Ernie Banks was referred to as Mr. Cub. Ray Eliot affectionately was known as Mr. Illini. Ralph Loschen earned the title of Mr. E.I. from his nearly 70-year involvement with the central Illinois amateur baseball league.

Loschen, 85, died Tuesday, one week after suffering a stroke.

"There are people in your life you meet who make your life better," St. Thomas More Assistant Principal Mike Scholz said. "Ralph was one of them."

Loschen started playing in the Eastern Illinois Baseball League as a 15-year-old in 1940 and maintained his association through the 75th anniversary season this year. From 1946 to '48, he was at spring training with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

"Ralph WAS Gifford-Flatville," said Stacey Perkinson- Posey, who followed the E.I. as a youngster and married former Buckley infielder T.J. Posey. "He devoted his life to that team, as a player, a coach and even as a fan. What a great inspiration to all that had the experience of knowing him.

"He always remembered your name, too. I started going to the games as a little girl, and I remember paying him at the gate as an adult and he still called me by name."

Centennial graduate Andy Cotner didn't play for Loschen's teams, but that didn't diminish his respect for him.

"Ralph was a pioneer in the E.I. league and certainly would be on the Mount Rushmore of E.I. baseball," Cotner said. "Playing against his teams was always special. Win or lose, he would always come and chat with us after the game.

"Buckley and Gifford shared a love for baseball and were like a fraternity after the game was over. He was the kind of person you would 'ride' all doubleheader, but you looked forward to spending time with after the game. He's a major reason the league survived and thrived these years."

Scholz pitched for the Giflats and credited Loschen with helping him curb his temper.

"I had a tendency to be a little on the heated side, and Ralph, of any manager or coach I played for, had a way of handling people," Scholz said. "He was a wonderful human, a good man, a good person and a good role model for all of us who played."

Scholz said Loschen was not just an icon in the E.I. league.

"I hope I can live a full life and live as well and do as much as Ralph did for the whole central Illinois community, not just baseball," Scholz said. "If you knew Ralph, you liked Ralph. He was a tremendous person. Ralph is one of those guys you think will be here forever."

Cerro Gordo Superintendent Brett Robinson once wore a Giflats uniform.

"Ralph went about things the right way in running his Gifford-Flatville baseball team," Robinson said. "He treated everyone – his players and their families, opponents and the umpires – with respect, and got it back in return. I consider myself fortunate to have known and played for him."

Former players kept in touch with Loschen long after their playing careers ended. Champaign Central graduate Scott Rafferty, who now works in Chicago, returned in mid-August for a golf outing with former Giflats and Loschen.

"When you were with Ralph you couldn't help but smile," Rafferty said. "He was a lot of fun to be around, and he had a real zest for life. We golfed just a few weeks ago, and afterward Ralph had us all laughing with his stories. He had an incredible influence on my life, and I will miss him."

Loschen was among the co-owners of the Gifford-Flatville ballpark. In recent years, Royal shared the field.

"Ralph would be there each time we had work to do on the field," said Tim Dillman, Royal's manager. "It did not matter if it was 100 degrees, Ralph would always try to help.

"It will not be the same working on the field without Ralph looking over our shoulder making sure the baseball field that he loved so much was always in tip-top shape."

Because of Loschen's reputation for working diligently on game day, Gifford-Flatville players such as Marcus Jackson would try to make certain he had an extra hand or two.

"I usually tried to be the first person out at the field on Sundays to help take some of the burden off of him," Jackson said, "and by the time I got there, Ralph always had everything ready to go. He was one of a kind. There was no one more hard-working or passionate than Ralph."

Former G-F shortstop Gary Buhr said Loschen's commitment was unparalleled.

"He spent hours upon hours upon hours at the diamond, making sure we had a place to play," Buhr said. "Some of the best times of our lives were spent at E.I. diamonds with Ralphie. He was an unbelievable person who cared about everyone and helped me in more ways than baseball."

For many years, Loschen's co-manager was Dick Franzen, who died in November. Between 1973 and '84, the Giflats won or shared 15 regular season or postseason titles. Overall, Loschen's and Franzen's Giflat teams won nearly two-thirds of their games during a 40-year coaching stint (537-293) ending in 1996.

"I can't think of enough nice words to say about Ralph. He and Dick were the glue," Scholz said. "They assembled those teams and put in the hours for virtually nothing (monetarily in return)."

Buckley manager Trent Eshleman marveled at how Loschen would "pitch batting practice to young men 55 to 60 years younger than him."

In 2009, Loschen was selected to the all-time E.I. all-star team and was called the E.I.'s "greatest ambassador."

"Not only did Ralph put good teams on the field but he had the unique ability to attract real quality people," said Rafferty, a catcher who recalled Loschen's mound visits.

"When we were in a tough spot, Ralph would call timeout and come to the mound," Rafferty said. "Gathered on the mound would be David Strang (second baseman), Nory Loschen (first baseman and Ralph's son), Mike Scholz (pitcher) and me.

"By the time Ralph got there, David, Mike and Nory pretty much had figured out what we should do. That was a great thing about Ralph, he trusted our judgment."

In Loschen's final summer with the team this year, the Giflats advanced to the tournament championship series, where they lost to Lexington. Erik Plotner became the manager last spring, but Loschen still made the road trips.

"While I had only known Ralph for a short time, I grew fond of him very quickly," Plotner said. "Ralph's personality was hard to resist. Ralph was one of those rare people that loved the game of baseball, I mean truly loved the game of baseball. From the deepest depths of his soul, he loved it. He played it, he enjoyed watching it, and he never missed an opportunity to talk about it.

"There was nothing in this world like the smile on Ralph's face when we got him a win on a Sunday afternoon."

Though his quest was to win, the devoted Cubs fans knew that would not always happen.

"When the game was over, it was over," Rafferty said. "Ralph had to listen to a lot of razzing from opposing fans, but he always took it in stride. I suspect he was of the mind that he would let the scoreboard do the talking for him."

Cardinal fan Strang wishes one part of Loschen's baseball record could have been better.

"I'm not a Cubs fan, but I wish they could have won the World Series for him," Strang said. "Ralph was a guy everyone enjoyed being around. He was a good buddy. It's a big loss for a lot of people."

Loschen had remained in good health and was active until suffering the stroke.

"Nobody knows how they'll go, but you hope when it's your time, you don't suffer much," Strang said. "He was 85 and had been awfully healthy. That's a positive in a negative situation."

The glory years for Scholz and Rafferty as players were more than a quarter century ago. Their feelings of admiration and respect, however, were shared by even the youthful players on the 2010 Gifford-Flatville team.

"Ralph was more than an owner to all of us," Kevin Murphy said. "He was there in case we needed anything at all, even outside of baseball. He loved the game, but he always loved helping others before anything.

"One thing I'll never forget is how after games all the players would sit around and hang out in the dugouts, sometimes until the sun was gone. Some weeks it was different players than others, but one thing never changed: Ralph sitting just outside the dugout in his golf cart hanging out with us and sharing stories and cracking jokes. Ralph was truly one of the greatest people ever to cross my path in my baseball career."

Loschen's death occurred two days before the fourth anniversary of the passing of another E.I. icon, Buckley's Virgil Scheiwe.

"I am sure he is talking the game with Virgil Scheiwe as we speak," Perkinson-Posey said.

The E.I.'s three annual postseason awards are named for Franzen (batting champion), Loschen (top player) and Scheiwe (top pitcher).