BRADLEY BASEBALL NEWS CONTACT: Bobby Parker, Associate A.D. for Communications MAY 21, 2008 (309) 677-2624 or [email protected]

Bradley Baseball Kalmer Announces Retirement WICHITA, Kan. -- Bradley Baseball head coach Dewey Kalmer, the winningest Dewey Kalmer Year-by-Year coach in Bradley Athletics history, announced his plans for retirement during a Year School G W L T Pct. postgame press conference after his team’s elimination from the 2008 State 1969 Quincy 17 5 12 0 .294 Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament tonight at Eck Stadium. 1970 Quincy 25 9 16 0 .360 1971 Quincy 28 16 12 0 .571 Kalmer’s 29th season at Bradley and his 40th year overall as a head coach 1972 Quincy 25 15 10 0 .600 ended when the Braves (26-28) dropped a pair of games during Wednesday’s 1973 Quincy 25 16 9 0 .640 opening day, 14-2 to Creighton in Game 2 and 9-2 to Northern Iowa in Game 3 1974 Quincy 34 24 10 0 .706 Wednesday night. 1975 Quincy 37 26 10 1 .716 1976 Quincy 34 20 14 0 .588 1977 Quincy 40 23 17 0 .575 “It’s a great time for me to leave,” Kalmer said during the postgame press 1978 Quincy 35 16 19 0 .457 conference. “The timing is good for Bradley because I think they should be very 1979 Quincy 33 20 13 0 .606 competitive next year. The new coach will walk into a team that can compete.” 11 Years 333 190 142 1 .572

Kalmer became the 36th member of NCAA Division I Baseball’s 1,000-Win Club Year School G W L T Pct. last season and he retires with a 1,032-914-5 (.530) record in 40 overall seasons 1980 Bradley 55 25 30 0 .455 as a head coach, good for 34th place on the Division I all-time wins list. He 1981 Bradley 53 29 24 0 .547 directed his alma mater, Quincy University, to a 190-142-1 (.572) record in 11 1982 Bradley 52 23 29 0 .442 seasons from 1969-79 and the Braves to a 842-772-4 (.522) record in 29 seasons 1983 Bradley 38 19 17 2 .526 from 1980-2008. Kalmer’s 842 wins at Bradley represent exactly one-half of the 1984 Bradley 50 30 20 0 .600 1,684 wins in the program’s 108-year history and are 142 more than the 3-sport 1985 Bradley 58 34 24 0 .586 combined total of Bradley legend A.J. Robertson, who accumulated 700 victories 1986 Bradley 61 35 26 0 .574 as the baseball (244), men’s basketball (312) and football (144) coach from 1920 1987 Bradley 62 41 21 0 .661 to 1948. 1988 Bradley 59 34 25 0 .576 1989 Bradley 57 35 22 0 .614 “Dewey’s remarkable longevity is a testament to both his love of the game and 1990 Bradley 63 31 32 0 .492 passion to serve young people,” said Bradley Director of Athletics Ken Kavanagh. 1991 Bradley 62 26 36 0 .419 “His on-field successes are rightfully and duly noted in the the record books. 1992 Bradley 58 34 23 1 .596 1993 Bradley 56 40 16 0 .714 However, we most appreciate and thank him for his decades of mentoring 1994 Bradley 61 35 26 0 .574 countless young men with life-long lessons that have translated well beyond their 1995 Bradley 57 30 27 0 .526 Bradley playing days. 1996 Bradley 62 40 22 0 .645 1997 Bradley 54 26 28 0 .481 “We certainly now wish Dewey and his wife Carol a well-deserved, enjoyable 1998 Bradley 55 25 30 0 .455 retirement period,” Kavanagh added. 1999 Bradley 57 26 31 0 .456 2000 Bradley 55 25 30 0 .455 In addition to his final win total, Kalmer sent 65 Bradley players on to profes- 2001 Bradley 54 17 37 0 .315 sional baseball, including seven who advanced to the Major Leagues -- Mike 2002 Bradley 56 18 38 0 .321 Dunne, Mike Grace, Jim Lindeman, Kirby Puckett, Bryan Rekar, Brian Shouse 2003 Bradley 53 23 30 0 .434 and Roger Smithberg. With Shouse currently excelling as a situational reliever 2004 Bradley 56 29 26 1 .527 for the , Bradley has had at least one former Brave playing in 2005 Bradley 50 28 22 0 .560 the Major Leagues for 26 consecutive seasons. Four of his former players were 2006 Bradley 57 26 31 0 .456 first-round draft picks -- Puckett (1982), Lindeman (1983), 2007 Bradley 53 32 21 0 .604 Dunne (1984) and Rob Purvis (1999) -- and Puckett eventually landed in the 2008 Bradley 54 26 28 0 .481 29 Years at BU 1,618 842 772 4 .522 - more - 40-Year Career 1,951 1,032 914 5 .532 Sports Information (309) 677-2624 • Fax (309) 677-2626 • www.bubraves.com 1501 WEST BRADLEY AVENUE • PEORIA, ILLINOIS 61625-0231 Kalmer Announces Retirement ... add 1

Baseball Hall of Fame following his 12-year career with the Minnesota Twins.

Kalmer was one of the first college baseball coaches to place a player on the USA Baseball Olympic Team as All-American Mike Dunne was a member of the 1984 squad in Los Angeles. Two of his former players also faced each in the World Series when Puckett’s Twins knocked off Lindeman’s St. Louis Cardinals in 1987.

A native of Trenton, Ill., Kalmer graduated from Quincy College in 1966 after garnering All-America honors in both basketball and baseball. Drafted by the Washington Senators as a catcher in Major League Baseball’s second free-agent draft, Kalmer spent three years in the organization, the last two in Triple-A.

Following his career, Kalmer returned to Quincy College, where he was named the Hawks head baseball and basketball coach. He coached both squads for 11 seasons before leaving for Bradley. The Quincy baseball program flourished under Kalmer’s leadership. The Hawks had only one losing season in Kalmer’s last nine years, won 20 or more games five of his last six seasons and advanced to the postseason in nine of his 11 years.

Kalmer left Quincy in the fall of 1979 to become the head baseball coach at Bradley. He was given responsibility for maintaining Meinen Field and served as the general manager for the Peoria Pacers of the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL). He also served as a senior associate athletic director at Bradley for the last 15 years.

Kalmer will remain on staff at Bradley until June 30 with plans to conduct his summer baseball camps as scheduled. He also will conduct the day-to-day operations of the Bradley Baseball program while Kavanagh conducts a national search to find his replacement.

Although the next Bradley Baseball coach will be the 15th in the program’s history, he will be just the fifth since 1921. A.J. Robertson (1921-48) held the position for 23 seasons, a span interupted for three years late in his career by World War II. Leo Schrall succeeded Robertson and was the baseball team’s head coach for 24 years from 1949 to 1972, followed by Chuck Buescher (1973-79) for seven seasons and Kalmer for the last 29 years.

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