By Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
GERMANTOWN - At the end of every baseball season, Homestead head coach Ernie Millard goes down the line, hugging each of his players one-by-one.
He expected it to be a bit harder, a bit more bittersweet to make the trip down the row this season. He didn’t expect it to be this hard.
One of the longest-tenured summer baseball coaches in the state, Millard saw his career at the helm of the Highlanders end Monday, when Germantown senior Colin Sackett’s walk-off single in the eighth inning downed Homestead, 8-7, in a sectional semifinal. Earlier in the year Millard announced that this would be his final season as the Highlanders head coach, retiring after 26 years on the job.
“I thought I had prepared myself for it, but it was very, very difficult,” Millard said of the postgame tradition. “The one thing I did a little differently this time was I hugged my seniors first. Normally I hug my sophomores and my juniors because I’m going to get to see them next year. But it hit me that I won’t be coaching any of them next year.”
As the public address announcer at Germantown thanked Millard for his years of service, a fan from behind the Homestead dugout said what was on the minds of many:
“All class, all the way through the very end, Ernie.”
Menomonee Falls head coach Pat Hansen, whose team advanced to face the Warhawks in the sectional final, echoed similar sentiments.
“Ernie’s phenomenal,” Hansen said. “He really is. He’s a good ambassador to the game. He’s a competitor. He gets the most out of his players. He’s got a ton of integrity too. We’re really going to miss him, for sure.”
After the game, parents, former players, family members and members of the community had to take a number and get in line to speak with Millard. The Homestead skipper became nostalgic, if not emotional, after being on the receiving end of the overflow of support.
Speaking of emotions, Monday’s contest was one full of them – as were most games for Millard. When Patrick Stieve hit a one-out double in the seventh inning with the Highlanders trailing by one run, Millard jumped in the air and let out one of his famous fist pumps – and his team hadn’t even tied the game yet.
“I’m an emotional guy and getting all the thousands of moments I’ve gotten to enjoy of our kids coming up with big hits is what I’ll take away,” Millard said. “I have so many faults as a coach and as a person, but I think my greatest strength is my ability to enjoy the moments with my kids. I don’t believe in showboating, but at the same time I believe in celebration. There are so many moments that I’ve gotten to pump my fist and be ecstatic.”
Perhaps the biggest fist pump came in 1994, when Millard coached the Highlanders to the state title with his younger brother Ethan serving as the team’s pitching ace. He led Homestead to two more championship games, falling to Oak Creek and Brookfield Central in 2003 and 2014, respectively.
Millard retired with 539 career wins, good for sixth-most all-time among summer coaches.
Even in a loss, he still managed to come out on top.
“Would you want your career to end on wins?” Millard thought aloud. “Maybe, but my career ends coaching against one of my dear friends (Germantown head coach Jeff Wolf) with a bunch of my dear friend here, my wife here, my parents here and my brother.”
He paused, searching for the right words to sum up two-and-a-half decades and to hold back the tears.
“It was all I could ask for.”