Dunnack is a warrior on and off the field
By Brian Girasoli, The Bulletin (Norwich,
Conn.)
It is a safe bet that when Jeremiah Dunnack pulls on the Eastern
Connecticut State University baseball jersey, he is doing more than
getting ready for a game or practice.
It is another reminder that he saved himself.
His dream of donning an ECSU baseball uniform was delayed almost
13 years by drug addiction. But today, there is no one more proud
to wear a uniform of any kind than Dunnack is wearing the blue and
white of Eastern.
“The game of baseball, to me, is everything,” Dunnack
said Wednesday. “It’s something I wait for all year to
come, and then it’s gone in an instant. ... There’s
just (so) much adrenaline, passion and desire to play the
game.”
|
Jeremiah Dunnack is in his first year as a coach for
the ECSU baseball program. |
Dunnack is about to embark on his first season as the
sub-varsity coach of the ECSU baseball team. This is where he needs
to be — coaching, encouraging and teaching his fellow
teammates.
Last season, he was a 33-year-old catcher on the sub-varsity
team.
“He’s enthusiastic, he’s a worker — all
the characteristics I like,” coach Bill Holowaty said.
“He’s a Pied Piper. He’s a kind of guy who kids
will listen to and follow.”
A part of lore
By 1988, baseball at Eastern already was a huge source of pride in
Willimantic.
Holowaty already had led the Warriors to the first of four NCAA
championships, and a second one would follow in 1990.
To any 12-year-old Willimantic born-and-bred kid who loved
baseball, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?
“The importance of baseball in my life and Eastern’s
success go hand-in-hand,” Dunnack said. “It’s the
biggest level of baseball for a young man to see right here in
Willimantic.”
By the time he graduated high school in 1994, the dream of playing
under Holowaty was real when Eastern accepted Dunnack as a
student.
It lasted one day.
“I was not ready, in many ways,” Dunnack said.
Unfortunately for Dunnack, what was ready was an outlet: Drugs. He
had been using illegal substances experimentally since he was 14,
saying it was easy to find around Willimantic. But it was around
this time that Dunnack began using cocaine and alcohol with
increasing regularity, even after fathering a daughter and son.
“I turned into an addict,” he said. “I veered
off the road.”
For all of Dunnack’s faults, he wasn’t blind. He said
he talked to his daughter, Elizza, and son, Jeremiah Jr., about
getting clean. Finally, about four years ago, Elizza, then 10, said
to him, “You know what, dad? I’m ready for you to
change.”
The next day, Dunnack checked himself into the Stonington
Institute, a residential treatment center for drug and alcohol
addiction. It was successful for about 100 days, Dunnack said, but
he had a short relapse. He said he has now been sober for three
years.
With the help of a friend, Edwin Rexach, Dunnack also began
attending services at the Kingdom Life Christian Outreach Church in
town. The combination of support through programs and religion, and
his schoolwork, has turned his life over.
Willimantic almost destroyed Dunnack. Now it is saving him.
“Turning my life over, and seeing things in a spiritual
sense, is ... I guess the only word I can come up with is
scary,” he said. “Things are so relevant today in my
life.”
One day at a time
Addicts are never fully cured. Around every corner is something
that might push them back into a downward spiral.
Dunnack knows this. Yet he surrounds himself with things he loves
— family, education, baseball — to keep himself on the
right path.
In 2012, Dunnack is set to graduate from Eastern with a degree in
social work. His goal is to get into the master’s program at
UConn and return to Willimantic to create a youth center.
When he re-enrolled at Eastern, Dunnack tried again to realize his
dream of playing baseball. He introduced himself to Holowaty
— Dunnack said Holowaty didn’t recognize him at first
because of his short hair — tried out and made the
sub-varsity team last season.
“He’s been a very positive addition to our
program,” Holowaty said. “I’m excited about that.
... Our JV program is extremely important to our varsity program. I
think we develop kids in that program and I think Jeremiah will
develop kids in our program.”
Holowaty also took notice of the way Dunnack worked with his
teammates, and later at Holowaty’s youth clinic in Pomfret,
and appointed Dunnack the sub-varsity head coach this year.
“I found my passion working as a coach and a mentor, and
just being able to give back to these kids moving forward,”
Dunnack said. “To see how much they enjoy the game,
that’s exactly what I needed to see. It gives me the passion
and motivation to give back to them. They deserve it.”
Dunnack said he’s lucky to be in this position.
“After your eyes are opened (and) once things are revealed,
I think we have to make a choice,” he said. “We always
can make the choice; it’s in our hands. They say your best
day under the influence is just ... there’s nothing compared
to it when you’re clean.”
Reprinted by permission of The Bulletin
