Region 12, Baseball Community Mourn Loss of Longtime GRCC Coach/AD and Hall of Famer, Doug Wabeke

NJCAA Region XII mourns the loss of longtime Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) head coach and athletic director, Doug Wabeke. Coach Wabeke "Wabs" was a true icon of the game, a mentor and a friend nationally across the baseball community. A former NJCAA All-American as a player at GRCC, Wabeke went on to play at Central Michigan University before playing professionally in the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.

After his playing days concluded, Wabeke immediately shifted to coaching where he would build a Hall of Fame career. From 1987-2004, Wabeke was the head coach at GRCC (formerly Grand Rapids Junior College) and guided the Raiders to 14 MCCAA titles, nine Region XII championships and four NJCAA National Championships (1996, 1997, 2003 & 2004). The four national championships were the first four in any sport at GRCC and the 1997 title was the first baseball national championship in MCCAA history. The incredible resume led to Wabeke being inducted into the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2022.

The longtime coach started his head coaching career at Grand Valley State University where he led the Lakers to a 1984 GLIAC Championship and sent six players to the professional ranks. From there, Wabeke was an assistant at Miami University of Ohio before returning home to West Michigan to take over the GRCC baseball program. As part of a celebrated and respected career, Wabeke also spent time coaching USA Baseball and was a longtime MCCAA Baseball Chair.

Thank you, Coach, for everything you did for the game and for the countless student-athletes you impacted.