ASHLAND, Ky. – The fourth annual Ashland Baseball CP-1 Hall of Fame ceremony had a little bit of everything.

-Emotional speeches. Several inductees had to collect themselves while offering up heartfelt speeches that included their parents, family and teammates.

-Untold stories. David Patton, a 1950s era Tomcat, brought out the entire arsenal of never-before-heard stories about his playing days. What a treat!

-Divine intervention. There’s no other explanation as to why it did not rain. The forecast kept getting worse day by day and on Friday was calling for a 90 percent chance of thunderstorms – and we made the call to have the ceremony in the park anyway Saturday morning.

Guess what? It didn’t rain.

It all added up to what will be remembered for a long time for the 14 inductees and their families.

It was also one of the bigger crowds in the history of the CP-1 Hall of Fame with 80 to 100 in attendance. Some laughed, some cried, and everybody enjoyed.

The common denominators were a love for Central Park and thank you wishes to deceased parents, to siblings, to teammates and to organizers.

Larry Stevens, a hard-throwing pitcher during the early days of the Tomcat Dynasty Era in the 1960s, came in a wheelchair because he is suffering from a disease that has also taken away his ability to communicate.

Yet Stevens broke off the line of the day when in his broken sentences was able to clearly get out: “I got a hit off Bill.”

That was in reference to good friend Bill Lynch, the flame-throwing lefthander who was in the inaugural CP-1 Hall of Fame class.

The crowd roared with laughter from Stevens’ short sentence to his friend. His wife later took over the rest of the speaking.

From stars in the 1950s to the 1970s, the crowd listened intently for two hours as one by one the inductees shared a bit of their stories. Nobody was too long and nobody was too short and everybody who came walked away feeling a little better about either living in Ashland or having the joy to play in Central Park.

Greg Swift, Don Allen and co-coaches Rick Reeves and Frank Wagner represented the 1970s. Reeves said it would be much better if Wagner, who died a dozen years ago, could have stood there with him.

Ernie Daniels not only shared his baseball life but also his faith in a heartfelt speech. He played from 1961 to 1963 for the Tomcats and shared a story how he won the American Legion Chuck Dickison Award as a 16-year-old shortstop.

He said he was waiting for the Dickison ceremony, not knowing who was going to win, and he saw his mother and father get out of a car. Daniels choked up a little before continuing, saying he still didn’t know he was going to be the award winner and then his name was announced.

Six members of the Tomcat Dynasty Era between 1965-69 also were inducted: John Sieweke, David Staten, Stevens, Mike Tackett, Fred Leibee and Don Lentz.

Three players from the 1950s, Patton, H.F. Dixon and Larry Castle rounded out with speeches that came from deep inside.

Inductees came out of state from Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas and from Lexington and Lawrenburg in state.

They came to be inducted but were reminded they left their heart in Central Park.

 

ASHLAND, Ky. – For the last 51 years, John Radjunas has had the game ball from Ashland’s 1967 state championship victory tucked away at his home.

Radjunas, who was a senior quarterback, was handed the football by one of the game’s officials as he was running off the field following Ashland’s 19-14 triumph over Elizabethtown.

The official figured it would be something Ashland would want in its trophy case, Radjunas said.

Fifty-one years later, the ball has found its way there after Radjunas presented it to Tomcat athletic director Mark Swift who made a spot for the encased football beside the ’67 championship trophy in the two-year-old wall display.

Principal Jamie Campbell, football coach Tony Love and cheerleading coach Cathy Goble were also at the impromptu ceremony.

Radjunas had no intention of keeping it when it was handed to him but the game ball – and even the Tomcats’ state championship victory – took a backseat to circumstances of these damp and dreary day.

Ashland’s victory at the Fairgrounds in Louisville will be forever linked with the tragic death of Joe Franklin, who was killed that morning in an automobile accident. He was traveling to a basketball scrimmage with four others that morning when he crashed on U.S. 60 just past Morehead. The passengers in the accident survived.

The players didn’t learn about what happened until after the game when coach Jake Hallum told them. Cheers turned to tears as they mourned the death of the popular Franklin, an All-American boy who played football as a sophomore but chose to concentrate on his best sport, basketball, as a junior.

It was no time to show off the game ball, Radjunas reasoned, so he tucked it into his bag and mostly forgot about it. The next day the Tomcats bused home and he went into the locker room and saw the football in the bag but decided, well, he would just keep it.

After all, Radjunas and everybody else associated with the Tomcat team and fans, were numb over the horrendous news. The championship even had a hollow ring to it.

He took care of the football over the years, even painting STATE CHAMPS 1967 ASHLAND 19, ETOWN 14 on it. Radjunas also purchased a nice case for it.

But after learning that Ashland had rebuilt its trophy case in the lobby of James A. Anderson Gymnasium, he knew that’s where it needed to be for all Tomcat fans to see.

So he made connections with Cathy Goble, his classmate, and she contacted Swift to put it all in motion. Then, on Thursday morning, the ‘ol quarterback made one more handoff for the Tomcats.

 

 

ASHLAND, Ky. – Inductees for the fourth annual Ashland Baseball CP-1 Hall of Fame are in for an extra treat.

The Ashland Tomcats are inviting the 2018 class to be their guests when the Tomcats open the high school football season against Harlan County on Saturday night in Putnam Stadium.

The 2018 CP-1 HOF class will be introduced to the crowd at halftime of the game, according to Ashland Athletic Director Mark Swift.

The CP-1 Hall of Fame ceremony takes place at 1 p.m. in Central Park and the Ashland-Harlan County game kicks off at 7:30.

All 14 of the inductees either played baseball for the Tomcats or attended school there.

Six members of the class were part of Ashland’s three-peat state championship baseball reign from 1966 to 1968.

The 14-member class includes:

David Patton, Larry Castle and H.F. Dixon from the 1950s era.

Ernie Daniels, Don Lentz, David Staten, Fred Leibee, Mike Tackett, Larry Stevens and John Sieweke from the 1960s era.

Greg Swift, Donnie Allen, Rick Reeves and the late Frank Wagner from the 1970s era.

This year’s class brings the total inducted to 50 with 50 more still to be selected in the next five years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ASHLAND, Ky. – Three Ashland Tomcat baseball greats from the 1950s will be enshrined in the Ashland Baseball CP-1 Hall of Fame on Saturday in Central Park.

Pitcher Larry Castle, catcher David Patton and center fielder H.F. Dixon were all teammates ifor the Tomcats who won the regional tournament in 1958.

Dixon was also on the 1960 regional champions that won its first game in the State Tournament before bowing out.

Castle played from 1957 to 1959 and was the No. 1 starting pitcher all three years, pitching the openers of district and regional tournaments and the region finals in 1957 and 1958.

He also started the state tournament opener in ’58, losing a narrow game with Owensboro.

Castle played either shortstop (if Dick Fillmore was pitching) or third base (if Herb Conley was pitching) when he wasn’t on the mound and batting around .350 while being one of the top run producers.

Castle’s nifty pitching was mostly off speed with an assortment of curveballs and sliders. He threw the fastball only 15 percent of the time, he said.

“I was best known for my curveball and drop curve, so I relied on them heavily,” he said. Castle struck out about 10 players per game.

Castle started his youth league career playing for Charles Russell Elementary that won back to back city championships. He also played for Ballard’s in the Pony League and his coach was T.R. Wright, whose name is on the Central Park press box. Gary Wright is T.R. Wright’s son. He also played in the Midget League where Robert Wright, Gary’s brother, was his coach.

Patton was a three-year starter from 1957 to 1959 and is best known as a catcher and powerful hitter. He hit .375 as a sophomore, .458 as a junior and .500 his senior year in 1958.

Dixon was a center fielder from 1958 to 1960, starting all three years and tracking down fly balls with the best of them. He was also a steady hitter who batted at the top of the order.

Dixon played in the first year of Babe Ruth in Ashland in 1957 and won the batting title with a .491 average.

His sandlot teammates – Gary Wright, David McGuire, Dicky Fillmore and Herb Conley – ended up being some of his high school teammates as well.

“I never took a play off I could ever remember,” he said.

Ernie Daniels, one of the best fielding shortstops in Tomcat history from 1961-63, is another inductee.

Others in the 2018 class are Don Lentz, Fred Leibee, John Sieweke, Dave Staten, Larry Stevens and Mike Tackett, all who were members of state championship teams during the stretch when the Tomcats won three titles in a row from 1966-68; 1970s players Greg Swift and Don Allen and Rick Reeves and the late Frank Wagner, who shared coaching duties from Post 76 American Legion for almost 20 years.

The ceremony begins at 1 p.m. in Central Park. It will move to the Family Life Center at Unity Baptist Church in case of rain.