i have to admit for much of my early life, i was very selfish. most everything i did i did for my own gratification. i was in my 3rd year coaching little league baseball when that began to change. this is the story of ray.
i believe it was my first year coaching baseball in newton, which would have been in 1970. we had tryouts and then a draft.there were two buys with the same last name, but not related. when i called out ray's name, the other coaches started laughing. they so ran the kid down and when they told me i could change my pick, i said no,he is the boy i wanted.
to say that ray was uncoordinated would be an understatement. if the ball was hit his way, he would put his glove in front of his face. when he went to throw the ball, it went sideways. at batting, ray would miss the ball by a foot or more. i was having trouble teaching him the game. it wasn't long before the other boys took him aside and told him he should quit. you're ruining our team and we don't want you here, they told him.
later, ray's mother phoned me and asked if i would come over as ray wanted to quit the team. i have to admit that on the way there, i was thinking of telling her that i thought he should too. when i arrived, his mom told me how much she appreciated my being the only positive male influence in ray's life. ray lived with his mom and two sisters and they were very protective of ray.
before he came in, his mom told me the story of ray. three years earlier, when he was seven, ray and his father were out fishing in the middle of a large lake. suddenly, his father suffered a heart attack and all he could get out was, "ray get help " ray rowed the boat into the shore, crying as he struggled with the oars. sadly, his dad died before help arrived. ray became withdrawn and joining the baseball team was the first time joining in with others.
when ray came in, i told him that if he came back, there would be no more trouble with the other boys. i phoned the rest of the team and asked them to come to practice fifteen minutes early. when they came, i told them the story of ray. i told them, if they did what i wanted them to do, that they would see a miracle happen before their eyes.
throughout that season and next,the boys all became like big brothers. they helped him and encouraged him. ray did improve but not to the level of the other boys.
by the time my son was three and because i lived in north delta, i decide i should switch and coach there. a few years later, i ran into my fellow coach from newton. he said ray never came back to baseball but instead joined a football team and apparently became a pretty decent player.
three years later, i moved to smithers. several years after that, my old fellow coach from newton, came through smithers and looked me up. he told me what each boy was doing now. i asked him about ray. he said sadly, that ray had died of leukemia a couple of years after i moved to smithers. he said ray's positive attitude helped his mother and sisters cope with losing him.
it may be hard to see a miracle there, but i believe there was one. to me, the story of ray lives on.
the story of ray doesn't define my life, but it sure set me on a new course for the rest of my life.