People might wonder how Ron Rightnowar has ever had time in his schedule to take a deep breath.

Rightnowar and his wife, Julie, have lived in Oregon since Ron retired from Major League Baseball in 1995. He is currently the athletic director and admissions director at Toledo Christian High School.

Rightnowar, 45, who is in his fifth season (seventh overall) as the Eagles' varsity baseball coach, also coached TC's varsity basketball team while he and Julie, a 1983 Clay graduate, were in the process of raising five boys — Jake, 18, Nick, 17, Luke, 13, Michael, 8, and Derek, 7.

Along the way, Rightnowar coached his boys' youth baseball teams and co-owned a sports training center, U.S. Diamond Sports, in Perrysburg Township.

“Diamond Sports coincided with the birth of my fifth son, Derek, in January of 2002,” Rightnowar said. “That same month, I opened the indoor training center for baseball and softball and had it for four years. It was pretty successful, but the time commitment, once I became athletic director, became prohibitive. My partner couldn't do it himself, so we had to close it down.”

Rightnowar, a star pitcher at Whitmer in the early 1980s, went on to play at Eastern Michigan University. He was signed by the Detroit Tigers as an amateur free agent in September 1986 and pitched for the Mud Hens from 1990-93.

He was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1993 and made his major league debut on May 20, 1995, throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief against the Texas Rangers. Two days later Rightnowar earned his first big-league victory, pitching two innings in relief against the Cleveland Indians.

“It was really cool,” Rightnowar said. “It was in Cleveland, and the 1995 Indians were unbeatable at Jacobs Field. They had a great team. Probably 40 of my family and friends were there to see me. I ended up being the pitcher of record, and all of the people who had been in my corner all along were there to see it.”

Rightnowar retired at the end of the '95 season, finishing his major league career with a 2-1 record, a 5.40 ERA and one save in 34 appearances.

“After I retired in 1995, I became the FCA's (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) Northwest Ohio director,” Rightnowar said. “I was the first one in Northwest Ohio.”

The following year Rightnowar became a varsity basketball assistant under Joe Guerrero at Clay, and he was hired as the admissions director for Toledo Christian Schools in 1997.

“I was approached by Toledo Christian asking if I was interested in being their head basketball coach,” Rightnowar said. “I was working at FCA. After that year, Randy Taylor approached me asking if I'd like to come on staff full-time as the spiritual affairs director. I did that for about four years. I was coaching varsity basketball and I became the varsity baseball coach for a couple years.

Rightnowar became TC's athletic director in 2007, “and I love it,” he said. “It gives me a chance to have input with the other coaches to develop their programs. We have a great bunch of coaches who are great people. They care about kids as much off the field as they do on the field.”

Last year, Rightnowar led the Eagles' baseball team to its second straight Toledo Area Athletic Conference championship and its second straight berth in the regional tournament. Rightnowar was named the TAAC Coach of the Year.

Jake Rightnowar was named the TAAC Player of the Year last season after batting .506 and going 8-2 on the mound. Jake is now a freshman pitcher at Trine University (formerly Tri-State University) in Angola, Ind.

“He's doing well,” Rightnowar said. “Growing up, he was always the smallest kid on the team. To see him progress and stay the course and keep working at it and be named the player of the year in the TAAC was pretty amazing. In fifth and sixth grade, you would have thought he would just be lucky to play. As his dad, to see him get really, really good, I couldn't be more proud of how he did it.”

Nick Rightnowar quarterbacked Toledo Christian's football team last season as a junior and was named the TAAC Offensive Player of the Year. Nick has thrown for more than 4,000 career yards and 48 touchdowns. He's also a shooting guard on the basketball team and is the Eagles' starting shortstop.

“Nick has the temperament for football, just a real understanding of the passing game and offensive football,” Rightnowar said. “He just took to it like a fish to water. He likes playing basketball and baseball, but football is his deal. He'd like to go on to college and play.”

Luke Rightnowar is a seventh-grader at Toledo Christian and is following in his older brothers' footsteps.

“He might be the most accomplished of my boys, at this age,” Rightnowar said. “Basketball is probably Luke's favorite (sport) right now. He's probably the most accomplished in baseball, but basketball is his passion. He's got a lot to live up to, because of his brothers.

“My brothers and I, we never held back from challenging each other to be better than the ones ahead of us. That's what I want Luke to learn from his brothers about what it takes — the time and effort and the work ethic — to see some of those dreams fulfilled. If he does that, there's no reason he can't follow in their footsteps.”

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