BASEBALL SEASON 1958 Khoury League with the Only Woman Manager in Kirkwood
It was the summer of 1958. We were all in the fifth grade, most of us attended Keyser Elementary School on Geyer Road. I played second base and outfield. Lew Williamson and Gary VonDerheide were my best friends. They would also play second base and outfield. I was pretty good at fielding because my dad would always play catch with my brother and me. He would throw us grounders as well as high flying balls. I wasn’t much good at hitting. Probably because we didn’t practice hitting, the picture window of the family room would have been within range.
At registration time, we were told, “No team if you don’t have a coach or a manager.”
John Harris’s mother, a fifth grade teacher at Manchester school in the Parkway District, not wanting to disappoint her son and the boys, spoke up. “If they would allow a woman to take on the office, she would do it.”
She would be the only woman Khoury League manager in Kirkwood. She recruited Mr and Mrs Vern Schmidt who volunteered to be coaches for the boys.
Sponsored by the Kirkwood Western Auto, the team finished second in the Bantam C League that year.
Pictured: Front Row - Cheerleaders Kathy Pierce, Mary Sue Fillo, Nancy Beckman
Middle Row - Bruce Antle, Lew Williamson, Gary VonDerheide, John Harris, Steve Huber
Back Row - Larry Lazier, Denny Liddle, Warren Orlick, Mike Kramer, Mark Lawyer
Standing in back- Manager, Mrs. R.A. Harris
Also on the team but not pictured were, Dickie Schmidt, Eddie Sunder, Larry Reutter, Pat Erwin and
David Mueller. There were also two more cheerleaders Cathy Modray and Carol Summers who
either could not be present on the day of the picture or were out of town.
David Mueller. There were also two more cheerleaders Cathy Modray and Carol Summers who
either could not be present on the day of the picture or were out of town.
It is mind-blowing that very many of these people are still in touch with one another and with our class. I don't know Larry Reutter, Pat Erwin and David Mueller, but you Keysor kids probably do. Carol Summers moved to Massachusetts before we hit KHS and now lives in California. Her parents and mine were best friends, my parents being the god-parents of her little sister. She's only been back once, for a reunion in the 90s, or maybe 2000. Larry Lazier is still here, a retired Kirkwood Fireman who had a great career right here 'at home'. We think Dickie Schmidt was Richard Charles Schmidt of our class, not Rick Schmidt as I speculated earlier. We have no information on R C Schmidt at this time. I have lived near or not far from Manchester School for years! It's still a beautiful red brick building, now housing a popular bridal shop. Cathy Modray was just with us a couple of weeks ago at our mini Reunion at Karen Lowe's home in Kirkwood....
THANK YOU again Bruce for sharing your memories!
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