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Sad news to report today as Michael Loy, the long-time pitching coach from Texas who had helped many softball students for more than 30 years, passed away yesterday (Tuesday, June 2, 2020) of respiratory complications while waiting for a lung transport.
A friend of the family wrote us today stating: “Coach Mike passed away yesterday, but his family appreciated your efforts in sharing his story.”
We had posted his story 2 1/2 weeks ago in hopes that a lung transplant could be done to improve his declining health.
On his GoFundMe page, his daughter Stephanie had previously written: “Our dad (also known as Coach Mike), was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. Since then his health has quickly declined and has required around the clock care. He is also dependent on oxygen 24 hours a day. He is currently going through testing at Houston Methodist to have a lung transplant. We believe he was misdiagnosed 3 years ago with pneumonia. He battled a cough and shortness of breath for over 3 years causing him to develop this disease.”
Last Friday, Stephanie had updated the coach’s situation which included acute kidney failure and the news that he had been denied by Houston Methodist for a lung transplant.
“We went to meet with a palliative care doctor and our dad today to make a plan to see what he wants to do,” she wrote. “He was more awake and when we explained to him what was going on, he wrote out on paper, move me. He also wrote let’s go and gave us a thumbs up! He wants to fight so we’re fighting to find him another hospital.”
Coach Mike leaves behind three kids, eighty grand-kids, and a great grand daughter on the way. He dedicated the majority of his life to helping girls become elite softball players. He worked with girls starting at six years old up to college age. Every pitcher who went through his program committed to a college.
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Medical News: Longtime Houston-Area Pitching Coach Michael Loy Waiting for Lung Transplant
Houston-area pitching coach Michael Loy, who has been a mentor and teach to countless softball players over the last three decades, was recently diagnosed with a respiratory illness that has led to the need for a lung transplant.
Here’s been approved and is waiting for the organs to come in; in the meantime, his family has contacted us to help us get the word out to support “Coach Mike” with our thoughts, prayers, best-wishes and, if possible, financial help through a GoFundMe page set up to help with escalating medical bills.
Here’s more info…
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In 1986, Coach Michael Loy (Coach Mike) began learning the art of fastpitch pitching with Tim Timmons. Not only did Tim teach him the philosophy behind pitching, he also stressed the importance of the body’s anatomy to maximize speed, spin and to eliminate injuries.
This is something Coach Mike continued to focus on and teach his young pitchers over the years.
Alongside Coach Timmons, Coach Mike hosted numerous pitching clinics around the country for various colleges and fast pitch organizations while continuing to coach many successful teams spanning 30 years. His Texas Venom teams qualified for Nationals every year, during the time when teams had to qualify to play. During this time, he also had the opportunity to work with several college coaches.
In addition, Coach Mike started an organization in 2010, Collegiate Access, to make softball available to underprivileged girls who might not otherwise have gotten to play. He has served on several softball boards and gained the respect from softball communities.
Over the years, Coach Mike has had players who learned from him go on to play in Europe and the women’s professional softball league. One of his students pitched a perfect game at the UIL Texas High School State Championships.
In the 2020 graduating class there are girls headed to schools such as Brown (Jodie Aguirre) and Northwestern State University (Maggie Darr, #177 in the Extra Elite Rankings) who learned much of their pitching technique from Coach Mike over the years. Both Jodie and Maggie played for Aces Express.
Coach Mike Has a big heart with a passion for softball and has never turned away a player because of an inability to pay and has been a constant source of encouragement for every player he worked with over the years.
The parents of one of his players, Keira, say Coach Mike “became much more than a pitching coach to us. He is her sounding board, her friend, her counselor, advice giver, voice of reason, her biggest fan.”
This is exemplary of how everyone who worked with Coach Mike felt. Every girl remembers the first time they increased their speed from the prior lesson and earned their $5 (any time a pitcher increases her velocity from one week to the next—he usually “gunned” their velocity at the end of each lesson—he paid them $5. To the girls, it was always a big deal!
Every girl he’s trained also recognizes his funny sayings and his gentle push to make them “gooder,” a word he uses often with a slight smile to make sure they knew that was a real word in his dictionary.
He has always been the perfect combination of pressure and encouragement. He expects girls to give 100 percent and he never underestimates their potential. He will never fail to ask if a player has been doing their snaps and spins and is quick to remind them to take care of their arms and wrists so that they can play for years to come.
Recently, Coach Mike was hospitalized and diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. He has declined quickly and is requiring around the clock care. He was recently approved for a lung transplant and will hopefully receive organs soon.
In addition to the large softball family he has supporting him, Coach Mike has three children, eight grandchildren and a great granddaughter on the way.
At this time, his family is all asking for your prayers and. if you would like to contribute to the fund to cover the rapidly escalating medical bills, a GoFundMe account has been set up… click HERE to access the page.