CSUSOP Hearing - Youth Sports
Phillies Mike Schmidt is the 1991 LLHE Recipient
The Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics and Paralympics (CSUSOP) public hearing occurred on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023.
In the final hour of the hearing, Tom Farrey, the founder of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program, cried, “Re-write the Amateur Sports Act and center the needs of youth and communities, and watch everything that sits on top of that base flourish: more athletes, better athletes, and, yes, more Olympic and Paralympic inspiration.”
Youth Sports!!! I suddenly remember the picture below posted by my high school friend and neighbor, Marc Jennings, on Facebook a few weeks ago.
Jennings described that his Little League team (pictured) played in the Dayton View League at an excellent ball field near Kings Highway and Gettysburg Avenue in Dayton, Ohio, a two-minute bike ride from Jennings’ home. It is the same field where the Philadephia Phillies legend Mike Schmidt began playing baseball. He was too young to pose for the above picture because he is one year younger. Each team could have 1 or 2 games a week, depending on the schedule. None of the teams practiced on this field. They would have practice maybe once a week when the volunteer coaches had time. They would practice in areas like College Hill Park (a two-minute bike ride) or Cornell Heights Park (a four-minute bike ride.)
All the Little Leagues ended at age 12. Next, the Babe Rube League was started at age 13. Babe Ruth had a field farther south of the Little League field (a 12-minute bike ride). Schmidt played in Babe Ruth as Jennings did, but a year later, Dayton View created the Senior League, which was the same age group as Babe Ruth. Schmidt switched to Dayton View Senior League, but Jennings stayed in Babe Ruth. All these fields are gone now.
In the conclusion, Jennings wrote, “The boys of the Summer of 1958 organized fun. We rode our bikes to the games without our parents.”
Without our parents??? In my boyhood town of Farmersville, Ohio, with a population of 587 in the 1950 census, I walked (or rode on a bike) to a ball field and an outdoor basketball court by myself despite being totally deaf.
Farmersville did not have the Little League program but had a church adult softball league. Imagine that my Farmersville EUB Church manager put me on the right field at the age of 12 for a few games!!! Standing on this right field spot was about 50 yards from the town water tower.
Across the USA, the school district of McClymonds High School in Oakland, California, produced professional athletes, from basketball (Bill Russell, Paul Silas, Joe Ellis, Antonio Davis) and football (Wendell Hayes, Marcus Peters) to baseball (Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Curt Flood, Lee Lacy) and track (Jim Hines). Their coaches (not their parents) polished them to excel skills.
During the 1950s and 1960s, our fathers worked late till 5 or 6 p.m. while our mothers were the "happy homemakers." So, they did not go to practice sites, but the coaches cared for us. Our parents always attended games to watch us play.
Watch the 18-minute documentary film “Got Your Back,” based on a genuine memoir by Marc Jennings. [Note: A few players in the above group picture were mentioned in this film.]
1978 - The Amateur Sports Act designated the United States Olympic Committee as the coordinating body for amateur sports.
1998 - The Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act strengthened provisions protecting the right of athletes to compete and recognized the Paralympics.
2020 - The Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athlete Act established mechanisms for governmental oversight of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, National Governing Bodies, and amateur athlete organizations.
2024 - The law (to be named) would authorize $?? million in grant funding to go directly to youth sports non-profits and recognize the Deaflympics.
2030 - The law (to be named) would create the Toddler Olympics.
Phillie’s Mike Schmidt
During the CSUSOP hearing break, Commissioner Edwin Moses and I burst laughing when I told Moses that Mike Schmidt was a freshman in a high school while I was a senior, and Moses replied that he was a frosh while Schmidt was a senior.
Yeah, in addition to Marc Jennings, we all attended the same high school - Dayton Fairview High School in Ohio.
Moses totally agreed with me that our high school was not known for its athletic power but for its academic power.
The best source about Schmidt, I believe, is the Encyclopedia.com article.
I want to add about my high school friend, Mike Schmidt:
He was not the best baseball player while playing for Fairview. Fortunately, his father had a friend who was the Mid-American Conference Commissioner. The latter recommended my alma mater, Ohio University. In the following year, Schmidt made the baseball squad as a walk-on.
His Ohio University baseball coach, Bob Wren, discovered Schmidt’s weakness and asked the frosh to change his grip to a baseball bat.
The result was that you know the rest of Schmidt’s baseball history.
Mike Schmidt is the 1991 recipient of the Little League Hall of Excellence (scroll down to 1991)
Baseball became the official Olympic sport in 1992 - 34 years after the 1958 group picture.