Longtime baseball coach Norbert Wegienka.
BY JOE HOSHAW Jr.
In his travels around Trenton, Norbert Wegienka has become accustomed to walking in the shadow of his “slightly” younger brother Arthur.
Norb, 77, is frequently mistaken for Art, 76, who is well known around Trenton as a longtime Trenton teacher and Hall of Fame baseball coach at Trenton High School.
When traveling around Flat Rock or amongst former students of Our Lady of Lourdes High School in River Rouge, it’s an entirely different scenario. Norb is clearly the more famous Wegienka.
That’s because Norb had a career in education that was much similar to his brother’s — but for the Our Lady of Lourdes Bears and Flat Rock Rams, not the Trenton Trojans.
And even though it’s been more than two decades since he retired and subsequently became a member of the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of fame in 1999, Wegienka’s accomplishments are apparently still resonating with former players and students — so much so that he collected a brand new major coaching honor just last month, with his induction into the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame at a banquet held at Central Michigan University.
CMU is the home base for MHSCA Hall of Fame, and anyone who visits can see the display honoring its members at the Student Activities Center near the south end of campus. He was one of 15 Michigan coaches added to the Hall this year.
Wegienka coached baseball for nearly three decades at Flat Rock High School, in a public school career that began in the early 1970s, after getting his start at Lourdes, which closed in 1974.
At Flat Rock he was the varsity coach for 17 of those years. During the course of his coaching career his teams accumulated 230 wins, won the Class C district championship in 1996, were Ida Tournament Champs three times, Flat Rock Tournament Champs (1993), Dundee Tournament Champs (1996), and had 22 wins in 1996.
Wegienka also coached summer baseball in the Southern Wayne Baseball League. His teams were league champs four times, runners-up in the Riverview Tournament (1989), and were undefeated in 1989.
Like his brother Art, Norb also coached football. His football coaching spanned 24 years, serving as a junior varsity coach and both Lourdes and Woodhaven High School. While at Woodhaven his teams won one league championship and were state playoff qualifiers. As an assistant varsity coach for Flat Rock High School for 17 years, he helped lead his team to three league championships, and a state championship in 1976. These teams collectively had 114 wins.
“A respected member of the coaching community, Wegienka has been honored many times for his coaching and contributions to athletics,” the banquet’s program stated.
Some of the additional accomplishments it listed were his selection as Downriver Class C Coach of the Year two times, District Class C Coach of the Year and Les Mackens Coach of the Year two times. He also coached the Michigan High School All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium in 1998, coached the Monroe County All-Star game four times, and was grand marshal of the Flat Rock High School Homecoming Parade in 2002. He also has been a lifetime member of the MHSFCA and MHSBCA.
“Wegienka is known for being a caring and dedicated coach whose interest in his student athletes went beyond season. He was actively involved in assisting many student athletes with post high school placements related to sports scholarship possibilities.”
Since retiring the longtime Trenton resident has been a highly active community volunteer, serving for several years on the Trenton Civic Commission. In 2011 he earned honors as Trenton’s Outstanding Senior.
The MHSCA was founded on the CMU campus in 1954. CMU has provided space for the hall since 1971. The hall includes 695 inductees dating back to 1958 but is still updated to include some prior inductees.
To be chosen, a coach must have served a minimum of 25 years in high school coaching and/or athletic administration; receive two letters of recommendation from administrators and/or fellow coaches; have exemplified service to his/her community, state and affiliated organizations; and demonstrated coaching excellence.