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College Sports in the Carolinas
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View
from the 'ville
Friday,
August 19, 2005
By Al Myatt |
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Growing up had common theme
for top Bucs
©2005 Bonesville.net
East Carolina baseball coach Randy Mazey
called it a male bonding experience. It broke the nose of football coach
Skip Holtz, and athletic director Terry Holland said he liked it because it
got him out of work at his daddy's grill in Clinton.
What it is is Little League baseball, which
starts its World Series today in Williamsport, PA. Among the eight teams in
the United States bracket is Maitland, FL, which features former major
leaguers Dante Bichette and Mike Stanley as assistant coaches for their
sons' team.
Several years ago, Greenville was united in
pulling for its own sons in the LL World Series. It's a summertime
phenomenon, a crucible in the athletic development of preteens and a unique
socializing agent.
It's a time where kids grow up a little and
parents can sometimes act like children. It's sport in its simpler
developmental stages and that's something to appreciate in itself. It's the
national pastime in its purest sense.
Practically everyone who has played Little
League baseball has memories generated by the experience. ECU senior
associate AD Nick Floyd played for three different team sponsors in his
Little League days in Columbia, SC, and he recalls the names of all three —
D. Mack Builders, Louis Wright Realty and Hunter Realty.
Last summer, Floyd took his family to Hampton
Park in Columbia, SC, where he played as a kid. It was a little trip for
Floyd down Little League memory lane. We made that trip with several
prominent Pirates to that time in their lives when their fields of dreams
had 60-foot bases.
"I was a decent player, not a great player,"
Floyd said. "I was better at football and basketball. The thing I enjoyed
was the camaraderie with teammates. My best friend (Doug Beasley) lived
across the street and we were on the same team.
"We always had a winning record and one year
we played for the league title. I still remember very vividly certain plays
in that game."
Floyd has reestablished contact with Little
League through his son, Nixon, a player. Elizabeth Floyd, Nick's wife, is
president of the Greenville Little League, which has been a proving ground
for a number of Pirate players over the years.
"We've tried to make it enjoyable," Floyd
said. "Brian Weingartz (the Greenville commissioner) runs as fine a program
as I've seen."
Mazey played in Johnstown, PA, moving up to
Little League as an exception when he was just eight years old. His dad,
Forrest, was his coach and brother Brian, a year and a half older, was
involved as well.
"That's the beginning of male bonding with all
your buddies in town," said Mazey, who went on to a stellar career at
Clemson. "I guess in my own mind I was a star. We had pretty good success.
We won a lot of games and lost very few.
" ... We played in a tournament that they used
to have every year in Barnesboro. That was the highlight of our Little
league season and I pitched a no hitter in one of the games. My dad picked
me up and carried me off the field. That was a big thing for us farm kids —
to go somewhere and play a tournament like that."
Not all Little League memories are so good.
"I remember the first time I struck out,"
Mazey said. "I cried like a baby, just like these kids on TV. On a stage
like they're on, failure is hard to handle. I can identify with that."
Holtz played Little League in Cary, when his
dad, Lou, was coaching N.C. State. Lou couldn't see a lot of his games
because of recruiting obligations.
"Back then the recruiting contact periods were
different and he felt he should be out recruiting or maybe someone would
think he wasn't doing his job as well as he should," Holtz said. "Since then
the NCAA has made changes in the contact periods which are a lot healthier
for coaches' families."
Holtz remembers mistakenly leaning in to a
pitch from a fireballing foe and getting his nose broken, but he still
enjoyed his youthful days on the diamond.
"I loved it," he said. "I really liked
catching and talking to the batters."
Holtz plans to see his sons develop on the
Little League scene.
"We moved here too late this year for them to
get involved, but they've been throwing and talking about playing," he said.
Ed Taylor ran the Little League program in
Clinton when Holland was growing up.
"He was the band director at the high school,"
Holland recalled. "The best thing about it was that it got me out of work
cleaning tables at the grill. It was a fun time with all your buddies out
there. It was a chance to get together and learn the team concept.
"It was a time of year when you didn't have a
lot of discipline. You weren't in school but it got you involved in a
structured environment and kept you out of trouble. Ed was the guy we all
answered to."
Holland started out as a third baseman.
"As I got older and taller I wasn't doing such
a good job of getting down on the ball and getting up for throws," Holland
said. "They told me to get over to first."
Perry Hudson, the president of the
Harnett-Johnston chapter of the Pirate Club, has come full circle in Little
League in Dunn. The Pirate Club's rep of the year for two of the last three
years and a former rookie rep of the year, Hudson has gone from playing as a
youngster to supervising the program as the town's recreation director in
his adult life.
"The thing that stands out to me is the whole
experience itself," Hudson said. "At the time it happens, it's a big deal —
the first time you're playing before a big crowd. I was blessed with growing
quick — I was about 5-9 and 150 pounds. I haven't grown much since but I was
a pretty good player in those days.
"Tyler Park, where I played, is still there
today, 35 years later. Playing in front of your family and friends is
something you don't ever forget."
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02/23/2007 12:33:25 AM
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