Eastern Shore Legend: John Thomas Kibler

Throughout the Eastern Shore, John Thomas Kibler was well known for his involvement in sports. In his early days, he was a baseball player and a basketball coach. As he got older, he focused his time coaching future players and passing down his wisdom in the world of sports. The sports he coached include basketball, football, and baseball, while he also served in WW1, where he earned multiple medals such as the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Medal.

Kibler was born in Chestertown, Maryland July 17, 1886. While not much is known about his childhood, his love of sports was evident. In 1908, he played independent league baseball with Cambridge before he took on his first coaching position at Lehigh University as the baseball coach. A year later, he coached basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes where in his two seasons there, he went 22-2.

In 1910, he left the coaching ranks to play in minor league baseball. He first stop was in the Ohio State League for the Chillicothe Infants, followed by the San Antonio Bronchos of the Texas League, and the Newark Indians of the International League. He spent most of his time in the infield, primarily at shortstop, but an injury he suffered in 1913 ultimately hurt his playing career.

In 1913, Kibler returned home and coached at Washington College. He was involved in academics and served as their athletic director, while coaching football, basketball, and baseball. His knowledge of sports shows in his team’s wins. While not much is known for his football team, his basketball and baseball teams were some of the best. His basketball record from 1913 to 1939 was 272-98, where his baseball record from 1913 to 1969 was greater than 300 wins.

Kibler was also very active in the Eastern Shore League. In the first stint of the league, he advised players on how to craft and improve their game. One of the players he helped was D’arcy “Jake” Flowers, an infielder for the Cambridge Canners and the future manager of the Salisbury Indians and Pocomoke City Red Sox. Other players he taught include Bobby Young and Bill Nicholson.

The league folded in 1928 due to financial reasons, but in 1936, Kibler and other Eastern Shore public figures were able to bring it back. Kibler served as the Eastern Shore League president for the first season; however, he didn’t serve the whole season due to a heart attack he suffered.

His time as president is well known for a controversial decision he made against the Salisbury Indians. Due to the class player rule, the Indians' record fell from 21-5 to 0-26. Although this was an unpopular decision, his reputation did not suffer much. Flowers did not like the decision the coach made, but he "knew the old-timer meant just what he said." The last rendition of the Eastern Shore League saw Kibler back in his role as president for the 1946 and 1947 seasons.

Although he coached basketball and football, baseball was what he loved most. In around 60 years of baseball, he saw it as his way of life. In William W. Mowbray’s book on the Eastern Shore League, The Coach’s love for baseball was almost second to none. “I’ll always be eternally grateful for baseball,” He said to a reporter in 1948. “I know of nothing outside of religion and education that has more salutary effect on the national character than the national pastime.”

In 1971, Kibler attended Game Two of the World Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates. On his way back home to Chestertown, he suffered a heart attack and passed away on October 18, 1971. Washington College paid tribute to their legend by enshrining him into the Washington College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and he will be forever an Eastern Shore Legend as his legacy lives on here in Delmarva after his induction into the Eastern Shore Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2004.