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Brian Thomas has led the Ursinus baseball team to its best era
in the 114 years of the program. He has taken a team that was mired
in mediocrity and molded it into a perennial playoff contender.
Thomas, who earned his 100th collegiate win in the 1996 ECAC
Division III South championship game, has led Ursinus to
post-season play in 11 of the last 14 seasons, including three
Centennial Conference Championships.His 346 wins in 18 years make
him the winningest baseball coach in the history of the College.
His 181-95 record in Conference play ranks him second all-time. His
teams have made two NCAA Division III Regional appearances.
Thomas is a Montgomery County product, having graduated from
Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School in 1962. He then starred in
American Legion ball, the Norristown City League and the Perkiomen
Twilight League until 1965. Thomas was selected to participate on
the U.S. Army Fort Ord Post travel team in 1966, but was quickly
called to duty in Vietnam. In 1967, a war injury ended his playing
career. For his service in Vietnam, he was awarded the Combat
Infantry Badge, Bronze Star With Valor, Purple Heart and the Jungle
Expert Badge. He retired from the Army as a First Lieutenant
After being medically retired from the Army, he began his coaching
career in Collegeville in the Junior American Legion program and as
head coach at Perkiomen Valley High School.
Thomas now has over 38 years of successful coaching experience,
including Junior American Legion, high school and college. He is
well-known throughout the area as one of its finest teachers of
baseball fundamentals and motivators of young people. He has had an
unofficial Pennsylvania state record of 41 straight league wins
from 1970-73 in the Montgomery County Junior Legion League, and has
coached teams to Pennsylvania Junior Legion sectional and state
playoffs 15 times, with the 1991 team placing second in the state.
He also won two league titles in three years (43-18) at the
Perkiomen School, was named the Pottstown Mercury Area High School
Coach of the Year in 1989, and won over 733 combined Junior Legion,
high school and college games.
Most recently, he was inducted into the prestigious Montgomery
County Coaches' Hall of Fame in 2007.
Thomas, who was selected to coach at the Roberto Clemente All-Stars
Camp in Puerto Rico in the summer of 1997, was recently inducted
into the Pennsylvania American Legion Hall of Fame in 1999, the
Plymouth Whitemarsh High School Wall of Honor in 2000 and the
Perkiomen School Hall of Athletic Honor in 2001.
Thomas, who is in his nine year as Ursinus' Director of Athletics,
and his wife Sue, senior associate director of admission and
athletics liason at Ursinus, reside in Green Lane.
Coach Saeger enters his eighth season with Ursinus baseball
working primarily with the infield defense, hitters and first
basemen. Saeger was a four-year starter at West Chester University
and was named captain both his junior and senior year. From
1989-90, Saeger was a player for Coach Thomas in the Upper
Perkiomen Junior Legion program continued to receive tutoring from
Thomas throughout his high school career as a four-year starter at
Upper Perkiomen.
After graduation from West Chester, Saeger was an assistant coach
for the Kennet Square American Legion and played with the Allentown
Ambassadors. Upon returning to his hometown in 1999, Saeger managed
the same American Junior Legion program under which he played for
Thomas. After leading his team to a Twin County League Championship
and an appearance in the State Eastern Regional, Saeger began his
coaching career at Ursinus in 2001 as a volunteer assistant, while
continuing to coach in the summer for three more seasons.
In the spring of 2006 Saeger was inducted into the Upper Perkiomen
High School Athletic Hall of Fame.Saeger resides in Pennsburg, PA
with his wife Kim and four-year old son Tommy and two-year old son,
Zane.
