https://images.app.goo.gl/jyXLdG3v4dLmGo7EA

The link above should take you to the story that our Friend, Allen Worrell wrote after Kevin DeHaven swapped his cleats and ball cap for a suit and tie when he became the Cavaliers Athletic Director.

The book 📖 being compiled will have three distinct sections. Cavalier Park – Cause and Effect, Page County Softball – Tradition never Graduates 🎓 and 50 Shades of Baseball. While the first two parts are stand alone, the third one is a collection of shorter stories ( 50 all totaled) about my connection to America’s past time.

Baseball ⚾️ is all about passion and Love for the game and the story about Mr DeHaven is a great example. Going from playing throughout High School and then another four seasons divided across two College campuses before taking over the program at Bill Worrell Field.

Baseball is in your Blood, especially for those who experience it at as many different levels as DeHaven has over the years. The question here is after spending a lifetime in, on or around a Diamond 💎, what would lead a Lifer to walk away from the game he loves for a ” Desk Job”?

Life is about opportunity and making the most of it whenever it presents itself. Yes, DeHaven was having a lasting impact on the Carroll County Baseball program but now he is using his skill set to try and have an impact on an entire school 🏫.

The position became available upon the retirement of Darrin Mathews and DeHaven accepting the new position meant Casey Burcham, Steve Combs and Adam Nester each took another step up the ladder.

DeHaven is as home grown as one can be and is flanked by a supportive Bride 👰 and the couple have two children who wear the colors that Kevin protects.

The best part of the story is about how a love for the game and desire to get a College degree led DeHaven on a full circle 🔵 path that benefits a large number of people on The Hill.

We will work together to connect the dots as well as share the memories that mean the most to the Man 👨 that wakes up each day and tries to lead by example.

The desire to complete a collection of something goes all the way back to the Bicentennial when a 13 year old Boy decided to try and gather all 50 7up cans they created as a salute to Uncle Sam.

I’m not sure if anyone else remembers this marketing plan or not but I should add that this chase would have been so much easier if I enjoyed 7up, even a smidgen.

If you managed to find all 50 states and stacked them in the correct manner, the back of the cans formed Uncle Sam ( seen above).

A few years back I was working on a piece (story) that would be of interest to Chris Graham at the Augusta Free Press. I went on a fact finding mission that would include EVERY baseball ⚾️ facility that hosted either Summer League Baseball or Minor League Baseball.

Every time I felt that I found them all, someone would bring another group to my attention. It was a fun Loop to capture this particular Box Set and it will be one of my 50 Baseball stories for the Book 📖..

When this effort to create this book started, there were a handful of folks that I knew I would have easy access to in hopes of getting the story told properly.

Darrin Mathews, Principal Thompson, Coach Nester, Allen Worrell,  Tammy Quesenberry were in for sure. Stephen Puckett is always willing to lend a hand ✋ and Travis Leath is another great Human Being so I felt great about covering the past five + years. But I knew that I had to have some good fortune to reach the level I had envisioned.

Cheyenne Strickland (Marinus) would fall into the category I used for quite some time – The Coolest Person that I have Never met. Getting a thumbs up from local Legend, Craig Worrell put a smile on my face and then some. Justin Quesenberry was a treat to trade stories with.

Emily Cook and Hannah Bourne are getting their feet wet, both being a treat to deal with. Tiffanie Moore and Sydney Nester were both previous meets ( and impressive as the day is long).

But like any strong ball club, I still needed a 3-hole and clean-up hitters. God sent me Alvin Davidson, followed by Brad Nester. I needed a few other people who have the same amount of passion about 2015 and Cavalier Park as I do.

I will spend from now to September 13th gathering information about the Park and the 2015 team. So if you are reading this and fall into this category, please 🙏 reach out across the next four weeks.

We are searching through the names of people that played a role in a story where a group of 15 young ladies and a Coaching staff teamed up to capture the first State Championship in the history of Carroll County High School 🏫.

To the casual observer, one might question why a person would go to such great lengths to document a story ? Give or take, this will go on for close to a year and I am happy to share my thoughts on the motivation behind the project.

One of them, front and center, is to preserve the Memory of Jeff Tobler and everything Tobes meant to this Community. Not just the Softball family but the Community as a whole.

There will be stories about how this facility came about, going from a Snow Fence and a Groundhog to the easy on the eyes 👀 Ballpark that stands just South of the Boulevard today. A large cast of characters will be included and I will do my best to do justice ⚖ to their stories but there will also be the story about how one Man gave so much to so many for so long.

Now, if you aren’t a fan of Good Will Hunting, that reference won’t make a whole lot of sense. But the more I learn about the ties 👔 between our Principal and Softball Coach, the more I grow to appreciate the level of bond the pair have.

This part of the book 📖 is about relationships, including the ones between players and teammates, parents and friends, the team and the community as examples. A great deal of my attention is focused on the fact that a Principal and Athletic Director decided that the answer to their Softball program was to offer the Head Coaching job to a man that had a tough as nails 💅 reputation.

  When Principal Thompson first offered the opportunity to Nester it happened during halftime of a Carroll County football game. When Nester talks about the moment, even now, he has his southern gentleman grin across his face because he just knew he was being punked by his Boss.

The second time around, Nester realized that Mr Thompson was being serious and while I envision Marty McFly being called Chicken 🐔 by Biff in Back to the Future, I believe that the line was, ” The Rick Nester that I know wouldn’t back down from a challenge”.

I have a ton of respect for both of these two men and its fun to learn more about how of all of this came about. When it comes to the trees 🌳 that surround Cavalier Park. I have to admit they are one of my favorite parts of our facility, Nester made sure to sneak in a fun dig at his lifelong friend.

  ” The trees in all of their beauty, the credit goes to Mr Thompson,” said Nester. ” Who would have thought that a New York Yankees fan would go out of his way to give us a Carroll County version of the Green Monster.”