Surreal to see Surane

From 1987-90, seeing John Surane at Brown-Stroud Field was like seeing the sun come up in the morning.

But time marches on, college days end, and John graduated after being a big part of the greatest turnaround in NSU athletic history.

In the first year under coach Jim Wells, Surane's senior season of 1990, the Demons on the diamond won their first 20 games -- still a state record and ranking among the nation's all-time best streaks. The final 38-13 record was the first winning season for NSU in baseball since 1978.

Surane manned second base and left a tremendous impact. No. 15 set seven school hitting records and starting in a record 151 consecutive games, the last 51 as the Demons led the NCAA in 1990 with a .981 team fielding percentage. At one point, the Demons went 14 straight games without an error. Surane fielded .984 while capping his career by playing in his 200th game in Purple and White, another school record.

He set single-season (44) and career (118) marks for runs scored, and the career hits mark was his with 173. He set the career standard for at-bats (623) and walks drawn (113). Surane was fourth in the Southland Conference with 24 steals as a senior while hitting .302 with 3 HR and 11 doubles.

The Shreveport-Loyola product earned first-team All-Southland Conference honors, then went on to play minor league ball with the Atlanta Braves, but he didn't leave without a business degree.

He's been back to visit since, but it was still a bit of a shock to walk up to the top of the hill Wednesday night at Brown-Stroud Field and have athletics director Greg Burke ask if I'd seen Surane yet. Surreal, I thought.

I didn't know I'd walked right past his wife and elementary-school aged daughter, who was playing on the hillside behind the Demons dugout.

That soon became apparent when John found me and we visited. His daughter took a little tumble and Daddy calmed her down. We laughed a minute later at the misery he experienced on the same hillside in decidedly different circumstances.

Demon baseballers through the years, and definitely during the Wells Era, viewed that hillside like those with a fear of heights look at Mount Everest.

Football coach Scott Stoker, who was playing for the Demons football team while Surane was on the baseball team, was with us. Surane, who was wearing golf gear, credited Stoker with teaching him how to play at the Demon Hills course on campus.

It will surprise nobody who knew him then that John is doing very well in business. He lives in the Chicago area and is president of Skil Power Tools since May 1, 2006.

He had been senior vice-president of sales for Bosch where he spent three years overseeing North American sales for Bosch, Skil, Dremel and Rotozip branded tools and accessories.

Skil specializes in portable electric power tools and accessories serving both the consumer and professional construction markets. According to the www.skilshop.com website, "Founded in 1924 as the Michel Electric Handsaw Company and renamed Skilsaw® Inc. in 1926, Skil has become one of the most recognized and powerful brands in the power tool industry. From circular saws and jigsaws to sanders and drills, Skil power tools are engineered to deliver the high-performance and durability that today's growing population of Do-It-Yourselfers demand."

But if you were handy around the house, you probably already knew that.

I had to go to the internet to find out.

Safe to say that Surane, always great with a glove, now helps lots of people with gloves.

But he's not at all too big for his shoes.

Doug Ireland, SID