March 27, 2002
This is another "B"Line column, a periodic collection of news items of interest to members of the Baylor "B" Association. Contribute news about you or your teammates via e-mail to Dutch Schroeder (Dutch_Schroeder@baylor.edu), Reba Cooper (Reba_Cooper@baylor.edu) or Jack Loftis (Jack.Loftis@chron.com). The mailing address is Baylor "B" Association, P. O. Box 8120, Waco, TX 76714.
GRAB CALENDAR, GREEN PEN - Pardon this Dan Ratherism, but on the weekend of April 19-21 Baylor University will be busier than an Aggie biking through Austin. The 2002 Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Open Track Meet kicks off events on Friday night and resumes on Saturday afternoon. At 11 a.m. Saturday the Winston Wolfe Complex at Hart-Patterson Track will be dedicated, followed by a "B" Association Room luncheon honoring Wolfe (a Memphis resident who ran track for Baylor during the late 1950s) and longtime BU track coach Clyde Hart. If you're planning on going, get there early because invitations are in the mail to 455 former track and field athletes . . . And keep those scissors handy. Later in the day they will be needed to cut a ribbon at the dedication of Dutch Schroeder Plaza in the Jim and Julie Turner Riverfront Athletic Complex. Named for the former Baylor baseball coach and current "B" Association executive vice president, the Plaza is located between Baylor Ballpark, the Getterman Softball Complex and the Baylor Tennis Center. The ceremony will be held prior to the 6 p.m. baseball game between Baylor and Texas A&M . . . Closing out the 72 hours of tributes and sporting events, the 1977 Baylor baseball team that played in the College World Series in Omaha will observe the 25th anniversary of that feat as part of Sunday's 1 p.m. game between Baylor and Texas A&M. Before being introduced on the field, team members will be guests at a luncheon in Baylor Ballpark's Mickey Sullivan Room - fittingly, we must add, since Sullivan was their coach . . .
MINOR CONSIDERATION - That same Mickey Sullivan has been accused by Joe Coleman, the Houston attorney, BU regent and co-chair of the recent reunion of the 1952 Baylor Freshman Baseball Team (see separate story on this Web site), of bad coaching. Prior to his tossing out the ceremonial first pitch at the March 9 Baylor-Nebraska game, Coleman claims Sullivan walked off a distance of 60 feet and told Coleman to practice. When the pitch fell short, Coleman remembered the official distance to home plate is 60 feet - plus six inches! . . . In contacting members of the 1952 team, Coleman and co-chair John Minton discovered that the professions chosen by their teammates were as varied as the positions they once played at old Dutton Field - eight businessmen, four lawyers, two school superintendents, two ministers, one college professor, one engineer and one who chose a career in the U. S. Air Force . . . Bill Foster, a halfback for Baylor during the 1937 and 1938 seasons, was a recent visitor to the "B" Room. Foster, who worked for the Borden Company in Waco for many years before moving to Marshall, recalls that the Bears were 7-3 in each of the two years he played . . .
THEY'RE COMING FROM AFAR - Perhaps the phenomenon can be explained by distance and bad roads - particularly Interstate 35 or the Bermuda Triangle for Motor Vehicles as it is known - but there seems to be a lot of retired Baylor fans moving back to Waco to be closer to the Old School and its athletics (including their own golf games). Case in point is Johnny Ray, who played basketball and golf for Baylor in the late 1940s. A former coach in the Corpus Christi area, Ray and wife Shirley moved back to Waco last year. Earlier this month Ray was spotted in the Floyd Casey Stadium's North End Zone watching Coach Kevin Steele conduct a football clinic for area coaches and fans. The drill was part of the Bears' spring training activities . . . Also coming home to Baylor are Bobby Dodson, another BU golfer in the 1940s, and wife Peggy. They moved to Waco from El Paso, a city closer to California than it is to Central Texas . . . Yet another couple dividing time between Austin and Waco is Jack and Dorothy McCreary. Jack also was a Baylor golfer in the 1940s and now practices law in Austin when he is not fishing his own lake near Waco . . . Houstonian Ray Snokhous, honorary consul of the Czech Republic and a former center for the University of Houston, recalls playing in the first game ever at Baylor Stadium (now FCS). It was on September 30, 1950, and the contest also marked the first meeting of Baylor and UH football teams. Snokhous, a native of West - just north of Waco - says he went down on the opening kickoff and crashed head-on into Baylor's Richard Parma. It must have been a serious collision because the retired Reliant Energy attorney swears the Cougars lost by a 13-0 score. However, the Record Book shows Baylor winning, 34-7. But who has time anymore to argue with a lawyer? . . .
