The smell of the fresh cut grass and the feel of the dirt in the dugout can captivate someone.
For many, playing baseball is about passing the passion of the game on to someone else and sharing the love of the game.
Being a coach can be a full-time job all year round, but having to manage an athletic center, a stadium and two ball parks on top of coaching can be challenging.
Pacific’s head baseball coach and facilities manager Greg Bradley, 58, finds his balance to accomplish both.
Originally from Pasadena, California, Bradley graduated from Oregon State University in 1976 with a major in physical education and health, which is now equivalent to an exercise science major.
Prior to coming to Pacific, Bradley was the Health and P.E. department head for 20 years at Sunset High School in the Beaverton School District.
During his tenure at Sunset, he was the varsity baseball coach for eight years and the assistant varsity basketball coach for six years.
“I coached football, basketball and baseball at Sunset High School when I started teaching 30 years ago,” said Bradley.
He said that after a few years there he dropped coaching football and concentrated on coaching basketball and baseball.
He then had the opportunity when he was 28 years-old to become the varsity coach at Sunset High School and he said he has been coaching ever since.
While still teaching at Sunset, Bradley made the transition to Pacific and started out as an assistant coach to Chuck Bafaro for four years.
He is now the head baseball coach at Pacific and has been for 16 years. His additional job of facilities manager has made it a challenge to find a new rhythm.
According to Bradley, this year has been a definite “learning on the job” kind of year and there is still more to be learned.
Only having been a part-time employee prior to taking the job, Bradley has been well acquainted with all of the facilities within the 20 years of coaching at Pacific.
“I have known Greg since we both worked at Sunset High School and given that circumstance, I knew he was the right candidate when we needed to hire someone,” said Director of Athletics Ken Schumann.
As the facilities manager, Greg is in charge of the upkeep for the Stoller Center, the softball stadium, the baseball stadium, the football, soccer and track and field Complex and the Holce Tennis Courts.
“I always try to work with the coaches to ensure they have the best training and game day facility maintenance as possible,” said Bradley, who works very closely with Schumann.
In the fall, Bradley mentioned that since there was 16 days of fall baseball, he would take the time to make sure all the facilities were operating smoothly.
But when baseball started preseason practices, Bradley looked to his assistant Bob Smith for the extra help to keep things running smoothly in all of the athletic facilities.
“Bob Smith has been a great asset as the assistant facilities manager with Greg so far this year,” said Schumann.
A key focal point for Bradley is to keep all the athletic facilities clean, which means cleaning up garbage after games, vacuuming in the weight room and cleaning the gym floor consistently.
Bradley said he uses students with work study to help keep the facilities and equipment well taken care of.
“We want people to come to our athletic events and to be excited to come watch games in our gorgeous facilities,” said Bradley.
He said he makes sure to keep his players accountable to keep their field and dugout clean, because “if they don’t clean up after themselves, then I do.”
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