Softball at Elston, Back in the Day

Drove past the Elston softball diamonds the other day and boy did it bring back memories. How many of you spent hours and hours and hours down there?

Softball wasn’t big back in the ‘80s in Crawfordsville. It was huge.

And how fun it was!

When I was a young whippersnapper and working at the Lafayette Journal & Courier – mostly fetching coffee and cigarettes for the full-timers in the sports department – I played in a couple of leagues and every weekend in tournaments. I played for a team sponsored by Mr. Fence-It and we won a few more games than we lost.

When the job opportunity in C’ville opened up for a young sports editor, I hooked up with Ray’s Pig Farm for a bit and then eventually played for Boswell Photos. What a great group of guys and what a great time it was.

From team sponsors Joe and Phyllis Boswell to some of the great guys on the team – Steve Akers, Dana Standefer, Jimmy Harshbarger, Bobby Hole, John Lightle, Tom Perkins, Scott Boone, Craig Harmon, Kevin Sims and more that an aging memory recalls one day and loses the next. We won a few games more than we lost and always seemed to be fighting it out with Shield of Shelter for the top spot. Jeff Birk and Rick Wheeler and a bunch of good guys were on SofS and I’m foggy on the details but remember the competition and the fun.

This is back when Rita Hamm was running Park & Rec and Ed Clifton was running softball. Actually, Ed hired said young sports editor to supervise the women’s league. We had four actually, Diamond, Emerald, Ruby and Pearl . . . and the top two teams were led by Roger Hamilton and Claude Barker. When they played it was anyone’s game and it depended on who got hot and who might get a lucky bounce or two.

And boy could Roger and Claude go at it.

One night the umpire – a young radio broadcaster named Mike Haynes who ended up being a Hall of Famer after a stellar career that saw him go to the pinnacle of his profession, the National Hockey League. Mike was a radio and television star – had his own show in Denver and retired with some Emmy’s sitting on the fireplace mantel.

But back then, he and I were a lot younger – and not too solid on how to deal with Roger and Claude screaming and red-faced over some call that was made.

They had Mike cornered. They had me cornered. And just when it looked like we were going down with the ship, the calvary showed up.

Ed Clifton, driving that big old Cadillac with the NY Yankees logo on the door came over the hill and I made a beeline for the car. Roger and Claude were still yelling as I got to the door and told Ed that we had a big problem here.

“That’s what I hired you for, Big Boy!” he smiled . . . as he drove away.

Drove away.

I don’t remember what happened next but it must not have been too bad. Haynes and I survived. Barely.

There were so many good folks. A young Jeff Nelson moved to town and got involved . . . before eventually becoming the next version of Mr. Softball in town. The Fulwiders were great guys and pretty good players. A lot of folks served on the CASA board. The umpires, the scorekeepers, the fans . . . well, they all still bring back some great memories.

Here’s hoping the generation down there now is having just as much fun as we did.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at ttimmons@thepaper24-7.com.