Dear Editor:
While I am not a writer, I want to share my memories of my dear friend.
I was truly blessed to be raised in Noblesville, Indiana with outstanding and caring parents who supported me in every way possible. In 1961, a very special gentleman came into my life. Don Jellison picked me in the youth baseball draft.
The first three years my baseball career my dad coached me but my mother thought it would be better if dad would stop coaching and enjoy watching his only child playing sports. In all honesty, my mom thought dad was too hard on her baby boy. Dad agreed, reluctantly, to stop coaching.
In 1961, I was chosen to be on a team coached by Don Jellison, sports writer for the Noblesville Ledger.
He was young and a fierce competitor who expected a lot from his players. Many parents didn’t like their kids to play for Don because he required you to work hard and get to the ball field by 4:30 p.m. for a 6 p.m. game. Don always had his teams hitting and fielding before a game. That may be one of the reasons his Little League teams were so successful.
I have always loved the game of baseball. It was always my comfort-zone in life.
Don asked me what position I liked best and I quickly spoke up and said catcher. Don looked at me and said “Son, you’re left handed. Catchers aren’t left-handed. You will play first or pitch if I need someone.”
That ended my catching days.
Throughout my youth, Don always had me and his nephew John Fry on his team. It sure wasn’t my talent that made him pick me. Thinking back, it may have been my passion for sports that reminded him of himself.
Trust me, Don always had good players on his teams. In those days you could get two assistant coaches to help you coach. He had the best players’ dads as assistants in the age group he was coaching.
The 1960s Noblesville had no place for players 13 through 16 years old to play baseball. Don and Don Dunker (Dunk), Noblesville High School’s baseball coach, decided that in order to build a strong high school baseball team there needed to be a place for the youth program to play.
Dunk needed to fill that gap to continue to build his program. The 17 and 18-year-old players could play American Legion baseball. Don went to work with local folks and businesses to bring them on board for 13 to 15-year-old Youth Baseball program.
Meetings were set up and it was agreed this needed to happen for this age group.
Where to play was the next question because all baseball fields were part of our school playgrounds.
Someone suggested that the old softball/baseball field at Forest Park had not been used for years might just be a good place to the home field for this age group. The old baseball grandstand was still there. Yes, the same one that is still standing in Forest Park.
Don and Dunk approached the American Legion, because Dunk coached their team, to see their interest in helping to grow youth baseball in Noblesville.
The rest of the story is in the history of how the Babe Ruth program has progressed.
One good story, in the early years of the Babe Ruth Charles Howard Insurance team, was when I was on their first team at 13 years old.
During early days, you had to have two players that were 13 years of age. That first year it was Jeff Sherrill and myself.
We had a very good team that year, which not only played Babe Ruth baseball on the weekends, but played in the Hamilton County Pony League which consisted of six to eight teams on the through the week.
Jeff and I found out pretty early our place on the team when Jelly, which is what we all called Don, came to us and said, “You guys know how to keep the score book?”
We looked at each other and said, “Not sure.”
Jelly said, “The instructions are in the book, so read it, and you two can rotate keeping score.”
That set the stage for our positions for the team.
We did also get chances to play because we had so many games both during the week and on weekends. But I will have to say, we saw very limited action. I guess that is why I enjoy keeping the score book to this day and love baseball stats.
Those were great days playing baseball as a youth because of Don Jellison. Since I came back to Noblesville these last six years, Don and I often talked about those days.
I have over 56 years of Don Jellison stories I could share, and this is just the beginning.
I hope Don’s son, Jeff, will give me a chance to share more of the stories of my journey through life with Don Jellison. Times like my final days playing youth baseball, talking about my relationship with Peanut Butter (Jeff) and my relationship with Jelly during adulthood.
Rest in peace my friend. I am just one of many young lives you have touched in Hamilton County.
Perry Williams
Noblesville