By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor

When news broke Friday that longtime Mount San Antonio College baseball coach Art Mazmanian had passed away, it evoked many, many memories.

And most were good between my college coach and me.

Looking back, 99-percent of any squabbles we had were my fault.

I wasn’t mature enough to realize he was just giving me tough love.

It was his way of teaching his players lessons on and off the field that would become applicable throughout their lives.

Mazmanian, won north of 700 games throughout a magical career at the school between 1968-1999.

He lived a storied life and touched thousands of people.

And it wasn’t just his athletes, it was anyone he crossed paths with.

What many don’t know about ‘Coach Maz’ is what he did before coming to Mt. Sac.

Mazmanian was the starting second baseman for USC’s Rod Dedeaux and part of two NCAA championships.

His first national title came against Yale, who’s first baseman was some guy named George HW Bush.

The bat boy at USC during that stretch was Sparky Anderson, who went on to become a Hall of Fame manager in Major League Baseball.

He coached in the New York-Penn League where he helped shape the careers of many MLB stars, including Don Mattingly.

Mazmanian’s life was made full by a beautiful woman named Shirley.

She made Maz happy and they were perfect for one another and their greatest joy was having two children named Stephen and Nancy.

Back in the year 2000, while having lunch at a local fast food establishment near their Walnut home, Mrs. Mazmanian suffered a stroke and from then on, she couldn’t see or understand what surrounded her.

But to Coach Maz, it wasn’t something he complained about.

This was his best friend and wife of 55 years, and he spent 22 hours a day caring for her until she passed in 2007.

The other two hours of the day, he went to Plum’s Restaurant in Covina every day for breakfast and it was there that he made more than 350 new friends just by visiting with the patrons and workers at the restaurant.

I remember calling him after his wife died, because not only had she been so nice to all of his players, we also shared meals together, including one at my grandma’s house in Glendora.

Art, Shirley and my grandmother hit it off immediately, because all three were old-school, live-by-example Christians.

When I offered my condolences, Maz told me that there was nothing to be sorry or sad about, because as he said, “I’ll see her again when the time comes and we’ll spend eternity together.”

While being a devout Christian, he never once made you feel like a lesser person if you didn’t share his faith, and that’s something I’ve always appreciated about him.

My second year at Mt. Sac didn’t go the way he or I wanted it to, and that was my fault.

We split company on bad terms.

But many years later, as I worked for a local publication, we met up at his favorite restaurant and he let me ask any question about his relationship with his wife and his career, so I could write a story on the two of them.

I told him I was sorry for my immaturity and he got up and for the first time ever, he initiated a hug.

It was such a relief to bury the hatchet with Maz, and he expressed a similar feeling.

A few of the best memories I had with Maz were away from the field.

He was very close friends with then-Angels pitching coach Marcel Lachemann.

Maz took me to USC basketball and football games.

One year, I invited a teammate at Mt. Sac, Shawn Wooten, who won a World Series ring with the Angels if he wanted to go with us, and it was the first time Wooten had ever been at a game. He was hooked, because it was a high-scoring, back-and-forth game.

But the thing I remember most is when he invited me to a USC-Notre Dame football game at the Coliseum.

And it was a rare year where neither the Trojans or Fighting Irish were relevant and I recall showing a little hesitation, but he encouraged me to go to the game, because something was going to happen that he knew I’d like.

He didn’t tell me what that would be, but assured me I was in for a surprise.

He was all too aware of my political leanings and he also allowed me to invite a friend to go with Coach Maz and Mr. Lachemann to the Coliseum.

Just after we got to our seats, the public address announcer starts to read his spiel that you hear before any sporting event.

After the preliminaries were done, the announcer says, “to flip the coin, please welcome the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.”

I immediately looked over to Maz and he both smiled and winked at me as if to say, “I told you.”

While I wasn’t real close with him as others were, I can say without equivocation that I appreciate all he did for all his players, including myself.

I had for many years regretted my behavior and the going separate ways on such a down note.

But as the Christian he is, Maz forgave me and that meant so much to me.

He was the bigger man, and even in this instance, he showed me what it was like to forgive and build off the past and future positive moments together.

His bust at Mt. Sac is present between the softball and baseball fields, the second of which is named in his honor.

For kicking me in the butt when I needed it most, thank you.

For walking the walk and being a positive role model for all of us, thank you.

For giving me a second chance to be your friend, thank you.

Both most of all, thank you for just being you.

Please tell your beautiful wife we all said hello.

May God bless Art Mazmanian.