Millers’ 1973 baseball season

By DR. TERRY COOMER
Guest Columnist

Kim and I recently attended our 50^th Class Reunion for the Noblesville High School graduating class of 1973, on April 28, 2023, at the Purgatory Golf Clubhouse. Wow! Fifty years just flew by! This brought back many memories to me, especially the 1973 baseball season. Keep in mind I said 50 years ago! So, please forgive me in advance if I do not remember your accomplishment or contribution.

In 1970, Noblesville won its first baseball sectional championship under the iconic coach, Don Dunker. That started a run of three straight sectional championships. The 1972 team was a powerhouse team with great players that eventually won the Indiana Advanced Babe Ruth State Championship in the summer. This team arguably could be one of the best teams if not the best team that ever-played baseball in Hamilton County.

Don Jellison, the great Hall of Fame Hamilton County sportswriter, thought so as he wrote a column called, “Dunk’s 1972 Summer Team was the Best Ever in Noblesville.” The column was written July 9, 2008. The three pitchers could knock the bat out of your hands! Gary Parks and Ray Lyttle were seniors and great pitchers. As a junior, I was also a part of the great pitching staff. I threw four no-hitters in high school and the summer. Also, several one-hit games. One of those was a perfect game striking out 19 out of 21 hitters and I did not walk anyone in the sectional championship game of 1971. I also threw a no-hitter in the 1972 sectional. My record in 1972 spring high school and summer was 19 wins and one loss.

So, the table was set for the 1973 season. Obviously, we did not have all the pitching talent in 1973. However, we thought we could win a record fourth sectional championship. It should be noted that no one had done that in Hamilton County baseball and has not done so since! We had four seniors on the team with great athletic talent.

At the reunion, I got to spend some time with my three other senior friends on the 1973 team. Rick Taylor and Mike Swaynie were a valuable part of the team and senior leaders. Both of these guys were fantastic defensive players in the outfield. If something went up in the air, they ran it down! They also got on base a lot because of their speed. They put the bat on the ball.

The other senior was “Mr. Everything” at first base, Mark Hood. Mark was a very good defensive first baseman, and a power hitter. With the underclassmen we had, such as shortstop Carl Lowery, catcher Allan Dunlap, third baseman David Fleming, second baseman, Steve Coverdale, and pitcher Mike Beadle, we certainly thought we had a good chance at being successful and winning a record fourth sectional championship. These guys were great athletes and successful in their own right!

We started off well in the first game of the year. It was in early April in Indiana. We played Ritter High School out of Indianapolis at Forest Park. The San Francisco Giants head scout, Gene Thompson, was at the game, as well as the Ball State University head baseball coach. Ball State University offered me a full ride scholarship after the game to play baseball for them! We won the game 4-0 as I struck out 16 out of the 21 batters I faced. I gave up one hit, a bloop single down the left field foul line that landed just inside the foul line over the head of our third baseman. I also hit a two-run homer over the center field wall 350 feet away. So, we thought we were on our way to a great season!

However, everything changed quickly.

It snowed on Monday with a lot of snow! We could not practice, so Coach Dunker told me to go into the gym and play some basketball to try to take some of my soreness off. A guy fell down in front of me and I fell over him and broke my pitching hand! So, after four weeks in a cast, they took it off. Coach Dunker told me every week that the cast was on my hand, that I was losing thousands of dollars. Going into the season, several scouts had told Coach Dunker I was in the top three in the country in their team’s draft projections. Kansas City, who had been following me since I was 15, told me I was their number one draft pick in 1973. However, the broken hand changed everything for our season and for me.

Then, things got worse. Mike Beadle, our number two pitcher, injured his arm and was unable to pitch for most of the season. We also had other injuries. It was also a very rainy spring. Many of the games were rained out and when we did play, we just did not play well. It was lining up to be a miserable season.

Finally, I got the cast off toward the end of the year and had about three weeks to get it going. Once the cast was off, I could barely hold a ball let alone throw it. It was baby steps! First game back, I had about 75 percent velocity and no control. I got nailed and hit all over the park. Not looking good! In my second game a week later, I pitched and got back to about 90 percent. Still, control was an issue, but we won that game 6-1 against Lapel. It was like we came alive in that game. The seniors came alive! Mike Swaynie hit a home run and had two hits in the game. Rick Taylor had a hit in the game. Mark Hood had three hits in the game! I had two hits in the game including a three-run homer! The seniors had eight of our 10 hits!

Now the sectional was here. How would I do and how would we do? We got the bye and then won our first game. Dunk chose for me not to pitch because he knew Carmel would meet us in the championship game. Carmel was having a great season under coach Tubby McDonald. They could easily beat us if I was not 100 percent. No one knew the answer to that, not even me.

Don Jellison wrote a column the day before in the local newspaper stating the team needed the community’s support! He stated I also needed their support as I would be the first player in Noblesville history who came all the way through the Noblesville program, Little League, Pony League, Babe Ruth, and Legion baseball to be drafted the day after the sectional. The four seniors, Rick Taylor, Mike Swaynie, and Mark Hood for Noblesville really showed up in the championship game with key hits, base running, and defense! What a night at Forest Park! Every major league baseball team had a scout present. Also, many college scouts were present. More than 50 scouts from all over the country at Forest Park!

The community came out! Remember, Noblesville had only about 7,000 people at the time. Between 2,500 and 3,000 people showed up! People were lined up three rows deep down the foul lines. The scouts had all their radar guns pointing at me. Talk about pressure! Kim, my girlfriend, and now wife for the last 50 years, was sitting behind the scouts just in case they needed any vital information!

I knew I had to go all-out to let them know I was over the injury! I hoped I was! Everybody was yelling their support! My first pitch was wild high, and I knocked the Carmel batter down. He was scared to death, especially after Kim saw the radar gun and jumped up and yelled “97 miles an hour!” The crowd reacted wildly, and the Carmel bench was shocked! I knocked him down twice more while walking him.

Mark Hood, my good friend and our senior first baseman, moseyed over to the mound as only he could, and looked at me and said, “How’s it going?” I told him, “If they were going to beat me, they would have to beat me with me throwing as hard as I can!”

Mark said, “They are not going to hit you. Take a little off and throw strikes. If they do hit the ball, that is the reason we are back here!” Made sense to me and I calmed down. Mark always had something wise to say most of the time!

Carmel suffered for that! I went on to strike out 14 Carmel hitters in a row. We won the game and the record fourth sectional in a row. This is a record that has stood for 50 years! The 1973 class of Noblesville High School had a player on each one of the four sectional championships. No other school has done that as well. No other class has done that! Congratulations to the four seniors on the 1973 championship team: Rick Taylor, Mike Swaynie, Mark Hood, and Terry Coomer.

I have been honored to serve as a Pastor and Director of Hope Biblical Counseling Center for the last 44 years. I was asked to pray for the whole Alumni Banquet for all graduates of Noblesville High School on Saturday evening where the class of 1973 was the honored class, and again showed itself well as we gave $10,730 to the Alumni Association Scholarship Fund!

The 1973 Reunion Class Committee was under the leadership of Jeff Zeckel, who worked hard and did an outstanding job of coordinating our class effort. He went above and beyond in the call of duty! He was ably helped by Amy Griffin Stinson, Shelia Tucker Lowther, Mike Higginbotham, Marcia Griffin Hunt, Vickie Smith Brock, Karen Shafer Montgomery, Keith King, Janet Hull Hazelwood, Rose Hoggard Ball, Melanie Lawhorn Bartrom, and Kim Henderson who all did an outstanding job as well!

Thanks to Steve Wariner and Brad Cook who contributed to our Class Memory Book. Steve designed and did the cover. Brad Cook gave his permission to include some of his wonderful artwork in the Memory Book.

At the Alumni Banquet for all classes on Saturday evening when I prayed, I had a moment of silence for 45 of our class members who could not be present because they had passed away. I wanted to thank God for Noblesville High School, and all the administrators, teachers and coaches who taught us, encouraged us, and helped us with our many accomplishments. Also, for all our classmates. Later, I appreciated, and I am sure our classmates did as well, when the reunion committee of the class of 1973 put together a slide presentation of all 45 of our deceased classmates. It was a sober moment.

The 1973 class has had some great accomplishments and has given back to the city of Noblesville and to Noblesville High School. To just name a few, we had in our class Steve Wariner, the country music star with several No. 1 records. Steve is well-known in the music industry. Steve and I grew up together as we both lived around Old Southside Park in Noblesville.

Rick Taylor, a two-time city councilman and Jeff Zeckel, also a city councilman. Rick and Jeff served together on the city council at the same time giving back to their community. Two members of a graduating class have not done that before. Quite an accomplishment. Rick also served the city of Noblesville for many years as a fireman and a leader in the fire department.

Jim Crask served for many years as a Noblesville policeman and after retirement a Noblesville Schools resource officer. He also was elected as a Noblesville City Councilman and to the Noblesville school board. Marcia Griffin Hunt has had a successful career and was honored numerous times in her profession with Mary Kay. Mark Hood who has owned his own Insurance Agency for several years. David Church who is a published author. Becky Knotts Hill-Skates has been highly successful in the nursing field being a Director of Nursing and currently a Nurse Manager in Behavioral Health at Community Health Network. We have had class members who have been successful in business, health, real estate, law, teaching and in many other fields.

In 1973, I was drafted by the San Francisco Giants as the first player in Noblesville history to be drafted and sign a professional baseball contract. I was also the first player drafted in Indiana in 1973. In 2020, I was inducted into the Noblesville High School Sports Hall of Fame for baseball. I also want to thank Kathy Kreag Williams, our Indiana State Representative for many years from the class of 1974, who has been successful in her own right for being my presenter into the Hall of Fame. She walked out with me and presented me with the Hall of Fame award. I know there are many more accomplishments by the class members of 1973 for which we are proud of and thankful for!

Congratulations to the Noblesville High School class of 1973! Fifty years! Congratulations to Noblesville High School for all you have done for us, we are glad to be graduates of Noblesville High School!

You can reach Dr. Terry Coomer at drterrycoomer19@gmail.com.