Former Major League Baseball pitcher Kevin Lomon allegedly confronted a knife-wielding man who threatened members of his high school baseball team at a hotel in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
The 54-year-old coach ordered his players to return to their rooms and call the police before punching the suspect multiple times and pinning him to the ground until officers arrived.
The incident occurred earlier this month while Lomon was on the road with 13 players from Cameron High School. He received an emergency phone call from one of the boys warning that an armed stranger had approached him in the hotel hallway.
"It was one of my kids saying that someone just pulled a knife on him," Lomon told local television station KFDM. "I’m responsible for 13 high school boys... they know I’ll fight for them."
Confrontation by hotel elevators
According to a police report cited by 5newsonline, one of Lomon's players saw Christopher Stevens in the hallway, where Stevens is accused of pulling out a knife and approaching the teenager.
While his team locked themselves inside their rooms to contact authorities, Stevens remained standing near the hotel elevators holding the blade. Lomon repeatedly ordered the man to drop the weapon, but Stevens continued to walk toward him.
"I had to react," Lomon told KFDM. "And I didn’t have much time to think about it... I don't think I'm a hero. I would do it again, most people and most coaches would do the same thing."
Lomon allegedly struck Stevens several times to disarm him, wrestling the suspect to the floor and holding him down until local law enforcement reached the scene.
Former major league pitcher turned high school coach
Lomon played in 12 Major League Baseball games between 1995 and 1996, pitching for both the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves. Major League Baseball represents the highest level of professional baseball in North America. After retiring from professional sports, Lomon became the head baseball coach at Cameron High School in Oklahoma. Shawnee is a city located in central Oklahoma, east of Oklahoma City.
Reflecting on team leadership
Following the incident, police arrested Stevens on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and public intoxication.
Reflecting on the confrontation and his responsibility to his players, Lomon emphasized that leadership extends far beyond athletic performance.
"Nobody is really going to care what batting average is five years from now, they're going to care what kind of person you are," Lomon told KFDM.
