Ed Pottgen is lucky to be alive.
The head coach of the Jefferson County Blazers 18U baseball team recently suffered a massive heart attack at Fox High School as his team was preparing for a scrimmage. Pottgen, 49, had 90 percent blockage of a major artery in what is known as a “widow maker” attack. Fortunately, his son, Zach, 20, was right beside him when he doubled over in pain radiating from his chest to his neck.
“As far as pain goes, it was an eight out of 10,” Pottgen said. “I told Zach, ‘something’s not right.’ He held me and called 911 and carried me like a baby and waited for (Rock Community Fire Protection District) to come. They gave me baby aspirins and nitroglycerin and I went to (SSM Health) St. Clare Hospital, where they told me I had a heart attack. I never flatlined or lost consciousness.”
Pottgen had stents placed in his artery. He said doctors told him he could make a full recovery in six to eight months and any damage to the heart could be repaired.
Despite the health scare, Pottgen said he never thought of not rejoining the Blazers this summer. He said they only have four days off during the season. When he came home from the hospital, Pottgen said, he became restless after about four days, then returned to the dugout, with a lightened workload.
“I wanted my life to be normal and everything to go back to the way it was,” Pottgen said. “It was very important for my mindset. The players are concerned and always asking me how I feel. The parents all watch me and are concerned.
“I don’t want to let these kids down.”
Zach Pottgen, 20, is an education major at Baptist Bible College in Springfield and plays baseball there.
“My dad was going to get some equipment, and he said, ‘Hey Zach, I don’t feel well. My head is spinning,’” Zach said. “So I sat him in the bleachers and tried to get him into the shade, but he couldn’t move. I picked him up like a kid and took him to the shade of the first-base dugout. I wrapped my arm around his so I could control him and called 911. I was trying to keep him alert while I was talking to them.”
Zach’s brother, Andrew, was there to play in the scrimmage, so Zach elected to stay and umpire the game after his dad was taken away in an ambulance.
“I still umpired the game even though I was freaking out,” Zach said. “My brother didn’t know exactly what was going on because I didn’t want him to see it. Dad’s face was really red and his arms were pale white. It took about six to eight minutes for first responders to show up.
“There’s two reasons I stayed instead of going to the hospital. I always want to make sure my dad and brother are alright. Growing up, baseball’s been our life. When I’m on the field, everything’s relaxed. Plus, I knew they’d be doing all of these tests on him and we wouldn’t be able to see him right away.
“I learned a sense of responsibility and having to step up for my family. This is a job my dad’s taught me to do my entire life and I am lucky to have him as my father.”
The senior Pottgen has skippered the Blazers to a 2-0 start. They beat Kirkwood 6-2 on June 5 and Premier 4-3 on June 6. The team once again is playing in the St. Louis Amateur Baseball Association, which has nine 18U clubs this summer. The Blazers are in the South Division with Kirkwood, the STL Redbirds and STL Tigers (primarily of St. Louis County) and the Waterloo (Ill.) Warriors.
Ed said the Blazers have quality pitching in Landon Richard (Northwest High) and Josh Thomas and Jacob Appleton of Seckman, but are thin in numbers on the mound. The team has five other players from the Seckman team that went 21-12 this spring: Alex Sullivan, Dean Moekel, Blane Woolsey, Connor Day and Logan Dvorak.
Fox is contributing three (Gus Schoenberg, Cayden Keisker and Anthony Sabella) while others from Northwest are Dakota Werner, Jack Clark, Collin Rupp and Jeffrey Lentz. The rest of the roster includes two from Hillsboro (Christian Groner and Riley Wallace) and Max Schnitzler of Jefferson, as well as two from outside the county, Oakville’s Patrick Dorsey and Michael Huff of North County in Bonne Terre.
“We’re a solid team,” Ed Pottgen said. “We’re a lot better than we were last year.
“Position-wise, we’re really deep. We have five or six infielders who all deserve playing time.”