Local softball coaching legend Chuck Shuman heard a story on the radio about Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams in the mid-1990s.
“He didn't even want to chew gum when he was batting because it affected his vision and his jaw movement,” Shuman said last week by phone.
Any bit of wisdom could be useful to someone dedicated to the craft of hitting, so Shuman wanted to relate the Williams tale to Tracee McCoy-Jenkins , a freshman phenom for Ellet softball in 1996.
“This just shows my age and everybody else's age, I guess. I said, ' Tracee , do you know who Ted Williams is?' She goes, 'No, does he know me?'” Shuman, 75, said with a laugh.
Williams may not have been hip to one of Ellet's greatest student-athletes before he died in 2002, but McCoy-Jenkins (nee McCoy) is a recognizable name to anyone who has paid attention to softball in Akron for the last 30 years.
McCoy-Jenkins was in ninth grade when Ellet softball won its only state championship — and the lone state title among City Series softball programs — in ‘96. She continued her career at the University of Akron , earning first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors twice, and then with the Akron Racers of the former National Pro Fastpitch league.
“I'm just a kid from Akron,” McCoy-Jenkins, 43, quipped during a recent interview.
Continuing the theme of representing Akron through and through, McCoy-Jenkins will be inducted into the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 5. She is already in the Summit County Sports HOF and UA's Sports HOF.
“Any hall of fame you get inducted into is an honor,” McCoy-Jenkins said. “But definitely with Akron Public Schools, it shows that there is life in those schools and that athletes are coming out of those schools and doing great things after they graduate high school.”
McCoy-Jenkins played softball for 20 years, starting at age 8 in an Ellet youth league and ending at 28 with the Racers after the 2007 season.
Softball is still a huge part of the 1999 Ellet graduate's life. She gives hitting lessons as a trainer for AB Pitching Academy in Akron and has a 12-year-old daughter, Harper, in the sport.
Shuman coached Ellet softball for 38 seasons (1985-2023). He knew McCoy-Jenkins and her older sister by two years, Tiffany , would immediately give Ellet a special freshman-junior tandem, but there was a twist. McCoy-Jenkins intended to play catcher because Tiffany was a star pitcher who also eventually advanced to a standout college softball career with the Zips.
“I remember being a freshman and going to tryouts and Coach Shuman asking me if I wanted to play shortstop,” McCoy-Jenkins said. “I'm like, 'I'm not a shortstop.' And he's like, 'Well, we're going to turn you into one.'”
Shuman insisted moving McCoy-Jenkins to shortstop doesn't qualify as an excellent coaching decision.
“It was a great, athletic person to play in that position,” he said. “It was an easy choice to make just because it's such an instrumental position for us. And, as a freshman, she just handled it excellently.”
Ellet has a strong presence this year: Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame unveils Class of 2024
On June 11, 1996, Ellet defeated Cincinnati McAuley 3-1 in the Division I Ohio High School Athletic Association state championship game, a triumph McCoy-Jenkins still considers the highlight of her playing days. With the victory, Ellet redeemed itself after falling 7-0 to Springfield with a state crown at stake the previous season.
“I remember my sister throwing the last pitch [against Cincinnati McAuley], which was a strikeout,” McCoy-Jenkins said. “It was pretty awesome just to have that feeling. We accomplished something that no other Akron Public Schools softball team has ever accomplished.”
Ellet also advanced to a state semifinal in 1997. It won four City Series championships with McCoy-Jenkins, who garnered All-Ohio honors in each of her final three high school seasons. She pitched her senior year, compiling a record of 12-4 and batting .548 with 11 triples and 34 RBIs.
Later in life, McCoy-Jenkins served as a college assistant coach at Marshall and Akron before guiding Twinsburg High School and travel teams.
Shuman explained he considered McCoy-Jenkins a leader from the moment she joined Ellet softball.
“She just is a coach's dream,” he said. “Every coach should be able to have someone to coach like Tracee because she handled her position, she handled her role as a player and as a friend, and she's just a pleasant person to have.
“If I think of an All-City person in athletics and Akron Public Schools, she would be on the top of my list, whether it's the boys teams or the girls teams. She's very deserving and a good representative of the Hall of Fame.”
More on the APS Athletics Hall of Fame: Akron Public Schools gives Dies family of Northeast Ohio wrestling fame proper recognition
Ticket information for Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame induction banquet
The APS Athletics HOF induction banquet will be held Oct. 5 at Guy's Party Center (500 E. Waterloo Road, Akron). Doors are scheduled to open at 5 p.m. with dinner at 6 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased at www.akronschools.com/divisions/athletics/tickets .
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ellet, Zips icon Tracee McCoy-Jenkins to enter Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame
Local News
Comments / 0