Published: July 16, 2008 11:02 pm            

Mark Maynard: Honoree loves his hometown: 7/17/08

Every year at this time, the Elks Lodge 350 in Ashland puts on its Sports Day weekend, honoring former sports heroes from our communities.

It’s a process that usually is about a year in the making. George Stout and his Sports Day committee will announce the honoree for next summer at the conclusion of this weekend’s festivities.

This year’s honoree, Charlie Reliford, needs no introduction from me to the Ashland community. He’s one of the best ambassadors this city has ever had and does whatever he can to promote his hometown.

As a 19-year major league baseball umpire, Reliford has risen to the top of his profession — a profession that requires little margin for error — while always remembering where he was from. He has umpired in the World Series twice, two All-Star Games and numerous divisional series and league championship series. He’s been on the field for some momentus occasions — Barry Bonds’ 700th home run, Mark McGwire’s 70th home run in 1998 and Randy Johnson’s perfect game, to name a few.

Yet, ask him about his greatest honors and he’ll tell you it is being named one of Ashland’s Distinguished Tomcat Award winners and the Sports Day honor that is coming this weekend. That’s because those honors reflect how much somebody from Ashland thinks of him. They say it’s hard to be a hero in your hometown but Charlie Reliford has earned that distinction.

Just ask anybody who umpires with him or who knows him how much he talks about Ashland on the job in cities like Philadelphia, Los Angeles or Miami. Those around him now know more about Our Town than many of us who have lived here all of our lives, courtesy of “Mr. Ashland,” the nickname Reliford proudly carries with him on a daily basis.

Reliford has extolled the virtues and thick history of Ashland — a town with a great sports heritage and some legendary figures in its own right — to anyone who will listen (even as they’re rolling their eyes because of another story Reliford begins to tell about his hometown area).

Reliford wasn’t a memorable athlete here, unlike so many others whose faces are on the wall in the Elks Lodge as former Sports Day honorees. But there’s no doubt he belongs up there with them because Ashland couldn’t have a better friend. The Sports Day committee hit one out of the park with their selection and now it’s up to us to support his big weekend.

Hopefully, Ashland will come out in big numbers to the Sports Day festivities tomorrow and Saturday at the Elks Lodge — it’s open to the public, if you didn’t know — and support one of this town’s favorite sons. The two nights are entertaining and informative and you’ll get a chance to meet not only one of the best umpires in the major leagues but one of this town’s biggest fans.

MARK MAYNARD can be reached at mmaynard@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2648.

        

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