East Lansing High School assistant baseball coach dies after throwing batting practice

Lansing State Journal

Ed Outslay, a longtime East Lansing High School assistant baseball coach, died Monday after throwing batting practice to players before a game. He was 67.

UPDATE: A funeral has been scheduled for Ed Outslay that will be held next week in East Lansing. Click the blue link for more information.

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EAST LANSING -- A longtime assistant baseball coach at East Lansing High School who took pride in volunteering his time for young people has passed away.

Ed Outslay died Monday after throwing batting practice for the Trojans' varsity team at the high school before a game. He was 67.

Outslay took a break from throwing pitches between 2:30 p.m. and 2:45 p.m. Monday and collapsed, Trojans head coach Mark Pendred said.

Pendred administered CPR until paramedics arrived. Paramedics also tried to revive Outslay while he was being transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

"He loved East Lansing baseball. He loved the kids," Pendred said. "He was just a caring, giving guy."

Ed Outslay, 67, died Monday after throwing batting practice at East Lansing High School. He took pride in maintaining the field for several years, especially its pitcher's mound.

Outslay collapsed about two hours before East Lansing played Pewamo-Westphalia in the Dean Shippey Capital Diamond Classic at Michigan State University's McLane Stadium.

The Trojans lost 4-3. Players and coaches didn't know Outslay had died until after their game, Pendred said.

This is Pendred's 24th year as East Lansing's head coach. Outslay had been an unpaid coach under Pendred for 23 of those years.

Outslay was so resistant to recognition that he declined to be in team photos every season, Pendred said.

"He just wanted to make sure it wasn't about him," Pendred said. "It was never about him. It was about the kids all the time."

Nationally recognized

After coaching nine seasons at East Lansing, Outslay won the AFLAC National Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2003.

Outslay, then 51, was one of about 500 assistant coaches in the country to earn the honor.

East Lansing assistant baseball coach Ed Outslay, right, is seen here in 2010 reacting to player Grant Messerschmidt being called out at first base during a Diamond Classic quarterfinal game with Fowlerville.

After Outslay received the award, he told the State Journal "there's nothing better" than being out on East Lansing's baseball field at about 8:30 p.m. with the sun going down.

"I know I sound like Kevin Costner in 'Field of Dreams' but there's truth to it," Outslay said.

Grand Ledge High School baseball coach Pat O'Keefe, now in his 52nd season, has known Outslay for several decades.

During that time, Outslay developed a reputation as a "low key guy" who took pride in the pristine conditions of East Lansing's field, especially its pitcher's mound.

Outslay cared for the field "like it was his baby," O'Keefe said.

O'Keefe said he's not surprised the Trojans played a game Monday night just hours after Outslay collapsed.

"Knowing Ed, I think he would have told the kids to go and play," O'Keefe said.

'Heartbeat of the team'

Former East Lansing players like Greg Pollack, 31, remember fondly how Outslay encouraged them to have fun and not take the game too seriously.

Pollack described Outslay as "the heartbeat of the team."

After each season, Outslay would present each player at the team banquet with a humorous, multi-page "Season in Review" report created on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

"It wasn’t written from a factual perspective," Pollack said laughing. "He would take some journalistic liberties."

In addition to baseball, Outslay was the Deloitte/Michael Licata Endowed Professor of Taxation at Michigan State University's Broad College of Business.

Outslay was one of three faculty members in MSU's Department of Accounting and Information System who received in 2018 an American Taxation Assocaition/Deloitte Teaching Innovation Award.

Former East Lansing player Marcus Calverley, 33, said Outslay demonstrated the qualities of an award-winning educator as a coach.

Calverley recalls winter practice sessions when Outslay would conduct innovative ground ball drills in the high school's gymnasium.

Outslay had players tie wooden paddles to their hands so they could improve their coordination and muscle memory as they corralled each ball.

"He always found a way to make drills fun," Calverley said. "He showed a lot of patience. The attention to detail he had was borderline obsessive."

Outslay is survived by his wife, Jane, sons Mark and Jeff, brother, Frank, two granddaughters and several nieces and nephews.

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Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.

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