Baseball: Former Canoga Park coach Doug MacKenzie dies at 85

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Doug MacKenzie, who loved baseball and Canoga Park High, died last Thursday at his home in Glendale after a long illness. He was 85.

MacKenzie coached baseball at Canoga Park for 37 years, guiding the Hunters to the 1987 City Section championship at Dodger Stadium in his final season. It is considered one of the greatest accomplishments in City sports history because Canoga Park played its home games at Lanark Park, which had no mound, and the Hunters were able to keep enough of their players while others had transferred to powers Chatsworth and Woodland Hills El Camino Real.

‘He wore the green and white through and through,’ said Mike Scyphers, a former Simi Valley baseball coach who played for MacKenzie at Canoga Park for three years in the late 1960s. ‘He was a Hunter from the get-go. He was so dedicated.’

Born May 2, 1926 in Los Angeles, MacKenzie attended Eagle Rock and Occidental College. He received a Purple Heart when wounded during World War II when he was in the Army.

He arrived at Canoga Park in 1950. He also coached Class B and C basketball. After retiring from Canoga Park, he continued to coach baseball at several other schools, including Ribet and Burbank Bell-Jeff.

He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Anita, and sons Colin and Doug. He will be cremated.

-- Eric Sondheimer