Lincoln Park High School Baseball
Assistant Coach Eric Reierson
For most people, the sound of an alarm clock ringing in the morning signals the start of a new day.
However, for Lincoln Park assistant coach Eric Reierson, the day is just ending.
After working the night shift as a deputy sheriff for the Cook County
Sheriff’s Office, Reierson goes to sleep around 9 a.m. He says he works
nights in order to spend more time with his family. His day typically begins
around 2 p.m., right before his kids get out of school.
“I like doing stuff with my children,” Reierson said. “My son is a junior and
my daughter is a freshman. This is the home stretch before they are going
out in the world. I’ll put in the facetime right up until they aren’t interested
anymore.”
Reierson said he always had an interest in coaching his son Quinn and
daughter Shea, but he never expected it to go this far.
“It sort of snowballed,” Reierson said. “I would coach [Quinn’s] baseball
team and then they would say, ‘there won’t be a basketball team unless
you coach.’ I’m not going to say no, so it ended up being like every sport.”
Once Quinn was a freshman at Lincoln Park, Reierson stepped back as a coach and became a fan.
“Let me just be dad,” Reierson said. “We will just go work on our own. His whole freshman year I just watched games.”
Two summers ago, that sideline role changed quickly.
Eric and Quinn Reierson, before Eric became and assistant coach at Lincoln Park
Head coach Dusty Bensko noticed how involved Reierson was and how he interreacted with the players. As a result, when Bensko was unable to make a summer league game, he asked Reierson to fill in as coach.
“He has been full go and all in from that moment,” Bensko said. “He’s been a huge asset to the program and given a lot of time to the program and made us a lot better.”
Reierson’s demanding schedule can make it difficult to balance work and coaching, and in some cases he might not sleep.
“We’re always a 24-hour operation, there is no shutting it down,” Reierson said of his job at the sheriff’s department. “If I get mandated to stay or if something happens at work, then I have to stay and do paperwork for a couple hours. You can go a day without sleep pretty easily.”
This dedication does not go unnoticed, especially by his son, Quinn.
The 2018 Lincoln Park varsity baseball team. Head coach Dusty Bensko is on the left side, and assistant coach Eric Reierson is on the right.
“It means a ton to me, because I feel like I have a leg up and I can always count on him,” Quinn said. “He always wants to help out and not only help me improve, but also he wants all the teams I’m on to be better.”
Bensko also complimented Reierson on his commitment to the Lincoln Park program.
“He’s passionate, and he’s going to give every second he has to Lincoln Park
baseball,” Bensko said. “He’s a guy that’s going to come to the cages so kids
can hit over their lunch period after he just worked an overnight shift for
his job.”
Quinn realizes his dad can be in high demand with his teammates for
hitting sessions, but he is O.K. with sharing the wealth.
“I have a bunch of teammates that are always asking, ‘When can we get in
the cage?’ or ‘What does your dad think about this?’” Quinn said. “I’m O.K.
with sharing my dad. Even if it’s not my teammates, but guys I’ve known
for a while. However he can help them out is great.”
Quinn refers to his father as ‘Coach’ when he is on the field, but the lines
between dad and coach are always blurred.
“You see him as a father through the coaching, because he gives a ton of
time to both me and my sister’s stuff,” Quinn said. “He just puts all of his
energy into helping us out and making sure we have everything we need.”
Bensko is able to see a lot of similarities between Reierson and his son.
“If you’re going to do something, you do it all the way. I think that’s the quality that Quinn takes from his dad the most,” Bensko said. “That’s in the classroom, on the baseball field, that’s practicing. That work ethic, he’s developed because his dad showed him that way and pushed him that way.”
Next season, Quinn will be a senior on the baseball team. Bensko is leaving the team to pursue another job, putting Reierson’s assistant role in question until Lincoln Park hires a new head coach. However, Bensko knows the team will be better off with Reierson’s help.
“For me, it’s difficult to leave Lincoln Park, but the transition is a little easier knowing that the kids have someone like Eric who is all in and is going to be all in for them,” Bensko said. “Still having him there next year in that role makes me feel better and that the program is going to continue move in the direction that he and I both saw for it.”
“For my son’s senior year, I would love to stay and see that through,” Reierson said.
Eric Reierson throws batting practice to his son Quinn at BASH Sports Academy.
