75th ANNIVERSARY MEMORIES

I grew up in a single parent home and my coaches were like fathers to me. The men who volunteer to coach Little League teams today usually have sons playing on the team. In my day, local men voluntarily coached because they loved the game. I've been blessed.  Ellwood City was a wonderful place to grow up.

Dick Freidhoff was my manager in Little League and he instilled in me a love for the game of baseball. We practiced every day. Those practices were so rigorous that the games were easy and fun. Winning was expected.

Dan Oliastro

 Ellwood City

Congratulations on 75 years of Little League Baseball in Ellwood City. Quite a milestone particularly when little leagues elsewhere seem to have migrated from friendly competitions among your buddies to parent-driven AAU and traveling squads limiting participation and fun. Doing the math , Dick Freidhoff was instrumental in starting the Program the year I was born in 1950. My father always spoke highly of Dick and I was fortunate to have known him and spent time with his wonderful family. So having his name on the field you will celebrate is terrific. 

My Little League experience really ran from 1960-1962 as a shortstop on the Kiwanis, coached by Frank Sanders(and assisted for a couple of seasons by my dad, who coaxed Frank into the job), the namesake of the big ballpark. e won the championships all three years but, perhaps more notibly, it started a team that ultimately won the 1968 WPIAL Baseball Championship with Bill Spellman at Lincoln High School. Six starters on that high school team came from the Kiwanis: My brother Rick(2B)and I(SS), Jerry Bukac(P), Wayne THornhill(RF), Del Schuster(LF), and Doug Adams(CF). Other starters were Dave Blazin(C-Moose), Donnie Wick(IB_Rotary), and Vic Sharek(#B/P-Chewton), not to forget Rich Lawson(p) from Koppel.

Specific Little League memories from my 75-year old brain include:

* Great uniforms and unique hats worn with pride to school(constant hat hair);

* Playing on a grass field with a snow fence situated now where the new football stadium and track are located;

* Wood bats from Carmen Beatrice(using screws and electrical tape to use them after broken) and rubber spikes that lasted only a few weeks;

* Two shiny white balls to start the games that weren't so shiny after a couple of innings;  

* Everyone drinking out of the same ladle in a water bucket filled with a hose;

* Learning a new definition of a cup;

* Visiting Charlie Maggi's Refreshment Stand after gamed to add to the grass stains already on the uniforms; and

* Practicing on the days other than midweek or weekend game days(no swimming allowed) on the playground where the new North Side School now sits. If not practcing, constantly playing baseball somewhere.

All this culminated in being able to play in the New Castle and Ellwood City Little League Tourneys(won both in 1962), with the latter being under the lights on the big field-where are the lights now.

Ellwood City Amateur Baseball was great preparation for the high school team from Little League to Pony League(SOI 1963-1964) to Colt League(Reds 1965-1966) to American Legion(1967-1968). Scouts showed up at the high school games, even including Pie Traynor in 1968 and getting drafted by the Cleveland Indians that may not have happened if not for the success of the high school team. I also credit the American Legion experience under Al and Harry Miller, who scheduled varied competition including visits from the Little Pirates, for Dave Blazin and I getting scholarships and playing together at the University of Iowa(1968-1972). In fact, our Hawkeye team won the the 1972 Big Ten Championship and is the only Iowa team to have played in the College World Series. 

So great memories of Little League Baseball and the entire Amateur Baseball Program in Ellwood City! Many thanks to all the wonderful coaches who gave their time and mentoring to us. And to the sponsors, organizers behind the scenes, and supportive parents that made so many happy memories for many. It has positively affected all of our lives.

Ray Smith

West Des Mones, Iowa 

Dad loved when summer came...that meant baseball season was here. We never saw him because he would be working with the young kids to develop their baseball skills at the Ewing Park field. He loved coaching the Moose team. He always seemed to get the boys playing their best. 

 When he was Commissioner to give my mother something to do (instead of yelling at the umpires), he set up two barrels with a board over across the road from the field and had her sell candy and pop that eventually evolved into the concession stand inside the gate. The umpires thanked him! 

Baseball made my dad happy...coaching the young players develop their talents and skills made him happy. Being at the ball field was his happy place.

Cookie Freidhoff-Bowman

Lexington, Kentucky

Our Moose team won the first three championships. Dick Freidhoff was our coach and was the best baseball coach I ever played for  including at Columbia University. Amazingly at eight and nine years-old, he was teaching us situations and anticipation.

Jim Navolio

Versailles, Kentucky

I spent some of my greatest times and have some of my most wonderful memories playing or watching games at Ewing Park. 

I played for the Moose. Amazing team-even more so the coaching staff. Most teams practiced once a week, we practiced two or three times and never lost.We piled into Dick Freidhoff's station wagon in Ewing Park and went to Ellport for practice. I played for Hall of Fame third baseman Fred Lindstrom at Northwestern and for Johnny "Double No-Hit" Vander Meer in the Cincinnati Reds organization. There is nobody close to Dick Freidhoff-without a doubt the greatest coach I ever played for.

Ron Hughes

Jacksonville, Florida    

I played for the Moose in Little League. My mother kept a scrapbook of all my games. During the Moose's three-year run from 1950-1952 our record was 45-1. I was the only player that started every game during those years. Dick Freidhoff was such a class individual-what an experience playing for him.

In American Legion we won the Lawrence County Championship in 1958. We beat New Castle, 4-3. Ron Hughes was at second base and I hit the longest ball I ever hit. The ball went so far over the left fielder's head  that he didn't even try to retrieve it and Ron scored the winning run. Loved to beat New Castle. 

Ron Mazzano

Data Point, California 

more memories to follow