Central baseball star Oliger dies
Kevin Oliger is best remembered as a baseball player because that’s the sport he played at the college level.
But Oliger cherished competitive situations of every kind at every level in every sport.
“Kevin was a competitor, a leader, a winner … in whatever sport he was in,” said Bill Freese, who was Oliger’s baseball coach at Davenport Central High School nearly 30 years ago. “I would imagine he’d be pretty tough if you were just playing marbles. He had to be a participant and at the top, if possible.”
Oliger, who passed away Sunday at the age of 46, was a key member of several Central athletic teams from 1978-80. He was an all-state point guard in basketball and a second-team all-state quarterback in football as well as being the starting shortstop on a state championship baseball team.
“He was the heart and soul of our team,” said Don Grensing, who was the Blue Devils’ basketball coach in those days. “Denny Thiessen (Bettendorf’s coach) would go crazy because no matter what he did, Kevin would get 20, 25, 27 points.”
“I remember the football coaches used to say ‘If we need an extra yard, just give the ball to Kevin,’ ” Freese added. “It was the same with us. If we needed to have somebody get in scoring position in a close game, it was Kevin.”
Oliger did just that in the 1979 Class 2A title game. The Blue Devils were locked in a close battle with Mason City with the score tied at 1-1. Oliger got on base to start the sixth inning and even though Mason City had a tough left-handed pitcher with a good pickoff move, Freese didn’t hesitate to sendhim. Oliger stole second, then scored the winning run on a double by Kenyon.
“He was gifted but he also worked,” Freese said. “He was just determined to get better at everything he did. From the time we brought him up, he would be right at my elbow all the time. ‘Why did you do that? Why did we do this?’ He wanted all the information he could get. ‘How can I do this better?’ ”
Kenyon, who was a year ahead of Oliger at Central and a teammate in all three sports, rejected the notion that Oliger was an overachiever.
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“I thought Kevin had an awful lot of talent,” he said. “He was just an outstanding athlete, very, very quick and a very smart player.”
After playing shortstop at Central, Oliger played second base at the University of Iowa, helping the Hawkeyes finish in the upper half of the Big Ten all four years he was there.
He dabbled in coaching after college, briefly guiding the sophomore basketball team at Burlington, developing players who led the Grayhounds to a state title at the varsity level.
Oliger then carried that same drive and intensity into a business career, helping to found DocuForms Inc. and DocuPrint LLC in 1998. The company now has offices in six Iowa cities and four neighboring states.
He even built a full-sized baseball field behind his Davenport home and hired Jack Leabo, Central’s assistant coach during his playing days, to care for it.
Oliger, who had two brothers die at a relatively young age, suffered from liver ailments the past few years and shortly after his daughter’s wedding two weeks ago, he was admitted to University Hospitals in Iowa City. He developed pneumonia and passed away Sunday.
He is survived by his wife, Kari, six children, six siblings and his mother, Anna Marie “Mickey” Oliger of Davenport.
Visitation will be at Runge Mortuary on Wednesday from 3 to 8 p.m. Funeral mass will be at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Bettendorf with burial at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Davenport.
Don Doxsie can be contacted at (563) 383-2280 or ddoxsie@qctimes.com.