Another legend departs. Mike was not only my coach at South, he and head coach Ken Wilson taught Ed Hinges and me how to paint houses during the summer. Keep us out of the cannery schedule which freed us up to play American Legion ball. Mike taught me how do stickshift drive “three on the tree” so I could go fetch coffee and lunch. Ed and I started our own painting business the following year since the three coffee breaks and long lunches with Mike abs Ken meant we made about $4/hour. Our 2nd-in-league (13-5) 1977 Saxon team would have done big damage in the State playoffs if the OSAA had taken more than just the league champs into the tourney. Abs we did it without a home field - 1977 was the year they reconfigured Gilmore Field. Cliff Cotton at first. Robbie Cantonwine second. Me at shortstop and Eddie at third. Peter Chamberlain, Gary Groom and David Hughes outfield. Dave Newsome behind the plate. Glenn Dorn, Garth Brandaw, Randy Bacon, Darren Sullivan on the mound. Great team.
Randy also joined Ed and me when we broke away to form our own Paint Company. After Randy retired, we added Denny and David Thompson. The name? Skillern Hinges Including Thompsons Paint Company. (For those who have eyes to see …)
A true baseball man with deep roots in Salem.
Mark, do you mean Challiis, ID, instead of Chehalis, WA for Doran's split residence while growing up? Otherwise a great piece.
That is indeed a typo. I knew it was ID.
No worries.
Another legend departs. Mike was not only my coach at South, he and head coach Ken Wilson taught Ed Hinges and me how to paint houses during the summer. Keep us out of the cannery schedule which freed us up to play American Legion ball. Mike taught me how do stickshift drive “three on the tree” so I could go fetch coffee and lunch. Ed and I started our own painting business the following year since the three coffee breaks and long lunches with Mike abs Ken meant we made about $4/hour. Our 2nd-in-league (13-5) 1977 Saxon team would have done big damage in the State playoffs if the OSAA had taken more than just the league champs into the tourney. Abs we did it without a home field - 1977 was the year they reconfigured Gilmore Field. Cliff Cotton at first. Robbie Cantonwine second. Me at shortstop and Eddie at third. Peter Chamberlain, Gary Groom and David Hughes outfield. Dave Newsome behind the plate. Glenn Dorn, Garth Brandaw, Randy Bacon, Darren Sullivan on the mound. Great team.
Quite the team. Randy Bacon was my longtime next door neighbor.
Randy also joined Ed and me when we broke away to form our own Paint Company. After Randy retired, we added Denny and David Thompson. The name? Skillern Hinges Including Thompsons Paint Company. (For those who have eyes to see …)