Get to Know: Catonsville Coach Rich Hambor

While Comets football and baseball coach Rich Hambor may reside in Cockeysville, he appropriately refers to Catonsville as his second home.

And why not? After more than a decade at Catonsville, he’s probably landed himself a spot on the Comets Mount Rushmore of athletics—if there was one.

Best of all, he’s gone about it the right way, taking lessons learned from past coaches and treating his players, colleagues and officials with respect.  

In patch’s new “Get to Know” feature, we’ll let him tell you himself.

Patch: You’ve been in Catonsville for 14-plus years. What do you like about the area?

Rich Hambor: What I like about Catosnville is, I feel it’s my second home because I spend a lot of time here. Other than my home, this is where I am. If I’m not home, I’m here. It’s really like a big community. I think the fact that people feel a connection to this place and there’s a main street atmosphere of Frederick Road—that’s something I don’t really have in Cockeysville, it’s more of like, where you live within Cockeysville. Here, even though there are different neighborhoods, I still feel there is big unity and people get behind just the word Catonsville.

Patch: I notice in both sports you’re very personable with your players and kind of have an “open door” policy. What made you go with that style?

Hambor: You always take your influence from coaches you’ve had. I had a variety of coaches, some that were more personable and some you didn’t ever talk to outside of practice or didn’t feel like you could speak with. But I think that’s my personality. I’m a pretty open person and I like to think I’m a good listener. That’s based on my staff, too. For both sports I like to have a variety of people so the kids have someone they can talk to or relate to.

Patch: What coaches impacted you? What did you take away from the guys who coached you growing up?

Hambor: Three main ones: First, my youth football coach named Jerry Wayman. He was a screamer and a yeller and in your face all the time, but he also cared for you and cared about the game and I never really felt like he was mad at me. I think I got a little bit of intensity—used at the right time—from him.

My [high school] football coach Wally Kessling. He was more personable and you could talk to him in the hallways. He’d be more of somebody you could joke around with and have a relationship with.

The third guy was my baseball coach Mike Mockner, probably the most organized guy I’ve ever been around as far as practice planning and organizational skills. I took that from him.

Patch: You coach two very different sports. What do you enjoy most about each?

Hambor: Football for sure is the buildup to the game. To me, there’s nothing like a Friday night high school football game. Growing up in Ohio, that was the center to everybody’s week everywhere. I really think we have that here [in Catonsville] where a lot of places don’t. Friday night games and a lot of people want to go—it’s a social event. The thing about football is you can build up to that every week.

Baseball, I like the calmness of it and the chess game aspects of it and the routine. It’s also a great time of year that I enjoy, coming out of winter time and starting to get back outside. It’s America’s game, really.

Patch: I’ve really never seen you lose your cool at a fellow coach, a player or the referees. Why is that?

Hambor: For officials, they are humans too. If somebody is yelling at you it’s rarely going to get them to be on your side. I try to take the approach of we all make mistakes and become a guy they’ll listen to rather than tune out. … I don’t think it would come across as being honest if I was doing it. I feel like if you hear a lot of screaming and yelling all the time—from certain people—it becomes background noise. For me, that means if I do need to raise my voice or show anger, I’m not kidding around.

Patch: What advice would you give to a first-year coach looking to build his program?

Hambor: I would say you have to make some very basic, concrete rules and stick with them—even if you suffer in the beginning; some rules that you are not going to change no matter, and be willing to stick by them. That’s number one. Number two, be willing to find assistants that you trust to help you and let them do it how they know how. Don’t try to change them if they are experienced. That’s helped me in both sports.

QUICK HITS

Full Name: Richard David Hambor

Nickname: Rich

Age: 39

Family: Wife, Kristen; daughter Millicent (17); son Jake (15)

Hometown: Fairport Harbor, OH

Current Town: Cockeysville, MD

Years Coaching High School: 17, (14 at Catonsville)

High School: Fairport Harding High School (Ohio)

College: Gannon University (Pennsylvania)

Favorite Sports Teams: Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers

Favorite Athletes: Running back Jim Brown (Cleveland Browns), first baseman Jim Thome (Minnesota Twins, formerly of the Cleveland Indians)

Favorite Restaurant: G.L. Shacks

Death Row Final Meal: Hot wings, for sure. Hot wings and bleu cheese

Favorite Actor/Actress: Jeff Bridges; Faye Dunaway

Favorite Movie: Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski

Favorite TV Shows: LOST, The Wire

Comedian Guaranteed to Make You Laugh: George Carlin

Famous Person You Can’t Stand: Nancy Grace (CNN). There’s breaking news on her show every minute. Everything is a breaking story and I just can’t take it.

Biggest Pet Peeve: People being late

Piece of Technology You Can’t Live Without:  My iPhone, absolutely

FINISH THE SENTENCE

If I met Lebron James I’d tell him … no matter what he does or how many championships he wins or how great of a career he has, people are going to be upset with what he did when he left Cleveland, and I hope he learns from those mistakes.  

NFL players and owners need to … be thankful they never have to worry about money the rest of their lives.

Charlie Sheen and I are similar because … I don’t know. We’re both still alive.

If I wasn’t teaching/coaching I would be … traveling the country in an RV looking for part-time work.

Catonsville sports fans are the best at … supporting their athletes no matter what happens, no matter the outcome.