Little Zach Booker was just like his father and grandfather: obsessed with baseball. From the time he could put a bat on his shoulder, Zach was looking for a pitch to hit. Father, grandfather and son would head out to the garage for batting practice in a cage, and because Greg Booker and Jack McKeon had spent a lifetime playing and coaching at the game’s highest level, they appreciated what they were witnessing: Wiffle ball after wiffle ball being punished by a 4-year-old.

“You could tell from an early age baseball was going to be part of Zach’s life,” says Jack McKeon, Zach’s grandfather. “I’m not going to say it was in his blood, because you have to work for it. But Zach grew up around the game. All those years around the game and it’s going to rub off on you.”

Little Zach Booker is Big Zach Booker these days. And, yes, safe to say the game rubbed off on him. As Guilford’s fourth-year baseball coach, Zach is hoping what he picked up from a childhood spent in major league dugouts is rubbing off on his players. “I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve seen what works for some people who have been very successful in the game and I want to pass that along to my players,” says Zach. “That’s what all good coaches do. They teach.”

To say that baseball runs deep in the roots of Zach’s family tree is an understatement best appreciated when you step back and stare at the tree. Grandfather Jack is a former Major League general manager for the San Diego Padres, who later managed the Kansas City Royals, Oakland A’s, Cincinnati Reds and Florida Marlins. In 2003, Jack took over managing the last-place Marlins early in the season and led them to a World Series title over the New York Yankees.

Zach’s father and Jack’s son-in-law, Greg, was a major league pitcher and, later, pitching coach for the San Diego Padres and a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Avery Booker, Zach’s brother, was once the head coach at nearby Greensboro College and now coaches a high school team in the city. Cousin Kellen McKeon is a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies; Kasey McKeon, Zach’s uncle, is director of player procurement for the Washington Nationals.

None of this means Zach’s initials were destined to be carved into that baseball tree. If Greg Booker, who died in 2019 after a long fight against melanoma, ever wanted Zach to make a living playing or coaching in baseball, he never let on.

“Dad never pushed the game on me,” says Zach. “He was over-the-top, super supportive of whatever I wanted to do. I just fell in love with baseball and wanted to do the same thing he did.”

Zach played baseball at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and later at Elon University, where he graduated with a degree in Business Administration. He signed a free-agent contract with Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals, bouncing around the minor leagues before finishing his career with the Norfolk Tides, the Baltimore Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in the International League

These days as Guilford’s coach, Zach leans heavily into what he absorbed as a kid from his father and grandfather. Jack’s World Series Marlins team was loaded with young players like Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. He saw how his grandfather interacted differently with younger players than he did with veterans.

“We’ve got those young kids, those 18- to 22-year-old players like we do here, you have to know when to have a heavy hand and when to put your arm around someone,” says Zach.

There’s no one book for dealing with players, says Zach. He chooses a lighter approach at Guilford. “Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “I like to win, but everything’s not life or death. We have a lot of fun, but at the same time my guys know we have a standard at Guilford and there’s a time when you can have fun and relax just a little bit and there’s a time when you have to flip the switch.”

That philosophy is working for this year’s team. The Quakers’ 11-1 start to the season (2-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference) is their best in more than 50 years.

Jordan Burrough ’24 has seen both sides of Zach. “He’s a coach and sometimes one of the guys,” says Jordan. “It’s nice to know we don’t always have to be in go-mode with Coach. We can talk about TV shows, what we’re reading or watching and he’s just like an older player. But in the dugout and it’s gametime, he’s hard on us. He knows what we can do and he wants us to execute to that level. That’s not a knock on him because all of us want that from ourselves, too.”

Zach says there’s no one way to coach. “Nobody has all the answers – I sure don’t,” he says. But he’s been around enough family members to pick up a trick or two for working with players. He’s using those skills at Guilford.

“I learned a lot from my dad and grandfather,” he says. “I want to teach that, coach that – call it what you want – to these players. That’s my job.”

Spoken like a guy who has been around the game a while, because, well, he has.