Born and raised in North Bergen and a graduate of North Bergen High School in 1970, Tom Eagleson never wanted to stray far from home.
So after he graduated from New Jersey City University, then known as Jersey City State College, Eagleson came back to North Bergen to become a science teacher in 1974.
In 1981, he started thinking about possibly becoming a coach. Eagleson knew that there was an opening on the high school baseball staff and applied for the job. However, he didn’t get the position. It was a bit of heartbreak for someone who played baseball for the Bruins and also played at Jersey City State.
But there was an opening as the softball coach.
“I remember going to the county final in 1980, with North Bergen playing Memorial, and realized that I really enjoyed watching the game,” Eagleson said.
With that, Eagleson decided to give coaching softball a try.
“We had 22 girls on the team that year,” Eagleson said. “We had no JV [junior varsity], so I kept all those girls on the varsity. I just couldn’t cut the freshmen. I knew that there was talent there.”
Eagleson was also the lone coach on the payroll, with the late Joe Tatano and Bob Tholen serving as volunteer assistants. It was a bit of a challenge at first.
“But I found that I really enjoyed it,” Eagleson said. “It was very enjoyable coaching the girls. We had a good team that first year. We were 14-4 and played Memorial for the county championship again.”
Although the Bruins lost that day – “We lost, 6-5,” Eagleson said. “I remember it well” – there weren’t many other times that the Bruins were on the losing side with Eagleson as a head coach.
The Bruins reached the pinnacle in 1987, when they defeated state-ranked powerhouse Clifton in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV title game on pitcher Carol Cook’s homer, becoming the first Hudson County softball team to ever win a state sectional championship. It was a distinction that the Bruins held for 20 years, before Hoboken won its first title in 2007 and then High Tech won two straight crowns, all in the Group I bracket.
Eagleson’s Bruins were 24-3 in 1987, a team that remains close in the coach’s heart.
“Carol pitched us and hit us to that championship,” Eagleson said of Cook, now a Guttenberg police officer. “It was a great time.”
However, a year later, Eagleson decided to walk away from coaching. He figured his coaching career was over after seven seasons.
“It was beginning to drain on me,” Eagleson said. “I had two young boys and wanted to spend time with them. I figured maybe it was time to go and stay at home to be with the kids.”
But after a few years, Eagleson realized one thing.
“I really missed it,” Eagleson said. “I needed to get back into coaching.”
So in 1991, Eagleson returned to be the assistant softball coach. Two years later, he was given his old position back as head coach. And he’s never left.
Last weekend, as the Bruins defeated County Prep in the quarterfinals of the Hudson County Tournament, Eagleson was reaching an impressive milestone.
The victory was the 500th of his coaching career. It’s a mark never before reached by a Hudson County softball coach.
In fact, in the history of high school softball in New Jersey, only two active coaches, Jim Dransfield of West Milford and now Eagleson, have attained the 500-win plateau. Only five in state history have reached the milestone.
“It’s just unbelievable,” Eagleson said. “I’m thrilled by it.”
Eagleson has enjoyed incredible success as the North Bergen head softball coach. The Bruins have won 14 HCIAA league titles and 11 county playoff titles. They’re in contention for another this season and may secure that honor over the weekend. They are certainly the favorites to do so.
He’s also been fortunate to have coached a litany of excellent pitchers during his career. Cook’s contributions have already been noted. She was a First Team All-State player and later became a member of the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame.
But there were also All-Area hurlers, in succession, like Nicole Smith, Tara Solan, Jodie Hild, Tiara Smith and now Carla Arismendi. Pitchers such as that litany of greats can make any coach win a ton of games.
“It’s definitely not me,” Eagleson said. “It’s the girls in the red and white uniforms who won those games. I wouldn’t be anywhere without them.”
Eagleson was asked if reaching such a historic plateau is cause to pause and reflect.
“You know what is great? Facebook,” said Eagleson, praising the online friendship collection that Betty White recently panned in a joking fashion on “Saturday Night Live.”
“On Facebook, so many people put up congratulations to me,” Eagleson said. “One of my former players, Lisa Sacco, sent a message and I wrote back, ‘You were there for No. 1.’ All through the years, I always tried to keep in touch with my former players, but you lose touch. This was great to hear from some of them. I loved reading the messages from everyone.”
Eagleson is planning a reunion with his 1995 team that captured the HCIAA championship.
“It’s really great to have all those memories,” Eagleson said. “It’s really been a good run.”
Eagleson said that he has no plans of stepping away from the position now, simply because he loves being with his current team.
“Let’s put it this way,” Eagleson said. “They’ve kept me in it and made it enjoyable. If they weren’t great kids, I wouldn’t do it.”
Eagleson reflected what the game of softball has become since he first started in 1981.
“It’s almost like I’ve lived through the entire history of the sport in New Jersey,” Eagleson said. “It’s come a long way and the game has changed. It’s not what it used to be. It’s very competitive and very demanding. But one thing has remained the same and that’s the girls.”
There’s another fact that remains constant over the years. Tom Eagleson is a winner and he does everything with a style, with grace and with class. The sport of high school softball in Hudson County is much better because people like Tom Eagleson got involved in it.
In that respect, baseball’s loss in 1981 was softball’s tremendous gain.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.