When I was in college, my friends and I decided to re-start a student-led sports group that had dissolved years earlier: the baseball club. You see, John Brown University used to have a powerful baseball team in the 1960s and 1970s that was led by former NL Rookie of the Year Wally Moon and even produced a major league player in Jimmy Wynn. I say "even" because JBU was about 400 strong in those days and was more known for its science and engineering schools than its sports teams.
But the baseball program was an exception.
By the beginning of the 1980s, JBU was consistently heading deep into the NAIA national tournament, playing for the title twice in three years. But the school didn't have much tolerance for the bad habits that often accompany baseball players and decided to cut the program in 1983. They cited "budget cuts" but everyone knew that it was the moral failings of the athletes that led to the program's demise.
A group of former varsity players started a baseball club after the program was cut and it survived a few years but by the time I arrived in 1995 JBU only had a group of friends playing catch every so often. So my baseball-minded friends and I added new life to the club with the goal of convincing the JBU leadership to bring baseball back as a varsity sport. We were driven. And we wanted to have post-high school baseball careers to brag about. I did, anyway.
So we got on our hands and knees at an old baseball diamond off campus, pulling weeds, painting benches, mending fences, tilling the infield, building the mound. We came to school early in 1996 to spend a week at the field, getting it ready for game action. It was small for a college field but it was our home. Thanks to my roommate Mark and his dad, we designed a new team logo, ordered new uniforms, T-shirts and hats, purchased equipment and went about promoting the team and scheduling games. We even bought team jackets with our names on the back. Mine's still in my closet.
The club went strong for two years and I tried to lead it into a third year but the career-minded life of a senior got in the way. We played high schools and adult club teams, an occasional small college, and college club teams from Nebraska, North Texas and Angelo State. It was a fun time for all of us. Frustrating... but somehow fun. We talked with UNT about starting a college club baseball league. Some of my teammates wanted to call it the "Big South" conference but, as one of us pointed out, the initials weren't so flattering. So nothing ever happened. I graduated in 1999 and moved on, leaving our equipment, leftover uniforms, trophies and other memorabilia with a friend. I never heard what happened to the club.
Until yesterday.
Eleven years later I had a desire to check out the JBU website to see what was happening with my old Alma mater these days. I knew that the school had dramatically changed since I left, going on a growth spurt that would make any 12-year-old proud. The enrollment skyrocketed. New buildings popped up, others were leveled to the ground. New sports were added, including cross country, golf and women's soccer. But no baseball or softball.
I clicked on the "student groups" link to see if anything new or interesting had formed and there it was — "baseball club." I clicked it and memories came flooding back.
In 2004 or 2005 another group of friends decided to breathe life into the baseball club and got on their hands and knees to pick weeds, mend fences and get old Franklin Field ready for college action. It was identical to what I went through a decade earlier. They got new uniforms and scheduled games against club teams — eventually joining a new baseball conference of other college club teams and enjoyed the fruit of their labor. There were pictures on the website of some of their club action and it was wonderful to see a new batch of young men follow in footsteps they probably had no idea already existed. I doubt if they knew of me or Mark or Sam or Clint or John-Alex or any of us. But their dream was the same.
"It's baseball, Ray. Baseball."
I only have a few pictures, an old uniform top and a bum left knee to remind me of my days as a Golden Eagle baseball player. I hit .310 over two injury-plagued seasons. 11 singles in 30 at-bats. Not even an extra base hit! I stole a base or two but mostly walked, struck out and hit singles. I was the Ichiro of my day.... not!
I'm proud of what my friends and I accomplished at JBU and proud of the new group of guys who did likewise — only better. But the cycle continues. The website was last updated in 2006. I would think that means the baseball club is dormant again. The players have all graduated now and moved on with life. That happens most of the time. I'll check back in a few years to see what the next wave of JBU baseball players is up to.
But for now... I'm just glad I found out what happened... from my Flower Mound dugout.
— John
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| #34 — third base, second base, first base, right field and pitcher (the ultimate utility player!) Here I'm at 2nd after heading for a grounder up the middle. We were playing Nebraska's club team in Siloam Springs, Ark. I don't know why this is in black and white. It was taken for the school newspaper. |
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| My greatest game — 4-4, 2 RBI, run scored, against an adult club team. We had to get games were we could from whomever we could, including a men's baseball league tournament in Pea Ridge, Ark. |
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