It's Been A While

We were school clothes shopping at J.C. Penney.  It's a nasty assignment, but we do it every year.

After the choosing of the clothes, the argument thereof, and the paying of the bill, we were exiting when I saw the familiar face, outlined with a baseball cap.  It was a face I saw daily while learning to love baseball again.  He taught me to love the game again and how to teach it with joy.  It spilled into softball, taking the echoes of what I learned from him.   It will echo through history from the young men and women I and other players coach.

Dick Patterson was the baseball coach at Bethel College, among other things throughout his tenure at the school.  He coached Women's Basketball.  He taught physical education, including officiating, which I passed in Volleyball, Basketball, and Baseball/Softball.  He helped build College Park, Bethel's home field.

The effect even extended to the Soccer and Softball programs.  The plot of land serving as soccer's home field was not level, and the baseball and softball field's were adjacent to that land.  Coach Patterson located a program with the Army Corps of Engineers that would level a piece of land for the asking and , of course, proper forms being completed.  It improved the facilities and laid the groundwork for the success those programs enjoyed.  Baseball won a National Championship under Patterson in 1990, a team I student managed.   His 1986 team was national runner up.  Softball won one under the tutelage of a player Patterson recruited, my friend, Drew Peterson.  Soccer has been relevant in the NAIA over the last decade.  Even the Women's Basketball program has won several National Championships in the last 15 years.  Dick Patterson's fingerprints are on every one.

The long shadow hides a humble and generous man who shows more smarts than you might suspect. He knew how to find a bargain, treated his programs with great stewardship.  He could tan your hide with the words and make you laugh at the same time.  He had a sense of humor and a knack for landing very good, but overlooked ball players.  He was a pretty fair game manager, too.

Today, he's 82, and still looks like he did 24 years ago when we won that championship.  He still works, a starter at a golf course, but that is just to spend some extra winter time in Myrtle Beach.  The twinkle is still in his eye, and he still loves the game.  He would like to see Bethel's program have a bit more success.  Not bad for a guy who's gone three rounds with GI cancer.

I got the pleasure of introducing him to my son.  I got to introduce him as a Freshman Varsity Letterman from ECA, and told him how he as affected my coaching style.  He invited me to call him when Robby was playing.  It means a lot that he has some interest in my son.  I wish I would have thanked him more directly.  Hope I get another chance, soon.  May have to drop by his golf course.  Not like I don't know how to play.

So...am I off base?