Saturday, October 7, 2023
I played on the (1966 £ 1967?) Clifton Park Athletics Babe Ruth team that Art coached. Right up until the last time I saw him some years ago he always called me “Davie” and was the only person I ever let call me that!. Our home field was the old gravel pit turned into a ball field behind the school and below the graveyard. I pedaled my bike to every game with my best friend, and our star pitcher John Althouse, who sadly died at age 18 in a construction accident. where I had watched Art’s semi-pro games before that. We lived for Art’s encouraging words. Art treated us like men and we did not want to let him down. We won the league championship my first year, with many boys I went to school with from the Clifton Park area. There was no fence so if one hit a ball out of left center I think it went right into Ron and Sheila Clapper’s back yard.
Art’s service to the community delivering meals for seniors touched our family personally because he brought lunch to my Mom (Betty) and Dad (Roger) in their last years. I was so touched the first time he came to the door, and we shared many happy memories of baseball, life on Plant Road as houses slowly filled the roadside from end to end, and the growth of the town and school system. I am sure Art made the most of his time since I saw him that day, because his vitality was his calling card. I have thought of him often because he was a very positive influence in my development. I am sure my memories of Art will be just one of many his family and friends receive and I hope they are comforted by them. Art truly was a noble man that I am proud to have known.
