By DR. TERRY COOMER
In 1972, Noblesville (population 7,548) had its first state championship baseball team.
It was a magical season when Noblesville won the Advance Babe Ruth State Championship and went on to play in a seven-state championship playoff in Alpena, Mich. In 1972 in Noblesville, Forest Park was the place to be! The swimming pool, the ballpark, and the music! The park was buzzing with people and the ballpark was crowded. Everyone realized this was a special team and they came out to watch! The lazy, hazy, days of summer! It was an awesome summer for the players, fans, and the community! We walked through the season taking on all comers and beating them! I want to apologize upfront if I forgot anyone’s contribution or do not remember someone.
The team members were Tad Donoff, Carl Lowery, Alan Dunlap, Ray Lyttle, Mike Swaynie, Gary Parks, Jim Harger, Doug Latham, Terry Coomer, Mike Beadle, Dave Beaty, and Randy Wilson. Coaches were Don Dunker and Carl Lowery. We were sponsored by the Noblesville American Legion.
This team obviously had outstanding pitchers. The three starting pitchers were Gary Parks, Ray Lyttle and me, Terry Coomer. We also had great defense, team speed, and power hitters. Mike Swaynie, Tad Donoff and Dave Beatty in the outfield had real speed and ran down several balls and they also ran out several base hits and stolen bases. Doug Latham at second base and Carl Lowery at shortstop were an awesome combination of defense and they hit the ball well. Raw power at the plate with Randy Wilson, Ray Lyttle, Terry Coomer, Dave Beaty, Allan Dunlap, Gary Parks, and Mike Beadle. In fact, all of the starters on this team were capable of taking the ball out of the park at any time. We hit a lot of home runs. There were line drives that were just scorchers!
However, it did not start there. Two men were responsible: Don Jellison, the hall of fame and iconic sports editor and Don Dunker, the Noblesville High School baseball coach. Don Jellison was a relentless promoter of Babe Ruth baseball all over the State of Indiana. For several years he was the President of Babe Ruth baseball in Indiana. Don also believed Noblesville could compete with any city in Indiana and we did.
Don Jellison was the coach of the Noblesville Babe Ruth 14–15-year-old team. It was a feeder program to Don Dunker’s high school team and summer American Legion and Advance Babe Ruth team. I played for both Coach Jellison and Coach Dunker. Don Jellison was my friend for 50 years and Don Dunker was a mentor to me in many areas. The high school baseball field at Noblesville is the Donald J. Dunker field. A well-deserved honor!
This all started with the 14 and 15-year-old Babe Ruth team, which was outstanding. The team broke records and was the start of Noblesville High School winning its first-ever baseball sectional championship in 1970. Noblesville went on a run and won four consecutive sectional championships from 1970 to 1973. No one has done that since.
In 1970 as a freshman, Coach Dunker had me start in left field. At that time, I was the first freshman to ever play on the varsity team. In the sectional I hit .400 and tied a sectional record with three hits in a game. The team was led by senior co-captains Greg Daniels, Larry Howard, and junior Butch Reel. The outstanding pitching by Larry Howard was dominant in this first sectional win ever for Noblesville High School.
Don Jellison wrote an article in the middle 1990’s in the local paper called, “Noblesville Had Awesome Pitching in the Early 1970’s.” Every team has rivalries. For us to win the high school baseball sectional we had to beat one team all four years. Let me make it clear – this group of Noblesville baseball players from 1970 to 1973 beat our rival Carmel in four straight sectionals to take these championships and none of the games were close. By that comment I suppose you know who I lived to beat! I was privileged to be the only player to play on all four sectional championship teams.
Let me digress for a minute. This article is about the 1972 team. However, in 1973 with Ray Lyttle and Gary Parks graduated, I pitched the sectional championship game against Carmel. Don Jellison had written a full-page article on the sport page of the newspaper telling Noblesville that I was going to be drafted by Major League Baseball the day after the sectional championship and the community needed to come out and support the team and me. They did with more than 2,000 people coming out to the game. All stands were full and two to three rows deep of people standing up the fence lines into the outfield. This was in 1973 and radar guns were first starting to be used. Every major league team was present in the stands and many college scouts were at Forest Park. Kim, my girlfriend and now my wife for many years, was sitting right behind the scouts and watching the radar gun. My first pitch was high and tight on the hitter, and I knocked him down and scared him to death! Kim jumped up and yelled out 95 miles per hour! The crowd roared and was on fire after that. In that game after the first inning, I struck out 14 Carmel Greyhounds in a row and Noblesville won the game! Four sectional championships in a row! Now back to the rest of the article!
For the 1972 team pitching was huge! In the 1990’s article Don Jellison said, “Terry Coomer and Ray Lyttle were the first two hurlers to record a pair of shutouts in the local sectional ever. Coomer did it in 1971 and 1972 and Lyttle in 1970 and 1972. Coomer’s first shutout was shall we say perfect. He hurled a perfect game as Noblesville defeated a very good Tipton team 6-0. He struck out 19 of 21 batters in the process. Coomer fanned nine consecutive hitters through the middle innings and then finished with 8 straight strikeouts. He threw only 99 pitches. Eight of the 19 strikeouts came on called third strikes. His second shutout in the sectional was in 1972 which was also a no hitter.”
Don Jellison also wrote in the article, “that the 1972 Noblesville team might have had the best pitching staff in the history of Hamilton County baseball. Along with Coomer, Dunker had Gary Parks, Ray Lyttle and Mike Beadle.”
Storm Club from Cincinnati, the three-time Ohio Advance Babe Ruth State Champions which eventually won the Ohio Advanced Babe Ruth State Championship in 1972, came to Forest Park undefeated 30-0. Gary Parks was a 6 feet 5-inch left hander who could bring it with a great fastball and wicked curve ball pitched against them. We won the game 4-3. Gary was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the ninth round but went on to pitch for Purdue University. After this win we knew we were on the road when we beat the Ohio undefeated State Champion for the past two years! We knew now we could play and beat anyone.
Ray Lyttle was also an awesome pitcher and threw very hard. He threw some no hitters as well and went on to play baseball in college.
As the tournament started, we walked through it behind the three pitchers, Lyttle, Parks, and Coomer. Back then you had to play a district tournament, area tournament, as well as a state tournament. However, we were also playing simultaneously in the American Legion tournament as well. We won that tournament; however, the Advance Babe Ruth Tournament started the day of the American Legion championship game. Coach Dunker tried to get the game changed, but could not so we had to forfeit the first game of the tournament and come through the loser’s bracket to win the Advanced Babe Ruth State Championship. That meant we were going to have beat someone twice to win the championship.
In the opening game of the State tournament for us, I pitched the opening game for us against Floyd County on Friday evening, a Babe Ruth powerhouse from Southern Indiana who had lost to Calumet in the opener, I struck out 16 hitters in seven innings, and we won the game. Now we had to beat Calumet, (from Gary) twice. It was going to be quite a chore because one of our pitchers had to leave to go out of town. Gary Parks pitched against Calumet on Saturday and struck out 15 batters and we won 4-1.
So, with one days rest I was called upon to pitch the State Championship game against Calumet. Needless to say, I had a tired arm. Probably would never be allowed today to pitch with one day’s rest, but here I was. I was not going to lose! However, the bats really came alive for which I was thankful. It was an exciting pitcher’s battle, a scoreless tie into the fifth inning of the State Championship. Which pitcher and defense was going to break first? The crowd became less quiet as each batter went down. Calumet broke first! We scored nine runs in the fifth inning and the game was over. I had thrown six innings of scoreless baseball and in the seventh, I gave up a run, but we won the State Championship 10-1. In the two games with one days rest I struck out 25 hitters. Great defense, pitching and impressive offense.
Then we went a few days later to Alpena, Mich. to play against seven state champions. Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, West Virginia, and Kentucky. Major talent on this field. Big time pitching and hitting with more than 50 professional and college scouts watching the games. We never paid anything to eat or travel as the American Legion had a community fundraiser for us and many parents and baseball enthusiasts traveled to northern Michigan to watch us play. We are thankful for the Noblesville American Legion and all the people who gave for us to represent Noblesville and Indiana in this playoff. There are no easy teams or slouches in this tournament! They are all state champions!
Gary Parks pitched the opening game for us against the Wisconsin State Champion, and we lost 1-0 on a passed ball. Gary struck out 15 hitters in the game. Then it was my turn. We played Kentucky, who had John LeMaster playing for them. The following year, John would be the No. 5 pick in the draft in all of Major League Baseball. John was the shortstop for Kentucky hitting .574 coming into the tournament. He was fast, he had a rocket for an arm, and obviously could hit. I struck out 16 hitters in the game, and we won. I struck out John two times in the game. When John I were seniors in high school the next year, we were both drafted by the San Francisco Giants and became teammates. John was the No. 5 pick overall and I was the 78th pick overall in the Major League Baseball draft. I was the first player in Noblesville’s history to that point to be drafted and signed by a major league baseball team. I was the first player drafted from Indiana in 1973.
In 1972 my record as a pitcher in high school and the summer with our state championship team was 19 wins and one loss.
Ray Lyttle pitched for us in the third game against the Illinois State Champion and again we lost 1-0. He pitched a great game as well.
The city of Noblesville came out and supported us and followed us all season. It was a powerhouse team! Yes, Forest Park was the place to be in the summer of 1972 to watch a great baseball team. We will forever be thankful for everyone that helped to make it happen. Great thanks to the city of Noblesville in 1972, you helped us make it happen! The first state championship team in Noblesville baseball history!
You may reach Dr. Terry Coomer at drterrycoomer19@gmail.com