Louis “Rags” Scheuermann was a beloved baseball coach who mentored generations of New Orleans athletes in municipal and collegiate athletic programs. From coaching youth baseball as the director of the New Orleans Recreation Department’s (NORD’s) All-American Amateur Baseball Association (AAABA) to coaching college baseball at Loyola University and Delgado Community College, Scheuermann compiled a remarkable record of 1,016 wins and 363 losses—a .727 winning percentage—during his forty years of coaching.

Born in New Orleans in 1924, Scheuermann got his distinctive nickname while attending Nicholls High School. He could not afford baseball spikes, so he played in his socks until they “turned into rags.” He played minor-league baseball for several seasons and worked out with the Boston Red Sox, but a shoulder injury cut short his playing career. He began coaching youth sports at the urging of Hap Glaudi, then the sports editor for the New Orleans Item.

Scheuermann was the director of the NORD AAABA program for more than forty-five years. His teams tallied a record of 149 wins and 72 losses for a .674 winning percentage. Nine of his former players reached the major leagues, and three others became mayors: Moon Landrieu of New Orleans, Pat Screen of Baton Rouge, and Tommy Wilcox of Harahan. His teams captured national championships in 1966, 1974, 1978, 1985, 1987, and 1991.

In 1957 Scheuermann was named the head coach for men’s baseball at Loyola University in New Orleans. He often used himself as an example for his young players, stating that he was in a better position to teach a player the importance of a college education since he had not gone to college himself. During his tenure with Loyola, the Wolfpack earned 340 wins and 92 losses.

When Loyola discontinued its varsity sports programs following the 1972 season, Scheuermann moved across town to Delgado Community College. There he built the baseball program into one of the country’s finest. His teams totaled 527 wins and 199 losses between 1973 and his retirement after the 1990 season. He took his Dolphins team to the Junior College World Series title in 1984.

Further testament to Scheuermann’s influence and impact on his players is the fact that twenty-seven of his charges followed in his footsteps, becoming coaches at either the high school or college level. Among them was his son Joe Scheuermann, who succeeded him as Delgado’s baseball coach.

Scheuermann is a member of the New Orleans Diamond Club Hall of Fame (1974), the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (1990), the Loyola University Hall of Fame (1993), and the (AAABA) Hall of Fame (1994). He was the first person inducted in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame primarily as a baseball coach. He mused about that honor in 1990: “How do you like that? In the last inning of my life, I hit a home run!”

Scheuermann died on April 7, 1997, at the age of seventy-three.