Legendary Yokohama High School coach Motomo Watanabe passes away (age 81), five-time Koshien champion

It was announced on the 17th that Motonori Watanabe, who won five Koshien championships in spring and summer as the coach of Yokohama High School's hardball baseball team, has passed away. He was 81 years old.

He became the coach of his alma mater in 1968, and won his first victory at the spring selection tournament in 1973 when he was 28 years old. In 1980, he won the summer championship for the first time.

In 1998, the team became the fifth school in history to win consecutive spring/summer titles with pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (later of Seibu, Major League Red Sox, etc.). Even after suffering a cerebral infarction in 2004, he returned to the field and won the spring selection tournament in 2006.

In the summer of 2013, he participated in Koshien with his grandson Yoshiaki Watanabe (currently Rakuten).

Before retiring in the summer of 2015 at the age of 70, he participated in Koshien 15 times in the spring and 12 times in the summer, and his 51 wins are tied for fifth all-time.

He placed emphasis on providing mental guidance to his players, telling them, ``Your goals control your day'' and ``Become a winner in life.''

He invited his classmate Seiichiro Ogura, who had an outstanding baseball theory, to be his coach, and through their combined guidance they trained many professional baseball players, including pitcher Hideaki Wakui (currently of Chunichi) and Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (currently of DeNA).