Coaching Legends: Coaching 'was easy' for Larry Niemeyer

Editor's note: Third in a series of articles about former coaching legends in Eastern Iowa and what made them successful. Previous stories featured Ross Telecky and Bob Jennings.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Between softball and basketball, Larry Niemeyer coached more than 3,700 games.

One of his biggest regrets? That he didn't coach more.

'Maybe I wasn't good at a lot of things,' Niemeyer said in a phone interview recently. 'But coaching ... I understood it.

'Coaching was easy for me.'

Five years have passed since Niemeyer was let go as softball coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson. He stepped down as girls' basketball coach a few months earlier.

'I miss it. I really do,' said Niemeyer, 79. 'I try to stay close to it. I've been going to more games again this year.'

Niemeyer coached both sports for 52 years in a career that began at Adel High School. In 1978, he brought his family to Cedar Rapids.

With a career record of 2,089-429, Niemeyer remains the nation's all-time winningest softball coach, capturing state championships at Jefferson in 1983, 1997 and 1998. He led Adel to a fall title in 1970.

He is No. 3 in basketball wins in Iowa, with an 871-352 mark and a state title in 1993.

'I guess I did things a little differently,' Niemeyer said. 'I didn't have a 15-minute meeting after a game.

'Instead, if the kids did something wrong, I would devise a drill to work on it and improve it.'

And they would drill, and drill, and drill.

'Once or twice doesn't cut it,' Niemeyer said. 'And just telling them doesn't cut it. You've got to get out on the field and show them.'

Jefferson cut ties with Niemeyer in July 2012, and Waterloo West athletics director Tony Pappas hired him to coach softball a few months later.

But by the next spring, health problems forced Niemeyer to resign at West.

'I still feel bad that I couldn't coach for (Pappas),' Niemeyer said.

Niemeyer has been taking dialysis for his kidneys for several years, and said he feels 'pretty good.'

'I have trouble standing for long periods of time, and I have trouble walking long distances,' he said. 'But I'm doing all right.'

Niemeyer threw out a first pitch at Wrigley Field last fall. He doesn't frequent the softball diamond that now bears his name, but he's not a homebody, either. He watched a few regional games and was at the state tournament last week in Fort Dodge.

'I try to stay close to it,' he said, noting that he has shared some of his knowledge with Iowa City High Coach Jeff Koenig, and is a regular at Little Hawks' games.

'There's no greater reward than coaching a kid and seeing them improve, seeing them perform,' he said.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com