Bob Symonds has never signed a multimillion-dollar contract, filed for salary arbitration or charged money to sign an autograph.
Remarkably, the Buffalo Grove resident still has been able to achieve baseball greatness.
In the revolving door world of junior college athletics, Symonds has erected a fortress of stability and consistency at Triton College in River Grove. This spring, he became only the fourth coach in National Junior College Athletic Association history to win 1,000 games, and his teams annually contend for a national championship.
In 25 seasons at Triton, Symonds has developed several notable major league stars, including Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins and Lance Johnson of the Chicago White Sox.
Dozens of other former players have forged successful business careers. Among those is Jim McManus, a star pitcher in 1977-78 now working as a commodities trader at the Chicago Board of Trade.
“He taught me more about baseball in one year than I learned in four years of high school ball, and I had a good high school coach,” said McManus of Glenview. “He just knows the game. All the players had so much respect for him.”
“Bob’s best quality is being able to handle people and get the most out of their abilities,” added Bob’s twin brother, Rich, the head baseball coach at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines. “You see it in how the kids perform on the field, how they carry themselves in the dugout and how they prepare themselves to play the game.
“Bob loves to win, and he’ll get his players prepared to win every day. They expect to win, and that’s what sets Triton players apart.”
What sets Symonds apart from others at the junior college level is his coaching philosophy: He recruits only players who are hungry to learn and desperately want to improve. Once they arrive, the same work ethic and attention to detail that have contributed to Symonds’ mighty success are expected from his players.
“I like to prepare so I don’t fail, rather than try to adjust after I do,” Symonds said. “Through this preparation, I like to feel good about myself, and that’s what I try to instill in my players.”
Symonds strongly believes that fundamentals are the cornerstone of the game, and he lays that foundation through repetitive practice drills. His own schedule is quite busy; his coaching duties are full time, and he also teaches classes in health at the college and is the director of the school’s fitness center.
Symonds learned all about hard work and self-discipline while growing up on the family farm in Cumberland, Iowa, a rural town with 350 residents in the southwest corner of the state. The family raised both cattle and crops, and Bob’s regular chores included branding cattle, milking cows and harvesting crops.
Once the tedious field work was finally completed, Bob and Rich would partake in a spirited game of baseball. Or basketball. Or football. If there was a game, they played it. They also made up a few of their own.
Even the harsh Midwest winters didn’t stop their competitive juices from flowing. The twins built a platform and erected a hoop inside a barn and played basketball until the ground thawed.
Spring signaled the beginning of baseball season and the annual resumption of a love affair that initially blossomed when the boys could first grasp a bat.
“I never had to get on the phone and see if a friend could come over. I always had my brother there, who was the best friend I’ve ever had,” Bob said. “It was a great way to grow up. We always found time to throw, and we’d throw anything we could get our hands on.”
Baseball was more than a game to the Symonds family; it was a way of life. It was as pleasant a diversion as apple pie and drive-in movies, and as precious as a family heirloom.
“My father had eight brothers and sisters, and when we had a family picnic, everything was baseball,” Bob said. “We all listened to the St. Louis Cardinals games on the radio. My brother and I really enjoyed football, and we were successful in basketball, but baseball was in our blood.”
The Symonds brothers played together on the same basketball and baseball teams in high school and also at Wayne State College in Nebraska. Both agree that there was never any rivalry between them, only healthy competition that made both of them better.
“We made it fun because we played together every day,” Bob said. “We could pick and roll on the basketball court, and no coach had to teach us.”
“They both want to win in the worst way,” said Bob’s wife, Kathy. “But the competitiveness has never gotten in the way of their friendship. I don’t know how they do it.”
The Symonds brothers are fraternal twins, but they’re identical in spirit.
“There are some differences, but certainly our thinking is alike,” Bob said. “For instance, he could be laughing at something and I wouldn’t have to know what it is because if he’s laughing, I know it’s funny and that makes me laugh.”
When Bob and Kathy moved into their present home 25 years ago, Buffalo Grove was a quaint town that sported an implement dealer, an old-time general store and a large Catholic church. Of the three, only the church remains.
Bob and Kathy, a hairdresser in Park Ridge, have four children: Jennifer, 22, a student teacher at James Madison University in Harrison burg. Va.; Callie, 19, a Triton graduate bound for the University of Illinois; and 14-year-old twins, Brady and Tyler.
Symonds’ demeanor around his baseball players isn’t any different from the attitude he displays at home. He is easy-going, goal-directed, unexcitable and always in control.
“I think his greatest quality is his determination,” Callie said. “He always has the right mindset, and he knows what he needs to do to get where he wants to be. And he knows how to put his heart and soul into all of his work.
“As a father, he knows certain values and how he wants to instill them in our minds.”
Like the baseball legends who magically appeared from the cornfield in the now-classic movie “Field of Dreams,” the game itself is sacred to Symonds. Treating it with the respect he believes it deserves has certainly contributed to his success.
Symonds takes great pride in ensuring that Triton’s field is meticulously groomed. Drawing upon his farming background, Symonds doubles as groundskeeper, operating heavy machinery in caring for the grass and the dirt infield.
Symonds had never heard of Triton College before he interviewed for a job there a quarter-century ago, but the emergence of the baseball program under his guidance has helped put the school on the map.
“Every day is a new challenge,” Symonds said. “And to keep us at a level that we’d like to be at year-in and year-out is probably the biggest challenge. If you happened to be successful one year, it’s really hard to get to that point again. Sometimes it takes a while, but we’ve been fortunate.”
Fortunate indeed. Symonds has guided Triton to a remarkable string of 18 conference championships since 1976. A World Series title is practically the only accomplishment that has eluded the coach during his illustrious career.
Triton finished second in both 1993 and 1994. The team made it to the NJCAA world series this year but lost in the early rounds.
“I don’t think it gnaws at me, but it’s an achievement that I’m certainly going to try to get,” Symonds said. “I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do differently, but it’s a goal that I want to achieve before I’m through.”
With the steady stream of talented players coursing through the program–80 Triton players have gone on to play professional ball–Symonds certainly has a realistic shot at the elusive goal. The attractions at Triton include terrific exposure, a chance to play in games right away and an opportunity to compete for a national title.
“I have thought all along and tried to convince recruits that this really is the best of all worlds,” Symonds said. “You can get your ground work in, and you can get adjusted academically.”
Winning his 1,000th game April 13 and being inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 1992 are among Symonds’ most cherished honors. Not bad for someone who won’t celebrate his 50th birthday until January.
“I suppose I should feel old , but I don’t,” Symonds said. “It puts me in a group with some very influential college baseball coaches.”
Perhaps the greatest honor of Symonds’ career occurred a few years ago when the college’s board of directors opted to name the school’s baseball stadium Symonds/Puckett Field after the coach and the program’s most prized player.
That presents visiting teams the daunting task of facing a coach who has been given an honor that’s usually reserved for a deceased contributor.
“It’s kind of intimidating when you walk in there and see that the field’s named after the guy,” said Dan Kusinski, baseball coach at Chicago’s Truman College. “That’s the first thing you hear the kids talking about in the dugout. You know you’re going against a legend when the field’s named after him. The kids tend to be in awe, but to me, it’s fun.”
