Thirty-three seasons later Harlow is still going strong with the Thunderbolts. The program secured milestone victory No. 1,000 with a 12-1 win at Springfield on April 14. The Ohio High School Athletic Association’s website lists Northmont as the 12th baseball program in Ohio to reach 1,000 victories.
As for Harlow, he’s currently 10 wins shy of No. 700. Seven coaches have accomplished that feat, according to the OHSAA.
Add in his three seasons coaching Dixie (36-35) and Harlow is 690-320-2 in his 36th season as head coach.
“That’s flattering but I coach baseball because I love the kids and I love the game,” Harlow said. “I’m really proud of my community. That’s why I coach. I have great assistant coaches. Parents are easy to work with. I’ve got the greatest job in the world as far as I’m concerned.”
Two of those former players are now coaching with Harlow. Joe Mergler, a 1990 Northmont graduate, joined Harlow’s staff in 1998 and coached 10 seasons before taking time off for his family. This is his first season back on the staff.
“Chuck’s built a great program here and it’s been a blessing to be part of it. It’s just a great atmosphere to play baseball,” Mergler said. “Chuck is a great role model for all these young men. He teaches them the right way to win and right way to lose.”
Mike Birdsall, also a 1990 grad, has coached baseball for 21 seasons. This is his second at Northmont.
“It means a lot to people,” Birdsall said of the milestone victory. “It did to me. This feels like home. I’ve been to a lot of schools and coached at a lot of places but this feels like home.”
Jim Smith is also an assistant at Northmont, joining the staff in 1993.
Harlow took over Northmont in 1985 and went 15-14 his first season. It’s the closest he’s come to having a losing season with the Thunderbolts. His teams have rattled off 32 straight winning seasons. Of those, 17 of them have been 20-win seasons.
And to think he was nervous after that first season with the T-Bolts.
“I took that so hard. I felt like we should win every game,” Harlow said. “That’s a good feeling when the kids want to win them all. We just have kids that get after it. Always have.”
It shows, especially on the outfield fence at the Thunderbolts home field. The signs hanging in left field proclaim 22 league championships, 14 sectional titles and five district titles since the program started in 1960.
While Harlow is quite familiar with success, he’s been around the game long enough to know there’s nights like Monday, too. Northmont appeared on its way to another win against visiting Springboro before falling 4-2 in eight innings.
For Harlow and Northmont those games have been few and far between. Northmont (11-6 overall) travels to Springboro on Tuesday for the Greater Western Ohio Conference National West Division rematch.
“Before we got here there was a pretty darn good baseball program in place,” Harlow said. “Rick Dill, Rick Roberts, Ralph Ramsey and Bob Brown. Those guys got it going.”
Bill Yensel was Northmont’s first coach in 1960 and went 8-9 in his lone season. Brown (53-28 in five seasons), Ramsey (138-61, nine seasons), Roberts (64-62-3, five seasons) and Dill (86-38-1, five seasons) followed.
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