Published: August 24, 2008 12:36 am            

DODD: 1971 Little League team memories

On a crisp, clear evening in 1971 on a baseball field in Gary, Ind., I had just swung and missed to make the final out in the Little League Senior World Series. As I sat down in the dirt contemplating the end to hopes of a world title, and possibly my Little League career. One of those moments frozen in time was about to happen.

I have heard from several of my old teammates from the 1971 Jeffersonville Senior Little League teammates this past week. It appears that with all the excitement of the current Jeffersonville Little League team’s appearance in Williamsport, our team has become the forgotten State Champions from Jeffersonville without a mention in the local media.

Jack Lindley was a star pitcher and power hitter on that team. We met at first basemen Chris Schuler’s home with former All-Star third baseman Rick Scott and some old friends in Jeffersonville on the Friday night when the first game was rained out. There were stories traded and old withered black-and-white photos and newspaper clippings passed around the room. Earlier that afternoon Lindley had listened to a recording of a game that was broadcast from the State Finals in Indianapolis that was carried on WXVW. Broadcasters Ted Throckmorton, Dale Orem, and Charlie Jenkins were heard discussing the merits of a new young coach (some upstart named Denny Crum) that was recently hired at U of L, musing as to how effective they thought he be as the new Cardinals’ basketball coach. I wonder how that coaching change ever worked out.

A letter-to-the editor by Jay Potter on August 13 had garnered particular interest from the group. “The only other teams in their elite category are the Jeff/GRC group back in 1965 that went to the LLWS and 1993 Jeffersonville High School Basketball State Champions. “ Some of my teammates took a bit of exception to that assertion and felt like our State Title deserved a mention in that elite group.

On another late evening I received a phone call from Terry Romans in Utica who was our starting catcher. We discussed among other things a 37-year-old mystery involving a prank that resulted in a new pair of blue jeans being destroyed while in Gary that summer. Jack and Chris had pointed the finger of suspicion at Steve “Bubby” Lumpkins and seemed sure it was he who had torn team member Bob Branham’s jeans. Romans disputed the hearsay and proclaimed that it was he and pitcher/outfielder Kevin Mauck who each held a pants leg and ripped the trousers apart.

All I know is that someone owes Bob another pair of jeans with 37 years of interest tacked on to the purchase price.

The 1971 team was one that received almost no press before the local sectional began. GRC had superstar pitcher, Steve Lentz, the person many people considered the best pitcher in Southern Indiana although Clarksville had a pitcher named Melson who was also considered unbeatable (we defeated him in the opening game). Silver Creek had power-hitting Ben Hornung. Our team received merely a paragraph which resulted in being pretty much labeled an also ran to complete the field.

Some magic occurred that summer when an unheralded group simply melded together to become a championship squad.

Most games all the way to an undefeated state title were one run defensive affairs. A two-run victory for our squad was a blowout. The team once played a string of twenty-seven consecutive innings without committing a defensive error. That group of hard-nosed players simply won by exercising the most basic mode of play, being fundamentally sound, hustling, and believing in themselves. Much of the credit for that goes to our Coach, the late Ed “Mr. Boat” Schuler and Manager Keith “Sparky” Groth- two men who are forever enshrined in my personal good guy Hall-Of-Fame. The sound play continued in the World Series in Gary where the double elimination format resulted in two losses, both games in which Jeffersonville held respective 3-0 and 2-1 leads before heartbreaking, one run defeats.

There was a parade through town on a fire engine. There were girls who suddenly found me appealing. There were the newspaper stories and television footage. There were banquets at every stop where during the less-than-exciting speeches and presentations a glass of tea was passed around and each player added some food substance to create an almost indigestible concoction and then money was pledged to the person who could stomach the semi-liquid. I think Terry Romans once pocketed about $50 for a single consumption. That was a lot of money for a 15-year-old in 1971.

My favorite memory has nothing to do with baseball and everything to do with a life experience.

I had completed two years of Spanish before that summer (a belated thank you to my former Jeff Spanish teachers Gail Cleek and Rod Swearingen). In Gary, I was the only American player that spoke any Spanish, which resulted in me becoming the interpreter for the Spanish-speaking players. The team from Mexico shadowed me exclusively at the ball park when we were not on the field, mostly to act as an intermediary to meet teenage American girls. I had never met a person from another country before that week.

As I sat in the dirt just moments away from tears beginning to flow a group of players from the Mexican team who had just eliminated Jeffersonville from competition approached me and offered a hand up. Within a few moments I found myself on top of a dugout dancing, laughing and celebrating with kids from another country, not in any way a mocking of a defeat, but in acceptance and inclusion as a friend.

Things like that just didn’t happen to a 15-year-old boy from Jeffersonville in 1971. In retrospect, I look at that moment and understand the philosophy behind international competition and the true sense of a personal victory in Gary, Indiana, in 1971.

Lindon Dodd is an Otisco resident who is a freelance writer and can be reached at lindon.dodd@hotmail.com.

        

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