Straight Paths:The Dream Team Who Could Have Dreamed?

The Dream Team

Who Could Have Dreamed?

Loren Hardin

The Ashland Beacon

             This is part one of a series about Michael who enrolled in hospice services at age sixty-two with terminal cancer.  Michael was a family man with a wife and two grown daughters and retired as a chemist from Sunoco Chemical plant in Haverhill, Ohio.  Michael was born on September 20th, 1947; the same year that the first Little League World Series was held in Williamsport, PA. Who could have dreamed that little boy would eventually pitch at the Little League World Series twelve years later.

             I’d never heard of Michael Powell until he was admitted to our Hospice inpatient center. Droves of visitors, especially local girls’ softball players and entire teams, both high school and college, inundated the hospice center. Yellow school buses peppered the parking lot. I thought, "Who in the world is this guy?" I soon discovered that Michael was somewhat of a local legend in baseball and softball circles. He coached girls’ softball and taught numerous girls, even competitors, how to fast pitch. 

            Michael’s father, Bill, happened to be one of our most active hospice volunteers. Bill was also Michael’s unofficial biographer, so, I’ll let Bill boast about Michael’s athletic accomplishments. Here’s Bill: "Michael wanted to be a pitcher ever since he was five years old, so I taught him what he wanted to know. When Michael was a senior at Clay High School, they were playing Portsmouth at the diamond at Clay. Al Oliver (Future Major League Baseball seven time All-Star) was on Portsmouth’s team. Joe Nuxall from the Cincinnati Reds was at the game scouting, and he told a fellow there, ‘They sent me down here to check out Oliver, but I like that lefthander’. He was talking about Michael who was pitching. The Minnesota Twins and the Cincinnati Reds were courting Michael, but we talked to the principal at Clay, and he suggested that Michael take a full scholarship at Ohio University and so he did."

             Now back to the Little League World Series; to the 1960 New Boston Little League World Series team. Again, here’s Bill: "New Boston had one of the few franchised Little Leagues so players came from different parts of the county, so we had the cream of the crop so to speak. We had to win eleven games to make it to Williamsport. We were the first team from Ohio to ever make it to the World Series. We won two and lost one; we lost to California. It was tied eight to eight and in the last inning California scored three runs and won the game. We had a lousy game and made some errors. We just fell apart against California. We placed fifth in the world but if it hadn’t been single elimination, we wouldn’t have had any trouble winning the whole thing. A team like that only comes along once in a lifetime."

             Bill explained that it was his goal to see that the team was honored locally: "I tried for years to get them on the Portsmouth floodwall murals, but I talked with all the players, and they said, ‘We didn’t play for Portsmouth. We played for New Boston. We want to be honored in New Boston.’” Therefore, Bill contacted Jim Warren, the mayor of New Boston, who assured Bill, ‘That’s the least we can do. That team put little New Boston on the map back then.’ 

             Bill’s perseverance paid off. The Village of New Boston launched a fundraising campaign and hired Brent Woodard, a local fledgling freelance artist to paint a mural of that 1960 Little League World Series team on the north end of the press box at the New Boston baseball field. Who could have dreamed that young fledgling artist would become an Adjunct Professor of Art at West Virginia University Tech and Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Charleston and be voted the "Number Two Best Artist" in the state of West Virginia. And who could have dreamed that young fledgling artist would be the one who God inspired, while working at the Portsmouth Daily Times, to pave the way for this weekly column, including this series about Michael. And who could have dreamed that young fledging artist would later write the foreword to my first book, “Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course”. Following is an excerpt from Brent’s foreword: 

             "I truly believe that every opportunity in life, good or bad, anticipated or unexpected, no matter how small, presents renewed opportunity, born of itself. It’s surprising how much of it isn’t realized until well after the fact. Some of the most unlikely jobs I’ve ever had have always equipped me with some sort of new skill. These skills have helped me through the various seasons of my life or prepared me for a new season altogether… small opportunities inform future opportunities…I believe this is how God works."

             “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him,” (I Corinthians 2:9, NKJV).

             “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way,” (Psalm 37:23, NKJV).

             Loren Hardin was a social worker with SOMC-Hospice for twenty-nine years and is presently an active volunteer. He can be reached at 740.357.6091 or at lorenhardin53@gmail.com. You can order Loren's book, "Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course", at Amazon.