On Nov. 7, former Redwood High School varsity baseball coach Albert “Coach Al” Endriss passed away at his home. He coached for over 24 seasons, leading them to unparalleled success.  Al played with the San Francisco 49ers as a backup defensive end in the 1950s and played in the Canadian Football League. Not only this, but he played in the baseball minor leagues for the Brooklyn Dodgers for three seasons. 

Endriss led the Redwood Giants to 12 league titles, as well as winning eight straight championships. The highlight of his career as a coach was winning a National Championship in 1977. He ended his coaching career with a record of 472 wins and only 119 losses.

Endriss taught his players qualities that Redwood players live by to this day. He expected his players to show up five minutes early, with their uniform immaculate, and Endriss rejected long hair. While coaching for Redwood, he exemplified principles that he learned while playing for the Minor League Brooklyn Dodgers.

Endriss taught discipline and success, but some players fell through the cracks in his program. Some players couldn’t handle how rigorous the program was, and dropped out. The players who were able to persevere thanked Endriss later in life for what he taught them.

“His mantra was physical mistakes will happen, but the mental mistakes he did not suffer kindly because he did drill us on every situation and every possibility. He had us drilled mentally about where you are going with the ball or where you are backing up,” said Matthew Morrison, former Redwood baseball player, who graduated in 1980. “He knew the game extremely well and he taught it to us through fundamentals. And a lot of it was the mental approach.” 

Howard Gibian played for Redwood Baseball from 1976 to 1977. He was the first-team all-league catcher. Gibian coached at Redwood for one year, the year Endriss stopped coaching at Redwood in 1981. Gibian appreciated the success and work ethic that Endriss drilled into him during his time as a player.

Gibian says that many players who played under Endriss are successful to this day because of what his program taught them. He and his teammates owed their success later in life to Endriss, saying that Endriss molded each player into a good teammate. Gibian said he misses Endriss to this day, and that Endriss prepared him for anything.

“Nobody else can basically get the best out of you. Once you left his program, and you went to go play somewhere else, it was like starting all over again. At the freshman level, with a freshman coach,” Gibian said. 

In 1997, Gibian was one of the players who played against Taiwan’s national baseball team, they played in Larkspur in a game that Redwood baseball remembers to this day. Even though they lost 2-1, Gibian says the game was legendary. Gibian said that people from all over the county showed up to watch this game, and the attendance was around 4,000 people.

“All the lessons that he taught and all the fundamentals that we learned came back to impact all of our lives in some positive ways. I feel confident I can speak for the whole group by saying there were things that Coach Al taught us on the baseball field that helped us throughout our lives,” Morrison said.

Mike Firenzi is the current Redwood varsity baseball coach. Firenzi has known Endriss since he was seven years old through baseball and the friendship between Endriss and Firenzi’s father. Throughout Firenzi’s coaching career, he leaned on Endriss and his mentorship when it came to coaching. Firenzi was not able to play under Endriss, as Coach Al left a year before Firenzi joined the team. He has also never directly coached with Endriss, but he was around him for much of his life.

Endriss introduced coaching tactics that are still applicable to this day, and Firenzi uses them when coaching his own team. Firenzi says he was way ahead of his time.

“He taught you so much more than just baseball. He was the baseball coach but there were dozens of life lessons there,” Firenzi said. “Being on time, dressing properly, working hard, being a teammate. There were so many life lessons involving way more than actual baseball lessons.” 

All three men – Firenzi, Morrison, and Gibian – agree that Endriss didn’t just teach his players baseball skills, but also life skills. He set up players for life by teaching them principles they still live by today. Endriss had an impact not only on his players but the whole Redwood community, leaving behind a legacy and an era of outstanding baseball for the Redwood community.