Gary Lagesse (born May 28, 1953) is a former athletic director, head softball coach, team advisor and current sporting goods sales representative. He served as the head softball coach for

Thornwood High School Thornwood High School is a public high school located in South Holland, Illinois, United States. It was built as part of Thornton Township High School District 205. It opened in 1971 to accommodate overcrowding at other District 205 schools, Tho ...

from 1977 until 2006, winning State Championships in 1990, 1991 and 1998. He founded and operated the Illinois Outlaws travel softball program where he won the

Amateur Softball Association An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History H ...

18U National Championship in 2008. He holds a career record at the varsity level of 694 wins and 301 losses. Upon retirement, Lagesse held the Illinois state record for most wins by a head coach in softball. Lagesse was inducted into the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

Coaches Hall of Fame in 2002. Lagesse retired as the athletic director at Thornwood in 2011 after serving in the role for 35 years. While coaching, Lagesse's teams were sometimes compared to the 1970's

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

due to their strikingly similar uniforms combined with their productive hitting. At the same time, Lagesse was described as scheduling difficult opponents for his team. Lagesse attended Beecher High School and

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. Once West ...

where he graduated with a degree in education in 1976.

References

External links

* http://icasoftball.org/coaching-awards/coaches-hall-of-fame/ * http://www.ihsa.org/Schools/SchoolDirectory.aspx?url=/data/school/s.htm 1953 births High school softball in the United States Western Illinois University alumni Living people Sportspeople from Will County, Illinois {{US-softball-bio-stub