There is little doubt that, as Americans, we are baseball crazy. It has long been deemed "America's Game" and its finest teams and players are deeply embedded in the history of this great nation.
But, oftentimes, the greatest baseball stories don't make headline news or the Sportscenter lead. Generally, the finest plot lines are courtesy of overachieving ragtag groups of kids that play on dirt infields in between chainlink fences before sparse crowds made up mainly of parents and relatives.
Which is exactly the story of the 1984 West Frankfort Colt League Baseball team.
That summer, Davy and Dennis "Dink" Broy's group of 15- and 16-year-old boys turned an ordinary summer into a real-life story of the Bad News Bears. Having started out with a pedestrian 6-5 record over the first 11 games, the '84 Colt team won 12 of their next 13, which included winning the Regional and District tournament and top three finish at the Colt League State Finals.
Perhaps the most compelling aspect to that '84 team was how a bunch of teenagers put individual egos aside and came together, proving yet again that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
Saturday evening, some 26 years after that fateful summer, the group gathered for a reunion at the American Legion in Orient to share stories and laughs and to celebrate the lifelong friendships made during the extraordinary season.
Standing before the crowded hall at the Legion, Coach Davy Broy spoke of the fond memories of that season, reminding his former players, who are now in the early 40s, of just how important this particular team has been in his life.
"I coached for more than 20 years," said Broy. "And the '84 team was the most unselfish group of players that I was ever associated with. They were the perfect example of teamwork is all about."
Broy admitted that, prior to the season, he, Dink and assistant coach Richard Biggs had mediocre expectations for the season, figuring that the club would finish somewhere around the .500 mark. But once the team started to come together after those first 11 games, the coaches realized that they were witnessing something special.
From that point on, the team caught fire and never looked back, coming within two wins of a berth in the Colt League National Tournament.
Despite all the success that summer, Broy said the memories made and the relationships built trumped all the thrilling plays and dramatic wins.
