West Central Michigan News

The Central Michigan University (CMU) community is mourning the death of Dean Kreiner, a renowned baseball coach. Kreiner passed away last week at the age of 88. He was a lifelong resident of Mount Pleasant and joined the CMU baseball program in 1971 as an assistant to Dave Keilitz.

Kreiner led the Chippewas from 1985 to 1998, achieving 516 victories, making him the most successful coach in the history of the program. During his tenure, CMU baseball secured a total of 969 victories, including his years as an assistant. The team won ten Mid-American Conference championships while he was on staff.

"Dean and I go back over 60 years," said Keilitz, who first met Kreiner when playing American Legion baseball in Midland while Kreiner coached in Mount Pleasant. "We'd play Mount Pleasant and I was always impressed, as a player, with him as a person and as a coach and his teams were outstanding," Keilitz added.

Keilitz recalled being appointed head coach for CMU's Chippewas in June 1970: "I was named in the morning and shortly after the press conference my first visit was to go see Dean."

Kreiner graduated from Central Michigan College in 1958 with two varsity letters in baseball. Before joining CMU's coaching staff, he taught math and coached at Mount Pleasant High School for twelve years.

After serving two years coaching junior varsity at CMU under Keilitz starting in 1973, Kreiner moved up to varsity. In 1984, when Keilitz became athletic director, one of his initial actions was promoting Kreiner to head coach.

Kreiner's wife Judy passed away in October; they were married for 63 years. They had four children: Dennis, Ken, Tom, and Karen. His sons played baseball under their father's guidance at CMU.

In recognition of their contributions to CMU sports history, Kreiner's uniform number (33) along with Keilitz's (34) were retired by CMU in 2018. Additionally, Kreiner was inducted into the Marcy Weston Athletics Hall of Fame at CMU in 2003.

Keilitz expressed deep admiration for Kreiner: "Our relationship was very close for over sixty years... He's a special person to our family and the thousands of people he touched." He described Kreiner as having integrity and being respected by all: "He always did the right thing."