Summer recreation programs offer structure and role models for youth
It was the summer of 1976. Everywhere I looked, there was bicentennial paraphernalia. Gerald Ford was in the White House, and the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon’s resignation was mostly in America’s rearview mirror. I was a 16-year-old, high school sophomore in Berea, Ohio, looking forward to my first real job at the city recreation department. It was a big step into adulthood, beyond cutting lawns or shoveling snow, where I was paid at someone’s front door. I was poised to get a real paycheck.
Berea is the type of town you see in movies about old, homespun neighborhoods. Founded in 1836, it has a population of around 18,000 and an estimated area of 6 square miles. If you go out for a walk, two or three cars will usually stop, call you by your first name, and offer you a ride. Everyone knows statistics for the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians (don’t even bring up the “Guardians” name and the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs kept its name and logo…. I digress) and can name the starting lineups for both teams. The center of town is uniquely a triangle and not a town square, and the people like it that way. The town boasts the presence of Baldwin Wallace University, and many a graduate returns in the fall to revel in Homecoming traditions, including the crowning of the new May Queen and the races run by fraternities and sororities. The locals are not only welcome but encouraged to watch the competition.
Back to summer 1976—I rode my bike to the recreation department office to report for work. I already had my first car in the driveway, but most guys under 20 still rode bikes everywhere in Berea. I showed up for work bushy-tailed and ready to go, and found the program I was set to follow had a strict structure. Staff began the day at one of the city’s five baseball fields and taught T-ball to youth athletes from 9 a.m. until noon, five days a week. At noon, we were given an hour for lunch. Then we reported back to the office where we all jumped into the back of a pickup truck and rode to the various fields to prep and chalk the infields for the men’s softball leagues’ evening play. We also handled removing trash and weed-eating foul lines. I couldn’t get over how organized and thorough the daily routine was.
Per program requirements, the children were first taught to swing the bat by hitting off a tee into the backstop, about 10 feet away. This ensured they concentrated on the swing, not how far the ball traveled, and that worked like a charm. Many hitters were developed from that method. Next, the kids were told they couldn’t wear shorts on Fridays. That was so we could practice sliding without causing bruises and cuts. The drills were also conducted in the grass so the practice surface was softer and less intimidating than the often rough infield dirt. Next, we taught the children to yell out the situation before each batter got into the box.“Two outs, man on first base, play is at first or second, get the easy out!” It was an outstanding routine to develop true baseball talent. I bet some of those kids still yelled before each batter when they played college ball.
And the lining of the fields was presented like an art. A big broom (which was actually four brushes nailed together) was strapped to one of the workers’ backs, and he or she walked in a circle, moving out further and further until the dirt was even. Then the chalk lines were applied. The fields looked beautiful every night. I usually volunteered for the broom-pulling detail and, by the end of summer, I was probably in the best shape of my life. At the end of the day, we returned to the recreation office and sat at the picnic table, where we cracked open our thermoses and discussed the day's events and tomorrow’s schedule.
A Hero At The Helm
As I noted earlier, there were several elements of living in Berea that were inescapable. It was a sports town with the Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets football team consuming the Saturday afternoons of every local young man. The Berea High School Friday night football games were equally addicting. The majority of Berea kids were involved in one sport or another. So, now and then, when a hero emerged, he or she would become a town celebrity. As I dug deeper to find who had created this flawless recreation program, it was traced to one such individual. His impeccably organized, carefully plotted, and time-tested methods produced outstanding results.
He was the quarterback at Baldwin Wallace, and my cousin, George Key, was the center who snapped him the ball. George lived with my family in the summers between school years, and he often had other team members over to our house on Sundays when Mom served a big Italian meal. After “dinner” at noon, the guys would stretch out on the living room floor and watch NFL games with my dad and me. As these guys were all eight or more years older, you can imagine the impact they made on me. The quarterback was one I admired the most. I recall that, as all those full-bellied young men lay snoring on the floor, the quarterback sat next to my dad grilling him, since he had also been a Baldwin Wallace football player years before. Additionally, Dad coached a men’s softball team and, sure enough, he recruited this very talented and diligent BW athlete to play in the league.
Years passed, and it was never difficult to follow the news about this guy. His talents led him to coach football and move up the ladder to larger, more prestigious teams. His meticulous methodology finally coalesced into somewhat of an “instruction manual for living a good life” that his players treasured. As he went on to contribute that successful methodology to an enviable career as the coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes (beginning in 2001 and leading to seven bowl appearances), a publisher came forward and asked him to formalize the players’ manual into a book, and it became a bestseller in 2009, The Winners Manual for the Game of Life. Following his coaching career, his leadership capabilities landed him in academia at the University of Akron and Youngstown State University (as President), and resulted in recognition in the Football Hall of Fame in 2015. So, it came as no surprise when I found Jim Tressel smiling at me from the television screen in early February 2025 after being named Lieutenant Governor of Ohio by Mike DeWine. At 72 years old, he is still improving himself and reaching for higher and higher goals.
Our new Lieutenant Governor, or “JT” as we all called him at home, was and is incredibly inspirational, but if you walk back the details, his success isn’t complicated. He is a humble, curious, listening rule-keeper. He is a God-fearing man and thinks everyone he encounters has something new to say that he hasn’t learned yet. I highly recommend his book and further recommend following his example.
The kids of summer will show up soon to be instructed by the young men and women at various recreation departments throughout the country. Give them structure, an example of organization, and maybe a hero they will one day like to emulate. JT’s dad was the former Baldwin Wallace head football coach (1958-1980), who died at the early age of 56. JT often spoke of the no-nonsense, hard-nosed man who raised him and the dedicated, tender, tough-minded mother who took off all the rough edges. It seems the combined apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Perhaps this summer you will inspire an “apple” or two. Seeds of quality seem to take root quite easily.
