Oppenheim Stepping Aside After 50 Years of Coaching

It's getting close to the time when Elliott Oppenheim needs to be a free man, but not in the way that one might think.

Oppenheim, who has coached baseball for nearly a half-century, was married for the third time last year to Susan Richardson, and will celebrate his one-year wedding anniversary on July 6 in Las Vegas. 

"I've got a daughter and two grandchildren who live in San Diego. One of her children is 2 years old, and one was just born two months ago. So our big thing is to go out to San Diego for a couple of weeks and enjoy that," said Oppenheim. 

"I've already been to Switzerland. I've been to Hawaii. So I need some free time," said Elliott. "Being almost 70 years old, and having put in almost 50 years into this business, it's time to step back and just enjoy everything in life."

So Oppenheim has retired after nearly 50 years of coaching baseball, including the past 25 at CCBC-Dundalk.  His replacement will be John Karsos, who played at Dundalk for two years until 2004.

"I retired from teaching in 2002, and retired as the head coach here at Dundalk now. I will serve one year as an assistant coach to help with the transition so that I can put in 50 years of coaching," said Oppenheim, who will spend his final year as an assistant to Karsos. 

"That will be 50 years of coaching after another year," said Oppenheim, a part-time professor teaching sports psychology, sex education and health at Dundalk. "I'll be turning 70 years old in August, so I thought that that would be a great time to end it."

He amassed an amazing 744-485 (.652) career record and is 449-312 (.695) at CCBC Dundalk following the 2011 baseball season. In 2000, when he was 58, Oppenheim stepped down as a head coach to be become an assistant and resumed head coaching in 2008.

His record includes five trips to the NJCAA JuCo World Series, six regional titles, 16 conference titles and five district championships. It also includes two JuCo crowns, according to Oppenheim

A 1959 graduate of Forest Park High, Oppenheim starred as an infielder at Baltimore Junior College, where he earned All-America honors,  as a second baseman (1961) and third baseman (1962).

"I'll miss the interaction with the kids. Watching them grow up. You hope some of the things that you teach, they carry with them," said Oppenheim, who began at Dundalk in 1987, and is also an academic advisor to the Lions' baseball and softball teams. 

"Probably the most enjoyable times of my career were the beginning, when you're young, enthusiastic and you're only a few years older than some of the kids," Oppenheim said. "It was a lot different then, but you grow from a friend to a father to almost like a grandfather."

Under Oppenheim, the Lions have qualified for the NJCAA Region XX playoffs during each of the past four seasons, placing third in 2009 and second in 2011.

"When you get to 70 and 50 years, it's time to step back and just enjoy the game even more," said Oppenheim, who also coached at the Community College of Baltimore and the University of Baltimore.

"It's time to be at the place where you don't have to worry about whether people are showing up on time or whether they're dressed properly and all of the rules and regulations," said Oppenheim. "It will be nice to just step back and enjoy the game from a different perspective. So we're looking at some vacation time over the next couple of summers. We'll go to Alaska, do some other things. But we're not planning too far ahead."