The players on the Emmaus softball team were understandably upset after their loss to Liberty in the district semifinals. As the team gathered on an out-of-the-way set of bleachers at Patriots Park, more tears started to flow. Then, assistant coach Amy Oswald, who played for coach John Eyer on a team that won districts 10 years earlier, started to wipe tears from her eyes.

Onlookers knew this was no usual post-game speech about how proud the coach was of his players and what they had accomplished. Actually, the game was quickly put into the past, as Eyer, who had served as the head coach at Emmaus for 18 years, announced to his players that he was retiring.

Eyer, who spent a total of 38 years coaching softball, 28 of those seasons in one capacity or another at Emmaus, had informed athletic director Dennis Ramella of his decision prior to the season. Ramella reportedly tried to talk him out of it, but Eyer remained steadfast on his decision to retire and remained steadfast on his decision to not tell his players until their season was over.

“I didn’t want it to be a distraction,” said Eyer. “They’re not real happy with me right now, which I can understand. There just comes a time when you have to make a decision. Every year I always say ‘well, maybe one more.’ I talked with my wife about it and she said ‘if that’s what you want to do, you be sure.’ I didn’t want to do another one-more time.”

The move comes after a season in which Eyer surpassed the 250-win plateau, finishing with a career mark of 255-145 at Emmaus. In his first season as head coach, Eyer took his team to a state championship. Having been able to take over a team that was in good shape with plenty of hope for the future may have spurred his timing on leaving Emmaus now, when the team has a number of young players who return and should give the team a good chance at going deep into the postseason again next season.

“To me, I’d rather leave the team knowing that there’s a lot there for somebody to work with rather than leave the team decimated,” said Eyer. “I figured if we’re going to bring a new coach in, let’s bring them into the team that is here and ready to go and it will make their transition into it easier, too.”

When told of Eyer’s retirement, Liberty coach Sam Carrado was stunned.

“I said to him at the end of the game, ‘John, it’s such an honor to be on this field with you and to coach against you.’ I try as a coach to learn everything that I can from other coaches to make myself better and I’ve learned a lot from John Eyer. I just appreciate the heck out of him,” said Carrado, who also wasn’t surprised that one of Eyer’s reasons for leaving now was that his team has a bright future. “That’s the class act that we’ve all come to know and love with him.”

Eyer said that he has agreed to help Ramella find a successor and that he still plans to be around to see some games and support the program. The brunt of his time though is going to be spent with his wife, kids and six grandkids who have activities of their own that they enjoy and Eyer wants to support.

“There were great times and great games, but I’m going to remember the girls mostly, that’s what I’m going to remember,” said Eyer. “I’m going to remember the fun times that we’ve had with each of the teams. I hope that I have instilled something in each of these girls as they move on in life that they can remember and they can build on that.

“I’ve told them about how once you graduate, even if you play in college, it’s not a career. You’re still going to have a career to go into, so I hope that they build on this, and it’s going to be fun to see how they turn out. I have a lot of girls that I coached back in the ‘80s and ‘90s that come back and see me with their kids, so it’s really been a lot of fun.”