La Salle-Peru High School renames baseball field, ‘It’s going to be Sarver Field forever’

La Salle-Peru High School Board President Greg Sarver said Monday’s dedication ceremony to name the new baseball field after his father Hubert “Huby” Sarver brought back memories.

“There’s a lot of great memories over the years, little habits he used to have before games, after games,” Greg Sarver said. “It means a lot because it’s going to be Sarver Field forever.”

The high school celebrated the completion of phase 2 of its sports complex with a ribbon cutting and naming ceremony Monday at the baseball/softball complex with the Sarver family, public officials, former and current athletes. The complex also has facilities for for soccer, tennis, baseball and softball.

Sarver spent 26 years as the baseball coach for the Cavaliers and amassed a 431-244 record in his 24 years at the helm.

Sarver said it meant a lot to see the players his father coached throughout his career, including his earlier career.

“I’m glad they’re here because it’s about them. That’s what I meant when I said I wanted to thank all the former coaches and players,” he said. “They’re the ones that helped make Cavalier baseball the competitive winning program they are.”

He said his father made opportunities for people, coaching with the no cut policy.

“We had 40 kids on the varsity baseball team,” he said. “And they played ... Don’t get me wrong he wanted to win as much as anybody, but he wanted to make sure if those kids came out worked hard and sacrificed their time, they had an opportunity in the field.”

Huby Sarver also coached basketball for 12 years and football for two years. His teams won nine conference titles, four district titles and seven regionals and reached the IHSA state quarterfinals.

The L-P school board unanimously approved the resolution at the Sept. 20 school board meeting.

Superintendent Steven Wrobleski called the renaming a humbling experience to have the opportunity to dedicate the field to someone who had such a significant impact on the community.

“It’s inspirational,”he said. “It makes you want to do more. To see the impact that they have had and the turnout from the community it’s been a privilege to actually announce the naming of the field.”

On top of his varsity baseball coaching accomplishments, Huby Sarver established the Illinois Valley Connie Mack Summer Baseball Program, the L-P Baseball Parents Booster Club, served as the Northern Illinois Chairman for the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association and was a member of the Peru Planning Commission, according to a news release.

Sarver was honored by numerous organizations. In 1979, he was named the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year; inducted in 1984 into the Illinois Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and in 2021 inducted into the L-P Hall of Honor. The field has already been affectionately nicknamed “The Hub” by head baseball coach Matt Glupczynski.

Sarver said he wants every player to go out on the field knowing they played at an “awesome facility” and they had fun and played hard.

“Don’t leave anything on the field,” he said. “When you leave, leave it all there. Don’t say I should have, I could have, when you’re playing leave it all out there, and let things fall where they may.”