Without
question those Little League teams gathered in our community
have all been trying to do just that, but come Sunday evening
while all will have memories, only one will leave as undisputed
champions. For most, the chance to give a championship
performance on the hallowed grounds of Lamade and Volunteer
stadiums is a one and done deal. While teams from their league
or community may someday return, Father Time will turn them into
men, or in some cases women, who will forever tell the story of
what is was like to be at the Little League World Series.
But for those
who live within the signal range of WRAK radio, or the
inhabitants of far away places linked to the proceedings via an
electronic feed, one very special team has been producing
championship results far longer than anyone else. While its team
members have aged, their enthusiasm for describing what goes on
before their eyes has been ageless.
Purchasers of
this year’s LLB World Series programs may have already digested
a feature story detailing the combined 127 years of broadcasting
history etched into the radio record books by WRAK’s talkative
trio of Bill Byham, Ken Sawyer and Gary Chrisman.
For the
record, 2010 marks the golden 50th year anniversary of series
broadcasting for Byham, a man previously honored by Little
League Baseball with the naming of Volunteer Stadium’s radio row
in his honor. While officially known by its given name, those
closest to the local radio icon refer to the place as "the Buck"
in deference to the yarn-spinning broadcaster’s long-ago
acquired nickname.
Byham’s main
sidekicks, Ken Sawyer and Gary Chrisman are no rookies when it
comes to calling series action. Sawyer, WRAK’s news director and
talk show host, is calling his 40th series while Chrisman,
sister station KISS-FM’s morning master, has been on the team
for 37 years.
"I feel I’ve
had the best," Byham described his broadcast partners. "Through
all the years, we’ve been behind a microphone together and we’re
the closest of friends. We were once competitors years ago
working at different stations. Then things happened and now we
are on the same team. Every year I get psyched to do it all over
again and I like to think we are able to give the listener a
entertaining account of what is going on, both on the field and
behind the scenes."
WRAK’s long
and successful history with Little League has placed the station
in the position as the exclusive home for all English-speaking
broadcasts emanating from the series. Local stations from around
the county have long been kept abreast of the series actions via
the voices of the talented trio and their counterparts.
"There is no
question the families and friends of the players bring their
hometowns with them to Williamsport. With them come many
remarkable stories. It continues to be an honor and a thrill to
be able to send those stories back to those various hometowns to
the folks who wish they could be here but instead are tuned into
our broadcasts. We owe them all the best job we can possibly do,
" Sawyer said.
For Chrisman,
hometown pride and an internal high speed motor gets him revved
up.
"I’m proud of
where I’m from," he said. "When I tell people I’m from
Williamsport, so many say, ‘Hey, that’s the home of the Little
League World Series’ I love promoting the series and talking
about it. It’s one of the great venues in all of sports."
This year, for
the first time, WRAK and sister station WBYL, are broadcasting
every series game. For the past several years, the trio has been
joined by veteran local broadcasters Mike Fogarty, Tom Speicher
and an honored yours truly in calling series action.
"When the
Series expanded to 16 teams in 2001 we were fortunate to add
Scott, Mike and Tom to our coverage team," Sawyer added. "They
have been vital to our coverage of so many games and bring the
true feel of the Series to our listeners. Tom’s ‘Man in the
Crowd’ segments have really helped us bring something special to
the broadcasts."
While two
on-the-field losses end the dreams of further glory for the
youthful hopefuls, elimination is the furthest thing on the
minds of the WRAK crew. Just like the energizer bunny, they keep
going and going and going.
If you can’t
hop over to view the action in person, click on the radio, sit
back and enjoy.
People often
ask me if I have any trouble "getting up" for a Little League
World Series. The very simple answer is No. There is just
something about watching (and broadcasting) these young men (and
sometimes young women) play this game at such an early age with
plays that can grab a crowd of thousands to fill the air with
very loud cheering support.
I sit there
and a second baseman somehow takes a couple of steps to his left
and cuts off a hard hit ball heading for the right field gap and
throws the runner out at first from his knees. I do the same
thing when a left fielder scoops up a base hit while on the run
and fires the ball to the plate on one hop to cut down a runner
trying to score from second. Year after year, game after game
and play after play these players make the game bigger than it
should be.
When I think
back on the years, it has been the development of the players
talents that has most impressed me. Their coaches have really
expanded their teaching to bring their teams to this annual
sporting event that has been listed in the Top 25 sporting
events "you don’t want to miss.’
I love and
respect their attitude at 11 or 12 or 13 years of age. They
still smile when they make a play. They still smile when they
get a base hit. They still smile when a team mate does something
good. They still talk it up in supporting their pitcher or the
team mate at bat. And they are not afraid to cry when they lose.
Counting today
there is still a lot of action to be seen in this series which
will be culminated on Sunday afternoon with the World’s
Championship game.
VALLEY OF
STATE CHAMPIONS
There may have
been a time when a lot of local and area teams won Pennsylvania
state titles in post season all star play but I can’t remember
when five teams from out of Little League and Babe Ruth are able
to call themselves Pennsylvania State Champions in the same
season.
Webb Weekly
is featuring those teams with pictures in this edition.
The 16-18 Big
League Little League, managed by Pat Cassidy, team from the
Williamsport area; the 13-14 Junior League Little League All
Stars, managed by Tom Ott, from Montoursville;13 year old All
Stars from the West End Babe Ruth League who were managed by
Scott Nicklau and the 14 year old All Stars from the West End
Babe Ruth League, managed by George Lepley (featured on the
cover).
The older, up
to 19 year olds of Babe Ruth in the West End, managed by David
Cipriani, earned a state title in limited play during their
first year.
It was Lepley
and his coach, Lynn Datres that led the West End team that left
the area, played their way into a state title, played again
through the regionals and left the Valley last Thursday for the
Babe Ruth World Series for teams of that age.
A VERY SAD
NOTE
Not many
people knew him unless he touched your family through the sport
of baseball. .
His name was
Ken Lewis who came to this area from the Midwest a long time
ago. His legacy of what he did with baseball youngsters from all
over a large part of Central Pennsylvania is amazing.
Ken started a
coaching career when he was just 15 years old. He mixed that
with his own playing days as an amateur and as a minor league
professional. Ken was 88 last week when his ailments caused his
passing.
I am sorry
that many of you never knew Ken because you missed an
experience. But high school players and their parents have known
him and his Red Tornado baseball. When he was younger and able
to be on a field he put a pride in the players he asked to be on
his ball clubs. He made up the lineups and was an active coach
with a simple philosophy. "This a game. If you want to play it -
show me!"
He loved
baseball. He loved the people who played it, who managed it and
who were willing to challenge the opponents with the best they
could give on a given day.
But he was
more than a team coach who sat in a dugout while his team played
the game. The Red Tornados were his team and they used all of
their equipment that Ken handed out. It was through his
ambition, his skills as a fund raiser and his message of what
his program could do for the sons of the families who allowed
them to play for Ken.
The Tornadoes
played in the fall of the year and they played games, always in
scheduled doubleheaders, up and down the East coast. His
ambition was to get exposure for his players, exposure in front
of college coaches and professional scouts.
I spent a good
many hours sitting on Row 1 right behind the screen at Bowman
Field where Ken held "court" with the coaches and scouts. It was
an interesting scene. There sat this older man, often with
suspenders holding up his pants, his glasses high on his nose,
surrounded by coaches from a Mansfield or a Bloomsburg or a
Bucknell
He was, after
all, a simple man who lived with his wife in Watsontown. They
had family and it was that family that told his story, their
story at his funeral last week before a packed room of high
school and college coaches, of boys who had played on his teams
who are now men and of towns people who knew Ken over his many
years. Call it Respect for one another.
"You get what
you give."
Didn’t I hear
Ken Lewis say that once or twice as he crushed crackers into his
chicken noodle soup?