|
|
|
Five Ways to Fit Fitness Into Your Life
It is extremely important to select an exercise program that will be well-suited to your lifestyle. If you have to drive 25 miles in rush hour traffic to the nearest pool, a swimming routine might not be your first pick. Find an exercise program...
Get the Most Out of Your Hike
Hiking is one of life’s great joys. Fresh air, nature, exercise and good friends. It’s difficult to imagine anything better – if you’re prepared. When you’re not prepared properly, it’s difficult to imagine anything worse. If you hike a few hundred...
How to Become Strong in 30 Minutes a Week
Some body builders lift weights for more than six hours a day,
but you don't have to waste that much time to become very
strong. Training for weight lifting is done in sets. A set of
ten means that you lift and lower a heavy weight ten...
Life Fitness Ellipticals are Amoung the Best
The Life Fitness company makes six different models. They are the Life Fitness Elliptical X3, the Life Fitness Elliptical X3i, the Life Fitness Elliptical X5, the Life Fitness Elliptical X5i, the Life Fitness Elliptical x9i, and the Life Fitness...
Why Schedule a Transition Phase?
The transition phase may be referred to as “off season” training but is not a time to take “off.” Actually, there is no “off” season. The transition phase is the time of year to let your body fully recover, both mentally and physically, while...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Baron Drexel and Harris - My Mentors, Teachers and Coaches
My life was always about playing ball, mostly baseball as I grew up. Therefore, I was always at the playground on Chancellor Avenue. This was a hotbed for sports activity in the Weequahic section of Newark. From Monday through Saturday there were countless games taking place. Baseball on the dirt field and softball on the blacktop. Basketball games, and volley ball games were always being played. Mr Barone, Mr Drexel and Mr Harris oversaw the games that were played. Sometimes they played in those games. They ran the show. Organizing teams for a given game or creating teams for a new league they took charge and got things done. I did not realize some of the things they did that impacted my life until I left the playground scene many years later.
I looked up to all three of them, for being fair, for listening when I had a problem and for being funny. Each one of them was unique. Each one of them was taught me in their own style.
Mr Barone or Mr B as most of us called him was about five feet. The only thing that was small about him was his height. Playing ball with the teenagers was one of his favorite things to do. He often was the director that played in the games when we needed another guy. I would also see Mr B talking to some kids in the batting cage teaching them some fundamentals about batting. He always made himself available either on the playing field or by helping some kids with their homework. I appreciated that he gave of himself. So did many of the other kids. A great guy.
Mr Drexel or Billy Boy as we sometimes affectionately called him was the jokester. No matter how serious I thought the situation was Mr Drexel had his way of making the incident a little less severe. His lightening up of the moment
always made us laugh. I loved that about him. He was noted for his chicanery on the field or court as well. He would find an edge and use it. All within the rules. A Drexel play was referred to bending the rule as far as you could. Hidden ball tricks in baseball and sneaky out of bounds plays in basketball were two of his specialties. What was great was how often they worked. He knew just when to use them. A great guy.
Mr Harris seemed like the leader of the group. The other directors called him Bucky. I always called him Mr Harris. He spoke sternly and was always fair. He was the law. He had a little bit of a snarl about him. I had the utmost respect for him. I thought it was an honor to go to the store and buy him his Garcia Vega cigars.
When he asked me to go I felt like I won something. He was a great guy.
For me these three guys were my mentors as I was growing up. Providing me with guidance on and off the field. There was always one of them at the playground to talk to or get things going so we could play an organized game. I learned about fairness, being stern and about taking the edge off in a seriousness situation from them. Felice Barone, William Drexel and Bucky Harris will always be in my hall of fame. They meant a lot to me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aron Wallad has been a baseball lover for over 40 years. Writing about his favorite subject, baseball, has been a blessing. You will enjoy the heartwarming stories, the unusual statistics and inspiring quotes. But mostly you will love the heartwarming stories that hit a home run to your heart.
Join his ezine http://www.baseballsprideandjoy.com/index.php?tag=goart
|
|
|
|
|
|