Former baseball coach penning book on sport's history in Clarence
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter

The man who essentially wrote the book on Clarence baseball is now literally pursuing that endeavor as a way to chronicle the sport's history in the town.

Former varsity head coach Jack Yanno, who now lives in Florida, is in the process of penning "Journey Across the Diamonds: A History of Clarence Baseball," which will hit on areas such as the history of the town's diamonds, high school teams, and town and travel leagues, as well as create all-time high school and town all-star teams, including information on where those all-stars are now.

"This isn't a story about me," Yanno said in a phone interview last Thursday. "I want to honor those people who were involved in the whole package that is Clarence baseball."

Yanno has been toying with the idea of writing this book since retiring, and reading the memoirs of his former high school basketball coach only stoked the flames. More recently, former player Ron Keaner thought, with the town's bicentennial coming up next year, that it would be fun to come up with an all-Clarence team. That spurred Yanno on even further, and he got started on the project in earnest last fall.

"I've talked to a few other ex-players and they were encouraging me to do this, too," Yanno said.

Yanno, who coached at Clarence from 1982 to 2003, is receiving help on the historical aspect of the book from town historian Doug Kohler. However, since his current living arrangements make it nearly impossible to do research or gather materials, he is asking for help from those who have ever had an interest in anything related to Clarence baseball to give him a helping hand.

Yanno is asking that anyone with any stories or especially photos of anything Clarence baseball related contact him to share their knowledge. Anything that is provided, whether a document or photo, will be returned shortly after being processed. Yanno can be contacted by e-mail at yan4333@yahoo.com or by phone at (727) 543-9395.

"I know from about 1970 on, since that's when I became involved with Clarence baseball," Yanno said. "I'd like to have the book finished by next year for the bicentennial, but I just don't know how extensive this will be when we actually break it down. We're still in the early stages of putting the book together, but publishers are definitely interested."

e-mail: jnadolinski@beenews.com