John “Doc” Kennedy, a longtime fixture in amateur baseball in northern Chester County and a lifelong resident of Phoenixville, has been active in the baseball scene in Phoenixville for nearly his entire life. Teaching for all but three years of his 32-year teaching career in Phoenixville, Doc was the Head Baseball Coach at Phoenixville Area High School for 20 years, with his tenure beginning in 1979. 55 of his graduates went on to play collegiate baseball, while nine were drafted by Major League teams. Kennedy’s most famous ballplayer at Phoenixville was Mike Piazza, a future Baseball Hall of Famer and an inductee of the 2008 Chester County Sports Hall of Fame Inaugural Class. Doc’s record at Phoenixville Area High School was 323-99. During 18 of those 20 years, he also served as the coach for Phoenixville’s American Legion team, where he compiled a mark of 322-159. Kennedy also coached in Phoenixville’s Babe Ruth League program for 20 seasons and has been a member of its Board of Directors for over 50 seasons. Doc graduated from Bishop Kenrick High School. He then went on to play baseball at West Chester University-where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in 1963. After retiring from teaching and coaching at Phoenixville, Kennedy joined the baseball staff at Villanova University for nine years as an assistant coach, with his last year on the staff coming in 2006. He also coached four summers in the well-known Cape Cod League with the Harwich Mariners. Phoenixville’s high school baseball field was named in Kennedy’s honor in a ceremony in 2000. Doc was inducted into the Pennsylvania American Legion Sports Hall of Fame in the summer of 2009, and was an inductee of the Inaugural Class of the Phoenixville Area High School Sports Hall of Fame in October of 2011. Additionally, Kennedy’s uniform #18 and Mike Piazza’s #13 were retired by the Phoenixville Area High School Baseball Program in festivities held in the spring of 2012. Doc remains involved in baseball today as an associate scout for the Boston Red Sox. Kennedy was born in 1941.