Hometowner hits homerun at Case
Former alumnus, pro baseball player to name new facility
October 25, 2004 | Story by: Creg Jantz 216-368-6517
and Susan Griffith 216-368-1004
 Case Western Reserve University’s baseball team will play their games beginning in 2006 on a new field—part of the $126 million first phase of a north campus undergraduate village—named for former professional baseball player and Case alumnus Norbert “Nobby” Lewandowski.
A 1964 M.B.A. graduate of Case’s Weatherhead School of Management, Lewandowski hit a few long balls back in his playing days with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ organization. His most recent homerun came this week when his contribution earned him the naming rights for Case’s new baseball facility.
Lewandowski said sponsoring a baseball field has been on his to-do list for years. Case’s new facility officially will be called Nobby’s Ballpark.
 “I’ve had this dream for the past 45 years of funding a first-class baseball facility,” he said.
Lewandowski’s dream was not so much to be immortalized by a facility with his name but to empower a new generation of baseball players honing the fast-thinking leadership skills that a pitcher needs—and that baseball taught him—and that later become invaluable in his business endeavors.
“A pitcher faces all sorts of batters—some tall, some short, some left-handers, some right-handers—and each takes a special pitch. The pitcher is the leader on the field and needs to know what kind of ball to throw,” said Lewandowski, who added that having a playing field so near where students live and learn will add another dimension to their lives at Case.
“There is the old saying of ‘all work and no play makes Jack dull,’” he said.
Case began construction last winter on the first of four phases of its North Residential Village project, which along with adding new living spaces for undergraduates will feature state-of-the-art football, track, baseball and softball facilities. The university’s dream is to add a fieldhouse, which could house locker rooms, coach’s offices, a weight training facility, meeting rooms and a Varsity Club, to the new athletic complex.
“Mr. Lewandowski’s dream embodies the Case vision: empowering well-rounded, ‘renaissance’ students,” said Case President Edward M. Hundert, M.D. “His generous donation of the state-of-the-art baseball field becomes part of the new standard of living that Case is establishing for the nation’s students. Our North Residential Villagers’ participation in sports on Nobby’s Ballpark will provide them with opportunities to gain the leadership skills learned through competitive sports that have contributed to the successful life our alumnus.”
In addition to his time at Case, Lewandowski, a native Clevelander, excelled in athletics and academics at local Benedictine High School (1955 graduate) and Kent State University. He received the first baseball scholarship in Kent State history in 1955 and graduated with an accounting degree in 1959.
For three years following graduation from KSU in 1959, Lewandowski juggled six months in M.B.A. classes at Case with six months of pitching in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system.
Even though the right-handed hurler won 11 games in his first season, pro athletes’ salaries then were not the multi-million dollar deals they are now. So he left baseball after just three seasons for a job with a prestigious, national accounting firm.
At the time he left the national firm, he sat down and made a list of 66 goals he wanted to accomplish in his lifetime. With this donation, Lewandowski said, “I was able to ‘x’ off the baseball field—the 54th goal of the 66 that I have accomplished.”
Not long after, he started an accounting firm of his own. Lewandowski & Company quickly became one of the largest in Northeast Ohio.
In 1992, Lewandowski perpetuated his firm inwardly and refocused his efforts as a motivational speaker and business advisor. He speaks on leadership, management, business practices and overcoming personal obstacles. He has co-authored a book “Real World Leadership Strategies that Work” and is penning a chapter for a second from Insight Publishing, called “Speaking Out.”
Lewandowski is a member of the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame and the Akron Baseball Hall of Fame.
About Case Western Reserve University
Case is among the nation's leading research institutions. Founded in 1826
and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western
Reserve University, Case is distinguished by its strengths in education, research,
service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case offers nationally
recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering,
Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu.
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