Wayne DeMaar always knew he wanted to be a baseball coach.

It was one of three wishes he had as a boy growing up in Wheaton. To get married, have a family and become a baseball coach.

He achieved all three. He was married to his wife, Norma, for 59 years, and had two children.

But above all, he became one of the best coaches to put on both a Saints and North Star uniform.

The St. Charles community is mourning the loss of DeMaar, who passed away on March 27 at the age of 82.

Baseball was something that always surrounded DeMaar. A lifelong Chicago White Sox fan, it was something that was always a part of his life.

“He just loved baseball,” DeMaar’s son, Lance, said. “We went and saw Game 1 of the 2005 World Series together. We go on our family vacations between summer baseball and the beginning of football, and I don’t really remember a vacation where we didn’t stop at a college baseball stadium just to look at the field or talk to the grounds crew.”

DeMaar spent his entire professional career in District 303. A physical education and geography teacher at St. Charles High School, he became the head coach of the baseball team in 1966 and stayed in that role for 25 years.

“I was the bat boy and would go to all the games as a 5-year-old, and it was great being able to be around,” Lance DeMaar said. “And then when he was my coach, he was just dedicated to his team and supported his team. He set a high standard for himself and a high standard for his players. There was no question from me or any of the other players under him that we knew what was expected.”

During that time, Wayne DeMaar accumulated 350 career wins, which included five Upstate Eight Conference titles, four regional titles and a summer state title in 1977. He was named to the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986.

But for guys like Tom Davis, who played under him from 1983-84, it was more than just the wins that mattered. It was the stuff like driving the bus to and from games, the countless reunions with his former players or the knowledge that he’d always be in your corner that made the most impact on him.

“To see him as the coach of the varsity team, but also in the morning when you were at the lower levels, that was somebody that you looked up to at a young age and knew you wanted to play for,” Davis said. “That was a goal of mine for years, from when I started riding my bike to games since I was 9 years old.”

DeMaar stepped into the role of athletic director in 1991 following the tragic death of Jodie Harrison, a role he stayed in for 12 years. In 1995, he earned his predecessor’s Lifetime Achievement Award and was inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame.

“I can’t think of any man that could have stepped into Jodie’s shoes and done a better job than Wayne DeMaar,” said Tim Dailey, a former St. Charles soccer coach from 1977-93 and the head of the Jodie Harrison Hall of Fame. “He was just like him, and in terms of values and the kind of man that he was, we were the luckiest coaches in the world to have guys like them running our athletic department.”

During DeMaar’s tenure as athletic director, the Saints won 35 state championships as a school, including seven during the 1998-99 school year, a state record that stood until Hinsdale Central won eight in 2016-17.

“The 90s was the golden age, and most of the coaches were so successful and did so well with their program, but Wayne was loved by all of them,” Dailey said. “He was a good man, one of the finest men I knew, and had great integrity, and that showed very clearly with the way he ran the department. He was selfless and an incredibly hard worker. You can’t really ask for much more from a leader. And both the coaches and kids recognized that and they responded.”

One thing emphasized during his tenure was making sure the teams had the best facilities. That included the baseball field, which he helped create back in 1981 and that the Saints continue to play on to this day. And for Lance DeMaar and Davis, it was one of the best in the state.

“That was one thing that he took a lot of pride in,” Lance DeMaar said. “With the boosters they built that field into one of the best in the state. It felt like him and (former assistant coach) John Peach were always out at the field taking care of it, manicuring the infield, always making it close to perfect.”

“The main thing Wayne instilled was pride in the school and the team,” Davis said. “We always had the best uniforms, the best field, the best facilities. When they built that field with real dugouts and a large press box, that was the best field in the state. And when he became athletic director, all the sports became like that.”

That field proved to be an introduction to the city for St. Charles North baseball coach Todd Genke, who was a player for the Schaumburg Flyers at the time. The team hosted the German National team at the high school’s field back in 2000.

Shortly after, Genke approached DeMaar about a volunteer job, which led to him getting his first gig in the district as a teacher at Davis elementary school.

“I was just so enamored by him when I first met him,” Genke said. “He just spoke so highly of the school, the community, the town. And he offered me a volunteer position, and in essence gave me my first opportunity to coach in the district.”

That foot in the door eventually led to Genke getting the head coaching job at St. Charles North in 2004 where he’s accumulated 530 career victories and earned his own spot in the IHSBCA Hall of Fame.

Genke was approached by DeMaar, who was freshly retired, shortly after being named the head coach about joining the staff. And when asked about which role he wanted to be in, there was no question.

“He went ‘I want to start at the bottom,’ ” Genke said. “He wanted to be a freshman coach, to learn the program and understand how things work here and see if it was different from St. Charles East.

“Somebody that is on the Mount Rushmore of St. Charles coming over to North and saying they wanted to be on the freshman team, that was pretty neat, and that just epitomizes who Wayne DeMaar was.”

Genke said even after DeMaar departed from the program in 2016 after suffering a stroke, he would always call him the first day of baseball and wish the team good luck on the season.

“He still found the time to get a phone call to me and wish us good luck,” Genke said. “It’s just tremendous that he would even be thinking of that, much less wanting to do it. He’s definitely going to be missed, and I’m very blessed to have had him as part of the program and to have known him for the past 26 years.”

It’s the that level of dedication that bought many to love Wayne DeMaar, and one that many hope to continue to carry on after his passing.

“There’s not a St. Charles Saint that instilled pride in so many people that carries on and continues to be passed on like he did,” Davis said. “That pride carries on, and it’ll always continue to do so.”