This story was originally scheduled to post ahead of the Illinois baseball team's trip to Ohio to face Dayton and Miami (Ohio). The Illini planned to stay in a hotel in head coach Dan Hartleb's hometown of Hamilton, Ohio, during the trip. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the trip and the season were cancelled. For more information on the public health threat, visit Illinois' COVID-19 resources page.  

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By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

Ten-year-old Dan Hartleb vividly remembered his first embarrassing moment with Hamilton, Ohio's Irene's Donut Shop Senators. He even memorialized it with a drawing, depicting the scene of the ball rolling through his legs.

Wrote young Dan in the Senators' homemade 1976 yearbook, "I played center field during the whole year, except when I didn't get in front of the ball and I was taken out of the game at the last minute."

However, there were good moments for Hartleb, too … lots of them. Like that time he robbed Joe Spicer of a homer … and when he caught seven foul tips on third strikes that helped the Senators beat the Cards.

Little No. 13 absolutely loved his coach, Neil Burtis.

"Coach Burtis made the game fun," Hartleb recalled recently. "He really influenced my love for the game."

The kid who grew up with his mom and dad, NaDeen and Dan, and his older sister, Beth, at 1051 New London Road was particularly inspired by the Major League team just 31 miles south of Hamilton. The Cincinnati Reds' legendary "Big Red Machine" of the 1970s was loaded with all-stars, including Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and Hartleb's personal favorite, catcher Johnny Bench. 

The energetic fifth grader with the strong right arm, who eventually became a receiver like his hero, was one of his Little League coach's favorites.

"We got to the semifinals of the city championship that year with a ten-year-old starting in center field," eighty-year-old Burtis snickered. "Dan really wanted to catch, but my twelve-year-old son already was doing that."

Now, if you want to see really passionate youth baseball, just visit Hamilton on a summer evening. The city's West Side Little League has an almost unparalleled history, winning twelve Ohio state championships in the 21st century alone. Four times the community's program has represented southwestern Ohio at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

"West Side has a lot of coaches that stay around and coach long after their kids leave the program," Burtis said. "Personally, I know I got a lot more out of it than I put into it. And the best part of it was because of kids like Dan Hartleb."

This week, Dan Hartleb bring his University of Illinois baseball team to his childhood neighborhood, playing single games at the University of Dayton on Tuesday and at Miami University on Wednesday. He anticipates that several friends and members of his family will be cheering on the Orange and Blue.

Hartleb is especially familiar with the classic campus in Oxford, Ohio. It resides in a town whose citizenry is about equal to the University's enrollment of 17,000. The RedHawks' ballpark, where Dodgers Hall of Famer Walter Alston and current Washington Nationals standout Adam Eaton once played, is just a short walk from where Hartleb's late father served as the campus coal plant's supervisor. As a teenager, Dan Jr. made some summer spending money by painting dormitory rooms on the Miami campus. He nearly accepted Miami's offer to walk on as a collegiate player coming out of Hamilton High.

Coach Dan Bowling's Big Blue, Ohio's 1983 state champs, had outstanding players throughout the lineup, including seven future Division I players and a Division II All-American. An eighth player, pitcher Mike Conley, was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the second round of the '83 MLB Amateur Draft. Years later, Hartleb and many of his teammates were inducted into the school's Hall of Fame.

"We were pretty good," Hartleb said. "I've got to believe that we still hold a couple of state tournament records. That year in the semifinal game, we scored something like 25 runs on 25 hits, and then we had 14 runs on 14 hits in the finals. We had a number of really, really good players."

During the summer, Hartleb caught for the Cincinnati Storm. At one point in the season, the Storm played a series of games in southern Illinois against teams from Marion, Murphysboro and others. 

"The younger players on the team would go to a camp (run by then Southern Illinois coach and future Illini coach 'Itch' Jones) in the morning, and then we'd play local teams in the afternoon," he said. "Jerry Halstead, the coach at John A. Logan College (located in Carterville) saw me and offered me and one of my teammates, Rich Campbell, scholarships. We were two of the first players to be brought in from out of state. The opportunity to play right away—and to play with one of my teammates—just felt like the right thing to do."

Hartleb performed well at Logan and was chosen to play in a junior college all-star game at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

"I went up there and had a really good day, threw very well and shut down some pretty good runners," Hartleb said. "Right after that I got a call from Itch and he gave me an opportunity to go to SIU on scholarship."

The Salukis' career .305 hitter completed his undergraduate degree in advertising, but remained unsure as to what the future held for him. When an SIU grad assistant moved on to a head coaching position, Hartleb happily accepted that role with Jones and pursued his master's in higher education administration.

"I was able to go on the road and get my feet wet in recruiting and help Itch run his camps," Hartleb said. "In my first year as a grad assistant, we were young and very talented, but we set the school record for losses. The following year, we turned things around and set the school wins record and won the Missouri Valley. So, I got a taste of both sides of some of the toughest times coaching and some of the best times coaching."

Following SIU's championship year in 1990, Jones received an offer to become the head coach of the Fighting Illini. He asked his young assistant if he'd like to join his staff in Champaign-Urbana.

"Of course, I immediately accepted," Hartleb said. "When Itch asked what I'd like my responsibilities to be, I told him that I'd like to become a pitching coach because if I ever become a head coach, I'd have experience on both sides. For some reason, he agreed to do it. It was a steep learning curve, and early in my career I was terrible, but I learned a lot of valuable lessons. I wouldn't be in the position I am today without Itch and his trust and willingness to help me learn."

Following 15 years as Jones' assistant, Hartleb took over the reigns as Illinois's head coach in 2006. His biggest highlight came in 2015 when the Illini won a school-record 50 games and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional. This past January, Hartleb was named D1Baseball's Big Ten Coach of the Decade. He quickly credits his personal success to "being surrounded by really successful coaches, great players, and a lot of good people."

"For us to be here at Illinois for 30 years makes us unbelievably blessed," Hartleb said. "As a coach, staying in one place is very, very difficult. It just doesn't happen very often. Both Gina (Hartleb's wife) and I have tried to be involved and give back to our community. The University of Illinois is truly home for us."