Dick Enberg is trusted to call hours and hours of sports for an audience of millions on television. So keeping an audience of a couple hundred enthralled at a dinner in Kokomo was a piece of cake Saturday night.
The broadcasting veteran was in the City of Firsts as the featured speaker in the fourth-annual Joe Thatcher Pitch In for Youth dinner and auction at the Kokomo Country Club. Charismatic and bright, the 77-year-old was overflowing with funny and touching stories in an hour-long talk with those in attendance.
This year’s edition of the dinner benefited the Carver Community Center, and the Joe Thatcher Endowment, with money being split between the two. Thatcher uses his position as a relief pitcher with the San Diego Padres to help put on the event with the help of his family, and this season he was able to lure Enberg, the Padres’ play-by-play announcer, as the guest speaker.
“[I’m here] because of Joe,” Enberg said. “He’s one of our favorite Padres, not just for his athletic talent but he’s a terrific guy, he’s a ‘good Joe.’ You think of all the negative stories in the press [about some athletes] and the people that get that are just the minority, but the majority of the people are like Joe. They care about their hometown and want to give back to it.”
Enberg left the national scene to become the Padres’ play-by-play voice in 2010 and has come to know Thatcher a little in the two seasons in San Diego, though the broadcaster says he knows him a lot better after making the trip to speak at the Pitch In for Youth dinner.
“One of the best expressions in baseball is ‘I’ll pick him up for you.’ Guy comes up with bases loaded, ninth inning, tie game, one out, strikes out, and when he goes to the dugout the guy following him says ‘I’ll pick him up for you’ and he gets a base hit, you win, everyone forgets the other guy struck out,” Enberg said.
“Relief pitchers, that’s really in their contract. He’s always picking up for somebody else. He comes in, the guy’s got a mess, bases loaded, nobody out ‘just go out and strike out the side, OK?’ It’s a nice thing in life, not just baseball, to pick somebody up. That’s what this event’s all about.”
The evening included raffle give-aways and items for auction, with an emphasis on sports memorabilia. Included in the items were jerseys from Thatcher, and other local products like Atlanta Braves pitcher Brandon Beachy and Oakland farmhand Nolan Sanburn. Also, an Aaron Rodgers jersey donated by the Packers quarterback fetched a princely $3,000 for the cause.
“There were a number of people here, we had a lot of great items up for auction, we raised a lot of money with ticket sales and all the auction items, raffles, tickets, but the highlight of the evening was definitely Mr. Enberg,” Thatcher said. “He was outstanding. He captivated the room and the people that had a chance to be here definitely had a memorable night listening to him speaking. He’s a legend in the sports world, not just broadcasting, but the sports world.
“We had the privilege of hanging out with him this afternoon, took him around Kokomo, took him to Memorial Gym, took him to see Jimmy Rayl. He has a story for everything, and he’s such a good story-teller, such a nice guy, really opened up to the people here. I’ve had so many people tell me it was awesome hearing him speak.”
Rayl and Enberg have a shared history. Enberg earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana, and called football and basketball games for the Hoosiers — including watching the 1959 Mr. Basketball when Rayl played for the Hoosiers.
“He still thinks he can shoot it from 30 feet,” Enberg quipped.
Enberg entertained with stories about calling UCLA basketball in its glory days when John Wooden had the Bruins on a historic run of championships (Enberg called eight title seasons for the Bruins), talked about a final meeting last year with Wooden, an Indiana hoops legend, and related colorful tales of coworkers and athletes.
Thatcher was grateful to have Enberg’s time and enthusiasm there to highlight the evening. It helped him serve his cause for the evening, aiding the Carver Center, where he’d spent so many days as a youngster growing up in Kokomo. During the dinner, he’d thanked all the sponsors who donated time, money and items for the event. After the dinner, he was thankful for all the help to put the show on in the first place.
“My parents [Phil and Sara Thatcher], they do so much of this,” he said. “People don’t realize how much work goes into this thing, and it’s just us that does it. It’s a lot of work for them. I can’t thank them enough.”
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MEET AND GREET: Kokomo native and San Diego Padres relief pitcher Joe Thatcher shakes hands with Ryan Brinkworth during the autograph portion of Thatcher’s Pitch in for Youth dinner and auction Saturday night at the Kokomo Country Club.
Discussion
Enberg shines as guest speaker at Thatcher’s dinner
Announcer was happy to help out at event.
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Eastern dominates Taylor in softball
GREENTOWN — The third time turned out not to be the charm for the Taylor softball squad as Eastern improved to 3-0 on the season over its backyard rival Wednesday night, ousting the Titans from the Class 2A Eastern Sectional 15-0 in five innings.
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Barnes sets Taylor's career hits record
Taylor baseball standout Logan Barnes made his final game at George Phares Field one to remember.
Barnes pitched four solid innings to lead Taylor past Monroe Central 9-3 Tuesday. In addition, he went 2 for 3 at the plate, pushing his career hits total to a school-record 142. -
Kats drop heartbreaker
When the postseason arrives, emotions surge like a roller-coaster. One minute, it’s a long uphill, then a wild series of events offer a barrage of frights and thrills. And then, for one team, the ride ends and there aren’t any more tickets for another go around.
After two days of chills and thrills, Kokomo’s softball team ran out of tickets Tuesday night in the Class 4A Harrison Sectional. The Kats dropped a 4-3 decision to Harrison in eight innings, giving up a run in the top of the extra frame, and having a runner tagged out at home in the bottom of the frame.
“It was a great game,” Harrison coach Dick Mitchell said. “It’s always nerve-wracking to coach in one of them, but both teams played their hearts out. Nobody deserved to lose that game, but unfortunately somebody does.” -
Comets turn heads at track regional
Heading into Tuesday’s IHSAA girls track and field regional at Fort Wayne Northrop High School’s Spuller Stadium, event workers alike weren’t sure of Eastern High School’s location.
After the dust settled, they may feel compelled to get a map out and find out where Greentown is located.
Led by seniors Sarah Wagner, Brittany Neeley and Bethany Neeley, the Comets qualified for the state finals in six separate events to finish fourth as a team with 55.5 points, behind host and champion Northrop (78), Bellmont (68) and Carroll (Allen) 66. -
GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love. -
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main. -
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped. -
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.
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Kats regain tennis throne
At 10:51 a.m. Saturday morning, the bulk of Kokomo’s girls tennis team sprinted from the viewing hill to the east entrance of the tennis courts to mob No. 1 singles player Morgan Mohr as she came off the court following her 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Eastern’s Courtney Clark.
The No. 3 singles match was still raging, but the team match was already won. The Wildkats had reconquered the throne from two-time defending champion Eastern and were once again champions of the Kokomo Sectional. -
Eastern boys track claims first sectional title since 1998
The boys track and field coach at Eastern High School from 1987 until last season, Paul Nicholson’s parting message to his team was simple: “Don’t deny the gift.”
That motto left such a lasting impression on the Comets’ returning athletes that they had it screen printed on their 2013 season T-shirts.
With Nicholson in attendance to celebrate with them, new coach Austin Roark and the Comets outlasted host Kokomo to win their first sectional title since 1998 Thursday night, topping the Wildkats by 3.5 points, 124.5-121.
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