The Midville Dodgers announced late last month that Walter Tuthill and Jim Gleason will be joining their coaching staff for the 2001 season. Both Tuthill and Gleason bring several years of experience with them to the Dodgers staff….
The Times-Ledger
The Midville Dodgers announced late last month that Walter Tuthill and Jim Gleason will be joining their coaching staff for the 2001 season. Both Tuthill and Gleason bring several years of experience with them to the Dodgers staff.
Walter Tuthill, who is currently manager of the Christ the King High School varsity baseball team, will head the Dodgers’ elite Senior (17- and 18-year-old) team. Jim Gleason, who also coaches CK, will work with him.
<i>Dynamic Sports Family</i>
Walter Tuthill is a lifetime resident of Ridgewood. He and his wife of 30 years, Marlene, raised four children – Jason, Brian, Jonathan and Kimberly. Tuthill has been coaching for the past 25 years, starting with the YMCA and Ridegwood-Glendale-Middle Village-Maspeth Little League. He is entering his 13th year as a coach at Christ the King High School
All four of his children attended CK and his oldest son Jason, now 26, graduated from CK in 1992 as an all-city baseball player, receiving a baseball scholarship to Wagner College under coach Rich Vitaliano. He was named captain of the Wagner team in his junior and senior years. After graduating Wagner in 1996, Jason signed his first professional baseball contract with the Altoona Rail Kings, an independent team in the Heartland League.
Unfortunately, the following season, Jason retired from baseball after shoulder surgery. Jason, now a Senior Stock Analyst with Thomson Financial, has since married and lives with his wife Alyson, who recently gave birth to their first child, Tyler. The couple live in South Salem, N.J.
Brian Tuthill, another in the line of baseball standouts, graduated from CK in 1996 as Newsday’s CHSAA Player of the Year. He received a full baseball scholarship from St. John’s University, transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for one semester before transferring back to New York with LIU. Unfortunately, Brian was injured in a game, prompting surgery on his wrist and has since retired from baseball.
Brian is now a police officer working in the 9th Precinct. in Manhattan.
His third son, Jonathan, also played baseball at CK. After graduating he attended John Jay College to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer. He recently passed the police exam and is now on the eligible list.
His youngest, Kimberly, 16, is a junior at CK and a member of the CK varsity girls basketball team.
<i>Gleason knows baseball</i>
Jim Gleason, 43, is a former all-Queens high school baseball player. In 1975 he was a standout for the Queens borough champion, Grover Cleveland. He went on to play for Queens College.
Gleason is currently an assistant varsity baseball coach at Christ the King. He was also freshman baseball coach at CK and just recently completed a two-year stint with the Bayside Yankees as a hitting and pitching coach.
Gleason also coached extensively for the RGMVM Little League and traveling RGMVM Kings teams. He is considered a top recruiter with passion for the game and a keen knowledge of 17- and 18-year-old prospects in the city.
Gleason, a long time Glendale resident, is a 19-year correction’s officer and an ex-Marine. He is married for 21 years to his wife, Sharon, and has three children — two sons, Greg 19, who is a CK alumni, daughter, Randi 13, who will attend CK in the fall, and Kenny, 17.
Kenny, a CK senior, will join the Dodgers this year. Last season he led the CK Royals in hitting as a junior with a .420 batting average and hurled the Royals to a third place finish in the city with a 2-1 pitching win over Molloy in the semifinals.
Kenny helped the Bayside Yankees last summer, going 9-2 on the hill including wins in regionals, World Series and Super Seven series, as well as being one of the team’s top hitters and RBI leaders.
Coach Gleason is very confident in bringing an outstanding 17- and 18-year-old team to the Juniper area.
“It’s time to come home,” he said. “The talent in this area is outstanding and I expect many of my former players to commit to Midville. I know the age group very well and, along with coach Tuthill, who is an excellent coach, we will put out an outstanding product.”
The Dodgers’ season begins when the high school baseball season ends.
“It was a perfect match for both Walter and Jimmy, the players, the organization and the neighborhood,” said Bob Holden, president of the Midville Dodgers. He said that both Tuthill and Gleason are highly respected coaches and “are baseball men in and out.”
