They can always turn to 'Coach'

CEDAR RAPIDS - Coach.

They've known him for about a decade. He's been married to their mom for seven years.

He's helped raise them, been through good times and bad with them. It's hard to find a better role model, friend, confidant.

But Dustin and Brayton Carlson always have called him "Coach." Even today.

"We heard his players call him that," Brayton Carlson said. "So we just started calling him that."

Make no mistake, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders head coach/general manager Mark Carlson is more than that to his boys. A lot more.

That's why they legally took his last name this spring. Tammy Carlson hired a lawyer and went to court to get it done.

Father's Day is different this year. He's not just "Coach" anymore.

"Instead of calling him that, now I can call him dad," Dustin Carlson said proudly.

"If we want something, we can call him dad," added Brayton, who always seems to have a mischievous smile on his face. "Helps out a little bit more in trying to get it."

Brayton was eight and Dustin nine when Mark and Tammy met. Tammy Carlson was working at a local gym, and Mark would come in every morning to workout.

They began dating. Tammy having two kids never was a deterrent to their relationship.

"They were always such great boys," Mark said. "Right from the first day I met them. Tammy and her family have done such a great job of raising them."

And Mark has helped. He has pushed them to be good people, work hard and be their best, athletically, just as he does all of his RoughRiders players.

Dustin and Brayton played several sports growing up, including hockey, but eventually matriculated toward baseball exclusively. They're important players for Cedar Rapids Prairie: Dustin a senior pitcher and catcher, Brayton a junior infielder.

Dustin will play baseball next year at Southeastern Community College in Burlington. Brayton also wants to play collegiately.

"They've played football, baseball, soccer, basketball ... everything," Mark said. "There was never any pressure from me. I always told them to just do whatever they wanted to do."

"(Mark) has never pushed us to play hockey, though I know he'd like us to play," Brayton said.

You'll see Mark and Tammy at most Prairie baseball games. Mark is the quiet one who stands in the background emotionless, just as you see him on the RoughRiders' bench.

Mom is the one you'll hear yelling constant encouragement. That's much to the chagrin of her boys.

"I think that's why we played good yesterday," Dustin kidded about a Thursday night double-header against Dubuque Wahlert that Mark and Tammy missed.

The boys admit they don't always get along the best, something you've got to expect from teenagers a year apart in age. Redheads, as these two are, have been known to have bad tempers, too.

"Our friends try to egg us on to fight," Dustin said.

"We have a love-hate relationship," Brayton said with that grin. "We have a lot of the same friends, so we have to hang out."

They don't hang out with their biological father, haven't communicated with him for years. There are some hard feelings there.

But they've got "Coach," and that's pretty good.

"They're like best friends," Tammy Carlson said. "He's been a father, a teacher. He's one to discipline but not a screamer. That's what makes it so special. He's so much better than a lot of biological fathers.

"The boys never want to let him down."

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