Former Dade North Falcons baseball coach Demie “Doc” Mainieri, who died on March 13 at age 90, always figured his life had been spared for a good reason, and he made the most of his time. The youngest of 11 children, Mainieri played baseball at West Virginia University. He earned master’s and doctorate degrees from Columbia, which is how he got his “Doc” nickname.

After college, Mainieri was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After boot camp, roughly 700 soldiers stood on the tarmac, waiting for their assignments. Nearly all of them went to the front lines, and most of those men died in combat. Mainieri was one of just seven soldiers who were instead sent to Europe, a non-combat mission.