Published: May 05, 2008 11:44 pm            

Memories & laughs abound at reunion

Members of 1959 Prichard baseball team gather to honor teammate who has cancer

CANNONSBURG — The names and faces were the same, but the years had, well, changed some of the bodies.

When Prichard High School’s 1959 baseball team knelt for a team picture on Monday morning at Princess Chapel, knees cracked and joints popped. It wasn’t a pretty picture.

“Hurry up, dadblameit,”one of them shouted as the photographer, who was also the Yellowjackets star pitcher in ’59, steadied the camera.

“Somebody’s going to have to help me up after this one is over,” another one chortled.

Everybody laughed. Age may have taken some of their athleticism, but not the senses of humor or the memories of some of the best times of their lives.

Clell Lucas, the pastor at Princess Chapel and a ’59 Prichard alum, set up the reunion to honor one of the players who couldn’t be there. They held signs for Phil Hammond, the team catcher and leader, during the impromptu team picture.

Hammond lives in Pima, Ariz., and is suffering from cancer.

“I’d like to be there,” Hammond said via cell phone from his Arizona home. “The baseball team in ’59, with a couple of breaks, could have gone to the state tournament.”

The Yellowjackets did make it to the regional finals in ’59, losing 10-0 to McKell. Prichard workhorse Stanley Dyer finally ran out of steam after pitching game after game in the postseason.

“We pitched him almost until his arm dropped off,” Hammond said. “Our way of taking care of him was 39 cents to buy a bottle of Absorbine Junior at Brown’s drugstore. That was it.”

Dyer didn’t have much left for McKell in the championship. Harold Holbrook, Prichard’s coach, said he was hoping for rain after the Yellowjackets made it into the regional finals.

Dyer was the photographer on the scene during a picture-perfect Monday morning. His wife, Carolyn Wilson Dyer, said her husband has been dabbling in some filmmaking as well. He is working on a documentary about Prichard High School that he hopes to finish in time for the 50th reunion of the ’59 class next year, Carolyn said.

This day was for the players. Twins Bill and Beryl Satterly were outfielders and easily the team’s best two hitters. Beryl batted .428 and Bill .378. Both of them were there, tossing the baseball around on the grounds.

Other Prichard alumni were there, too, including Larry Boggs of West Sunberry, Pa. He didn’t play baseball but followed the team closely. “I went to the games to get out of class,” he said with a sly grin. “They were a good team. They just needed one more pitcher.”

Prichard’s defense was anchored by Jack Calhoun, who was recognized by The Courier-Journal as the best shortstop in the state in preseason.

“He was our Roy McMillen,” Boggs said, referring to the former Cincinnati Reds shortstop of ’59.

Hammond was the catcher, Kenny Applegate played second base, Jim Felty third base, Dick Damron and George Waggoner first base, Bill Nash left field, Bill Satterly right field and Beryl Satterly was in center.

“Every time they hit the ball in the outfield, if those guys ran into each other there would be a fistfight in the outfield,” Boggs said of the twins.

Dyer and Waggoner were the pitchers, although the ball was mostly in Dyer’s hands.

Most of the players on the team grew up only a street apart, living on Second and Third Streets in Grayson. While there wasn’t organized youth baseball in the summer, the players in this neighborhood played together from daylight to dark.

“They were a bunch of good athletes,” said Holbrook, who later became superintendent of Carter County schools. “They’d played together for some time and it showed.”

Applegate, a leadoff hitter who batted .320, said the team’s tight-knit relationship made them hard to beat.

“We all grew up together playing basketball and baseball,” he said.

Jack Strother, a sophomore on the ‘59 team, also joined in during the summer games.

“We’d have car washes and buy either a bat or ball,” he said. “We’d play until either we broke the bat or lost the ball.”

Prichard also had an outstanding basketball team that season but was still no match for another Carter County school. Olive Hill High School’s ‘59 team was one of the best in the state, losing in the semifinals of the Sweet Sixteen.

Prichard’s basketball season came to an unceremonious end with a loss to Vanceburg. Almost immediately after the game, as the team shared pimento-cheese sandwiches — a longtime food tradition for away games — on the way back to Grayson, the attention turned to baseball.

Hammond told anyone within earshot that the baseball team was going to make it to the state tournament. He also had some advice for the team’s pitcher.

“Dyer, you are going to throw strikes,” he said. “You about killed my shins with all those balls you threw in the dirt last year.”

Hammond laughs about it today. “We didn’t have anybody else on the team who knew where home plate was,” he said. “We had nobody else who could pitch.”

Dyer remembered Hammond telling him to plunk the first batter.

“The strategy was always to hit the first batter,” Dyer said. “Then we had them psyched out.”

Bill Satterly, who lives in Lexington, said the reunion brought back some precious memories for him.

“Something like this brings you together,” he said. “I haven’t had a ball glove on my hand since high school.”

But he did remember a home run he hit at Boyd County that went over a hill and out of sight. “That ball may still be rolling,” Satterly said.

Stories like that were frequently being told on Monday to anybody who would listen. The Yellowjackets were in their heyday again, complex with yellow-and-black T-shirts and ball caps provided by Lucas.

“I’d love to be there,” Hammond said. “If I can beat this cancer, I’ll be there for the 50th (reunion).”

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.