By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Longtime assistant coach Jack Christensen, widely considered as one of the pillars of Monroe Community College baseball and an inductee to the school’s athletics’ hall of fame, passed away in late March.
He was 90 years old.
A graduate of SUNY Brockport and member of the U.S. Army, Christensen started as an assistant with the MCC program while keeping the scorebook for eventual MCC and NJCAA hall-of-famer Dave Chamberlain during the 1971 season. By the following spring, he took over duties in the third base coaching box, a role he held for nearly two decades.
“He was very important in the success of the program and has been for a number of years,” said Chamberlain who amassed 735 wins over 33 years at the helm of the Tribune program – many of those with Christensen as his assistant. “He had a way with the players. I never questioned him, and he never questioned me. Some kids would go to him. Some kids would come to me. That’s just the way it was, different personalities.”
With Christensen, known as “Coach Chris,” giving the signs from the third-base box, MCC established its aggressive approach that has stayed with the program for more than four decades.
“He loved to hit-and-run every chance he got,” said Skip Bailey who first played at MCC before joining the staff and eventually taking over the program in the late 90s. “His game plan was to create as much offense as you could. That was back in a time when nobody was waiting for home runs.”
The Tribunes advanced to the NJCAA World Series (then void of separate divisions) in 1976, ’78 and ’80 while narrowly missing a trip to Grand Junction, Colorado (site of the NJCAA’s crowing event) in 1977.
“It was steal bases, every base you could and if you had a guy that could put the ball in play, you were swinging the bat and we were running like crazy,” said Bailey also an MCC and NJCAA hall of fame member. “Man it was fun. It was game on. It didn’t matter if we were behind or ahead, we were making things happen. Coach Chamberlain gave him carte blanche and he was very aggressive in all the things that we did on the base paths.”
Bailey eventually took over the third-base duties and continued Christensen’s approach. MCC’s 1993 team set a program record with 128 thefts.
Current skipper Dave Brust, who played in the Tribune program while Christensen gave signs, has continued the style established in the early 70s. The past four Tribune nine squads have swiped at least 138 bags. Three of those teams advancing to the NJCAA Division II World Series.
“When you look at MCC baseball, Coach Christensen is in the same conversation as Coach Chamberlain and Skip,” Brust said. “If you had a Mount Rushmore of MCC baseball, he’s on there.”
Batman had Robin and the Lone Ranger, Tonto. With Christensen’s help Chamberlain developed a program that produced MLB draft picks each year of the 70s. Starting with the late Pete Castle in 1970, players such as Charles Steffen, Scott Delgatti, Ken Lelek and Eddie Lee learned the game from Monroe’s dynamic duo and had a chance to continue their careers at the pro level. Eventually former Tribs Greg Keagle and Tim Redding reached the majors as did Danny Mendick who is currently on the 40-man roster of the Chicago White Sox.
“Two great coaches with different styles,” Bailey said. “The uniqueness of their relationship was what made MCC great through the Chamberlain-Christensen years. They demanded the same thing but got it in different ways. Incredible teamwork on their part to get the most out of each and every player they had.
“There were some guys that needed a little more patting on the back. Coach Christensen sensed that. He knew the guys that needed a little bit of fatherly hand, that pat on the back. He knew when to deliver it.”
“Jack and I, we were different people but our coaching philosophies were really quite similar,” Chamberlain added. “I was a little more hard-nosed, but Jack in his own way was kinda hard-nosed. He had a different approach than I did.”
Christensen taught and coached for 33 years in the Rochester City School District. His Franklin basketball teams won back-to-back Class AA titles in 1970 and ’71.
He guided the Quakers’ football program from 1962 to 1971. His teams won the 1964 and ’65 Rochester City Championships and compiled a record of 51 wins, 24 losses and five ties. He took over a downtrodden Eastridge football program in 1977. Three years later with Christensen roaming the sidelines, the Lancers won the Monroe County title and advanced to the Section V championship.
He also was a part of the Kodak Park Athletic Association (KPAA) for 15 years and eventually became program’s director.
A recipient of the National Citation Award from the NYS Association of Certified Football Officials in 1972, Christensen also received the Gridiron Champs of America Award in 1965 as well as the Times-Union Basketball Coach of the Year in 1971 and Kodak Community Service Award in 1984.
Section V Football awarded him the Appreciation and Dedication Award in 1980 as well as the Don Lander Award in 1984.
It was on the gridiron where Chamberlain and Christensen first met in the late 1950s. Chamberlain then the head coach of Gates-Chili and Christensen of Monroe High would have their teams meet for preseason scrimmages at Cobbs Hill.
“We had been friends since that time and our families have been really close. His family followed him on the basketball court. My family followed me on the baseball field. We got them together and it turned out really well.”
Christensen was a part of the Tribune baseball program from 1972-1994. He has also been inducted to the Frontier Field Walk of Fame and Section V Football Hall of Fame.
“He was a special man,” Bailey stated. “Being a great coach is one thing. Being a great man there is no question that he had it all covered: great coach, great man, great father, great husband, great friend. I don’t think there are enough positive words out there to characterize this man. He was a great guy.
“If you upset Coach Christensen, you were really doing something wrong. He had a way getting his point across. If you were disappointing him, you looked in the mirror and said ‘oh man, I’m really messing up if Coach Chris is mad at me.’”
Christensen was predeceased in 2011 by his wife of 58 years, Rosalie “Rollie” Girard Christensen.
He is survived by two daughters, Zoe Ann (Gary) Gonza of Camillus, NY and Daria Jan Christensen of Norwood, MA; and son Louis “Chris” (Gina) Christensen of Pittsford, NY; and two granddaughters, Stephanie (Jacquie) Christensen of Rochester, NY and Shelby Christensen of Chicago, IL.
A memorial service to celebrate his legacy will be held at a future date to be announced.
Obituary details taken from French Funeral Homes.
Coach Chris was a special man, certainly had a profound impact on me.
he is the reason i got into coaching. this season will be 33 years at eastridge. coach chris was a great coach and a great man. may he R I P.
Coach Christensen was characterized so well in the article by all the contributors. You could not have portrayed the impact he made on all that wore the Black n Gold MCC Baseball uniform any better. I personally was so fortunate as a player, coach, and friend to have known him and his family.