“Let’s go to work.”
Bob Kalp would say those words when an inning turned over, and his Hempfield softball teams took the field to play defense.
No matter the opponent, score or situation, he would clap his hands, set his fielders and nestle into the coaching box at third base with the same fervor he had decades earlier.
An old-school coach with an eye for detail, Kalp died Friday afternoon after spending several weeks in Westmoreland Independence Hospital. He was 80.
His legend is everlasting among family, friends, coaching colleagues and former players.
“There will never be another one like him,” Hempfield athletic director Brandon Rapp said. “The Hempfield Area community mourns the loss of a true legend.”
Kalp loved the fundamentals as much he did the game itself, coaching for more than three decades and turning Hempfield into a state powerhouse.
Tina (Skelly) Madison, who replaced Kalp as coach years after starring in the pitching circle for the Spartans, said Kalp came to games up until last season, which made her nervous and proud.
She sought out advice from him before big games.
“I would say I’ll have an angel watching over me, but he would be the first to say you don’t need angels, you need reps in the gym,” Madison said. “He touched so many lives, it is hard to even grasp the amount. He was the true definition of a coach. He won a lot of ballgames, but his legacy will be with every player who walks onto that field with confidence and pride.”
Kalp was a WPIAL Hall of Fame inductee in 2022.
A retired chemistry teacher, he led Hempfield to seven WPIAL titles and four PIAA championships, producing dozens of college-level players, many of them pitchers and many who went on to play at the NCAA Division I level. He was head coach for 25 years before stepping down in 2021.
He is survived by his wife, Andrea, and three children, Bobby Joe, Jaci and Jarrette. Jaci once held the WPIAL record for career strikeouts with 997.
“Coach Kalp’s legacy goes well beyond the softball field,” former Hempfield star pitcher Morgan Ryan said. “He taught me lessons that I still use in my daily life. He will be missed on and off the field by so many people.”
Kalp finished with a record of 431-111-1. Hempfield went 27-0 in 2017 and won five straight WPIAL titles from 2015-19 and three consecutive PIAA titles from 2016-18.
“I’m in awe of his life devoted to teaching and coaching,” said another former Spartans pitching ace, Maddie Ushock. “When I was a freshman, we didn’t necessarily get off on the best foot. But we stayed committed to our goals, and we both put in the work every day at practice for four years and so we built a great player-coach bond. We could understand that we were both just so darn competitive. And he was 100% the best mentor I ever had.”
Ushock said she was talking to Callie Sowers, yet another former top pitcher at Hempfield, and they agreed Kalp had impacted too many lives to count.
People don’t know, “Unless you witnessed it,” Ushock said. “Because it was that great and everlasting.”
Alex Belgiovane is one of Kalp’s former assistant coaches. He said Kalp taught him how to be a better coach and person. His daughter, Ali Belgiovane, played for Kalp.
“He became very close to my family as a surrogate grandfather to my kids,” Alex Belgiovane said. “He stopped here at least once a week just for a glass of water and talk. Last January, he and I put a bathroom in my basement. I told him what I wanted to do, and, two days later, he came over with literal blueprints that he drew up.
“He will be sadly missed by the Spartan nation.”
Kalp was named FloSoftball National Coach of the Year in 2018 after Hempfield won WPIAL and PIAA crowns as a rare non-favorite. Media members appreciated his candor, dry wit and ornery nature, as well as his softball acumen.
Nick Keefer, Hempfield’s football coach, was also an assistant with Kalp. Many of his philosophies come directly from Kalp.
“Coach Kalp was so much more than just a coach. He was a father and grandfather figure to those girls, and they played so hard for him because they never wanted to let him down,” Keefer said. “He instilled discipline, confidence and a genuine love for the game. He never focused on winning, only on getting better each day. Those girls were incredibly lucky to have him, and the lessons he taught them will stay with them forever.”
Keefer also has a home improvement story about Kalp.
“I had siding blow off of my house,” Keefer said. “He roofed for years. So I asked him to come over and tell me how to fix it. I come home from school, and he’s up on his ladder fixing it himself. That’s the type of person he was. So selfless.”
Soon after his resignation, Kalp said: “I always said I was born to be a teacher, and softball was an extension of teaching. That is how I coached.”
Kalp was a forensic chemist in a U.S. Army crime lab at Fort Gordon, Ga., from 1968-70.
Many coaching cohorts and colleagues did not hesitate to call him a “legend.”
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” was another one of his famous lines.
Kalp stayed up on Spartans softball after he left the program, attending home games at the field named after him. Kalp’s longtime assistants and close friends, the late duo of Ray Mello and Dick Albright, also are honored with their names on the dugouts at Robert D. Kalp Field.
Albright died in 2022 at 75, Mello in 2021 at 82.
The three men would get together after practices and games to break down the day’s action.
“We’d sit down and have some pop and pretzels,” Kalp said, “and talk about what we boogered up that day.”
Said Ryan: “I’m sure he, coach (Ray) Mello and coach (Dick) Albright are reuniting and reliving the glory days up in heaven.”
Kalp also would spend evenings with his late mother, Dorothy, who died in 2019 at 98, bringing her Fudgsicles.
Kalp admitted a couple of years ago he still watched old softball game films — on VHS tapes — and critiqued the losses. Again, his meticulous attention to detail was unmatched. Fundamentals were the lifeblood of his teams. Every practice was precious.
“You see things now you didn’t then,” he said. “If we did this or that, we’d probably have won.”
Kalp also coached boys basketball at Hempfield as an assistant. For 15 years, he coached both sports.
His coaching career began in 1967.
“We were all so blessed to know him,” former Hempfield boys basketball coach Bill Swan said. “As a teacher and coach, he’s on Mount Rushmore. I loved him with all my heart. We will all always love and remember him.”
In 2021, Kalp said, “I always told the kids, as long as you work harder than the other teams, you’ll have a chance. It’s only fun when you win.”