‘A piece missing’: Family, friends mourn Avila University baseball coach killed by COVID
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Daryl Cronk is remembered by many as a coach with a talent for bringing his players together as a family.
Over the 10 years he spent leading Avila University’s baseball program, he forged long lasting friendships throughout Kansas City’s athletic community, those close to him told The Star. Remembered as kind, generous, funny and talented, his absence has been felt by many in the weeks since his untimely death, said Shawn Summe, a longtime friend and the university’s athletic director.
“He cared about everyone around him. His goal was to make everyone a better person,” said Summe, who befriended Cronk years ago when he was also a coach. “There’s a piece missing from campus.”
Cronk died Dec. 26 in Columbia’s University Hospital after he had spent the past month fighting COVID-19. He was 46.
A native of West Plains, Cronk grew up playing baseball. He was a star at Belton High School, where he was named a hall-of-famer, and went on to earn accolades in college as a starting pitcher at Pittsburg State University. He played professionally with the River City Rascals in O’Fallon before gravitating toward team management.
Cronk began his coaching career as an assistant with his alma mater in 2000. He later worked for the University of Central Missouri before Avila University hired him as its head baseball coach in 2011.
Taking over the Eagles came with a few growing pains at first, said Preston Pruett, Cronk’s nephew. But even the skeptics on the team quickly adopted the philosophy Cronk brought to the game, he said, some becoming very close friends down the road. Several plan to speak at his funeral service on Sunday.
“That first team went and won conference,” said Pruett, who also worked as a coach alongside his uncle at Avila, adding: “He kind of came in and left his mark right away.”
Cronk lived and breathed baseball. Possessing athletic talent helped train his eye for talent in others as he recruited players from around the country. He enjoyed talking strategy and swapping game knowledge with friends.
Cronk was remembered too as a loving father of three kids — Blake, Brett, and Bailee — and a caring boyfriend to the woman he loved, Krysten Spiller. He refined other talents like picking at his guitar, fishing and woodworking. And he was a major country music fan who loved to catch a concert.
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Cronk fell ill around the Thanksgiving holiday. He was not vaccinated. In the weeks after his diagnosis, the family saw a man who had always remained in top physical condition struggle to breathe and be placed on a ventilator.
“That’s what makes it such a disbelief, honestly,” said Pruett, who described his uncle as someone highly disciplined in staying fit.
Stories have been circulating among Cronk’s loved ones recently. A lot of them, Pruett recalled, center around Cronk’s unique ability to build relationships with just about anyone.
He recalled one about a player Cronk tried to recruit who went off to another college. In the end, they wound up becoming close friends anyway.
“There’s tons of stories like that,” Pruett said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to assist Cronk’s children. It has raised nearly $30,000 so far.
