Over the past few days, our schools athletic teams have been competing in state playoffs and in some sports it is about individual competition. All together it’s the time of the year to close out another school year. A look back indicates a good year overall.In baseball, Croatan ended the season for East and West Bladen teams. We had updates being tweeted to our Facebook page…last night…I do not understand much about the new social media, but I loved the constant updates.
I thought about the individuals I had met as a little league coach many years ago. Can’t name them all, but love it when I see how so many have grown up and contribute to society…Some in athletics, some in the business world, academic arena and other professions that contribute to the betterment of all…and yes, I do know a few who strayed from the ‘straight and narrow’ and wound up in prison…heartbreaking.
I prefer to think about the good guys and they are plentiful…
In the past few days, Winfred Johnson, Harrells Christian Academy baseball coach, led his team to victory over an unbeaten, #1 seeded 2A playoff opponent. The Crusaders were eventually eliminated in the state finals. He was as excited as I recall him being after a big play in a key game in little league or in high school or as an all star college player for the Pirates at East Carolina University.
Kim Cain’s West Bladen team was eliminated last night. The team has shown constant improvement in recent years.
Sonny Jones provided the tweets last night. He has a son on the team…
Now let me see if I can tie all this together….Cain and Johnson were a couple of my little league players…many, many years ago and when Mac Campbell and I decided we would end our little league coaching career, Sonny Jones became the Cardinals coach…
The success of these and others was because of their love for the game of baseball….
I spend a lot of time, as I grow older, wondering where some of these former players are now and what are they doing…Oh, some I see often…and reminiscence about our time together on hot days at the old Elizabethtown ballpark…The memories are a part of my past…I loved them all…the memories and the players…
Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets. Yogi Berra
I wish I could play little league now. I’d be way better than before. Mitch Hedberg
“A fouled ball has no conscience.” Hayes A. Davis on why an umpire should invest in a good chest protector.
robert g hester
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