The St. John’s baseball program threw a surprise 94th birthday party for legendary head coach Jack Kaiser.
As the coronavirus pandemic is still very present throughout the United States of America, car parades became very popular in the spring when trying to celebrate the birthday or achievement of a loved one without gathering in a large group.
St. John’s took that message and idea in stride and had a car parade of its own to celebrate the 94th birthday of legendary head baseball coach Jack Kaiser.
The baseball program documented the parade via its Twitter account on Tuesday afternoon as the team made signs for its trip to Atria Kew Gardens, a senior living a memory care facility in Queens.
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Kaiser, who is considered a high-risk individual for COVID-19 based on his age alone, greeted the car parade with his mask on at the side of the road.
We couldn’t celebrate in close quarters, but we were thrilled to give Coach Kaiser a drive-by birthday parade this afternoon! Thanks to all the Johnnies who took part! #SJUBase pic.twitter.com/AsNJOSqELy
— St. John's Baseball (@StJohnsBaseball) October 6, 2020
Jack Kaiser, born in Brooklyn, New York, began his career with the Red Storm in 1946 and played baseball in Queens until 1949 before he went on to play with the Oneonta Red Sox, Roanoke Ro-Sox, and Albany Senators.
Following his season with the Senators, Kaiser returned to St. John’s where he was an assistant coach for the baseball team from 1953 to 1955 and was then named the head coach of the program from 1956-1973.
In his time as the head coach of the Johnnies, Kaiser led the Red Storm to three appearances in the College World Series (1960, 1966 and 1968) and was an influential member in the founding of the Big East Conference.
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Kaiser was 367–133–2 as the head coach of the Johnnies and the program never had a losing season under his watch after making 11 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
After his time in the dugout came to an end, Jack Kaiser became the Director of Athletics for St. John’s from 1973-1995.
The current stadium in which St. John’s plays is named ‘Jack Kaiser Stadium’ and the legendary head coach is still the Athletics Director Emeritus at the school.