Walter Serad, 71, South Jersey coach and teacher

When Walt Serad earned his 300th win as Delsea High School baseball coach, he shrugged it off.

"I don't do anything brilliant," Mr. Serad said after being presented with a cake after that win in 1994. "Even today, all I did was fill out the lineup card."

Walter Serad, 71, of Franklin Township, who finished his coaching career with a 310-182 record and many awards, died Thursday, June 24, while on a family vacation in Orlando, following respiratory complications.

Mr. Serad's practical and unassuming attitude was a success with his team and fellow coaches, said Joe Hartmann, a longtime friend and baseball colleague.

"He was a doer," Hartmann said. "He didn't talk about it, he just did it."

Throughout his coaching and teaching years, Mr. Serad, a history teacher for 36 years, was a mentor to many of his students. He encouraged all of them to go to college and helped them with anything they needed, according to those who knew him.

His wife, Marion, would order a yearbook each year, but Mr. Serad would end up giving it to a student who could not afford to buy one, said his daughter, Sonia Serad-Wright. He also would give away championship baseballs to the players.

"He was very modest," his daughter said. "He would say 'My team earned these awards, not me.' "

Mr. Serad was born in Philadelphia and moved to Williamstown at an early age. In 1957 he graduated from Glassboro High School, where he was an offensive lineman.

He went on to play football at Trenton State College, and also played baseball for a year, before graduating with a teaching degree in 1961.

Shortly after college, he started teaching history and assisting various sports teams at Delsea High School. It was there that he met business teacher Marion Chiari, whom he married in 1965.

Mr. Serad was an assistant football coach for 17 years and assistant baseball coach for seven years before moving up to be head baseball coach.

He was a cofounder of the South Jersey Baseball Coaches Association and has been a member since its inception in 1974, Hartmann said.

In 1978, Mr. Serad suffered a heart attack and decided to focus on baseball, leading three of his teams to sectional titles. He retired from coaching in 1994 and remained a teacher for a few more years before fully retiring to focus on his family.

Mr. Serad was inducted into various local halls of fame, with the most recent being the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.

In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Serad is survived by sons Walter and Samuel; four grandchildren; one great-grandchild; a brother; and a sister.

Visitation will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 30, at Rone Funeral Service, 1110 E. Chestnut Ave., Vineland.

Another visitation will be held from 9 to 10 a.m. Thursday, July 1, at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, Newfield. A Funeral Mass will follow at 10 a.m. at the church.

Interment will be in All Saints Cemetery, Franklinville.