Widow honors 1966 West Holmes baseball team

As Kaufman Auction & Realty auctioneer Tim Miller rapid-fired off bids during the West Holmes Athletic Booster Club Cake Auction Tuesday, Feb. 3 in The Dungeon at West Holmes High School during intermission of the basketball game, one might have to excuse Cheryl Gray for getting a little misty eyed.

That was because she knew for certain she was going to purchase the evening’s final offering, a special cake honoring the 1966 West Holmes baseball team that was celebrating the 60th anniversary of the school’s first state tournament team.

Her husband Lyle Gray was a big part of that team’s success, and with his passing April 30 of last year, this was something she knew she had to do to honor her husband and the players and friends who made that spring something special.

“When I heard about this special auction, I thought, ‘What better way to honor him than to buy this cake in the team’s honor because these guys and this game were a love and a passion for Lyle,” Gray said. “I really wanted to do something special to honor him.”

The two had been married for 57 years until Lyle’s passing last year, the couple having met at West Holmes High School — Lyle graduating in 1966 and Cheryl a year later in 1967.

It might have been otherwise, except that one year prior to the big season, West Holmes Schools consolidated. Lyle had gone to Glenmont High, and Cheryl attended Lakeville High.

Gray said one of the challenges for that 1966 team was coming together with all the different high school players suddenly thrust together.

The players who were formerly bitter rivals had to adjust and learn how to play together. It didn’t take long, and she said that baseball team’s ability to work as one to make a run to state helped bring everyone at the school together quickly.

“When we first started, we had all of these different varsity jackets, from Killbuck, or Big Prairie, or Glenmont or wherever,” Gray said. “Someone told Lyle at one point that the baseball team going to state did the trick in unifying all of us.”

Under the leadership of coach Brooks Harris, the team did come together quickly, with the top talent filling out the field nicely.

One glance on the West Holmes Hall of Fame reveals Harris, Gray (centerfield), Stan Tipton (shortstop) and Doug Dye (outfield) are the first four members of the starring athletes in WHHS history. Gray and John Fortune proved to be a formidable duo on the mound for the Knights, who fell 1-0 in an epic semifinal battle.

This evening saw Tipton drive close to four hours from Fort Wayne, Indiana to make the event.

He said it remains a special group of guys dear to his heart.

“We’ve lost of couple of team members, and you never know how many times we will have to reminisce,” Tipton said. “That’s a fond part of my life, and I wanted to be here for the guys.”

Team member Roger Sprang was in attendance and said every five years the guys get together to reconnect, share and remember together.

“We all came together from five different schools and accomplished something special,” Sprang said.

“Lyle set all of that up that helped bring all of these guys back together every five years,” Gray said.

Once the tradition started — a tradition that included Harris — it was steady and true as the team met faithfully to share their lives and remain connected. Even after Harris moved away to West Virginia, the team made sure they met there to include their coach until his passing.

Gray said these gatherings always meant the world to her husband as they still do for all the remaining players who get together. She said her husband was not just a baseball guy through and through, but also a tried and true Knight for life and would often take time out of his schedule to visit the team, help out at practices and watch games whenever possible.

“The guys were always so great; they treated him like a grandfather,” Gray said. “He would get to games early and sit up in the bleachers, and before the game, players would come up and shake his hand and thank him for coming. It was such a neat way for them to share their respect and love for Lyle, and it meant the world to him.”

Being together, sharing memories and recognizing the key role they played in helping unite a school in consolidation were special for all of them, and Gray said she had no doubt her husband was watching, a wide smile gracing his face.