to win big-school championships in football, boys basketball and baseball.

And in command for 47 years, every list involving him is long, such as coaching his son. Coaching your sons. Coaching sons of players. Sending ridiculous waves of players to college on all levels. First-round draft picks by the Major Leagues. Outlasting local regimes and waves of umpires, and playing ball back when wooden bats were the norm before something called alloys were implemented. He joined the Bruins a year after a school named Roncali won Colorado’s big-school championship and has watched assorted power shifts among big schools.

And he has never forgotten who he is and where he belongs.

“It has just worked out that way,” Johnson said of his tenure. “I’ve had chances to take interviews from colleges and so forth already 20 years in my coaching tenure, but I listened to advice from my wife and other people ... they said I’d be foolish to pass up this for ego.”

His ego has remained in his back pocket. Certainly, when Johnson disagrees with a call, he has gotten his share of leeway from umpires. But he never bad-mouths other players, was always one of the first to be asked to offer input on all-league and all-state selections, and loves off-season training, but also is all for multi-sport athletes as he understands the importance.

Johnson, who has been a professional scout for multiple big-league teams, also has fared well in this time of academies and clubs. And who else is more symbolic of Cherry Creek in terms of sports? Remarkably, the Bruins, on the edge of southeast Denver in Greenwood Village, have somehow managed to retain Colorado’s largest enrollment, sit atop academic lists and win more than 100 state championships than any other in-state school despite exponential growth in all directions.

He considers himself luckier than the late, great Lou Gehrig.

“I can’t even tell you how fortunate and blessed I’ve been with families, players, parents, coaching staffs and administrations,” Johnson said. “Things have changed in every facet. There are a lot more schools now and it’s a lot harder to win … kids have changed and parents have changed and administrations have changed, so I guess I’ve been fortunate enough to be flexible and roll with whatever has been going on. It has been a key.”

Other vitals include Johnson “getting everybody to buy in” and making his players understand “baseball is all about being consistent.”

And he shows no signs of slowing down. He continues to state that as long as he’s getting it done with his kids and it’s fun for everybody involved, he’ll stay in the game.

What would Colorado schoolboy baseball be without him?