CHAPTER 1
Life's Not Fair
It is Thursday morning, September 7, 2005. My wife, Mary Jo, and I are aboard a plane on our way to visit our good friends, Dean and Terre Alford in Atlanta, Georgia. Mary Jo is sitting in the window seat and I in the aisle seat where I can stretch my painful legs. It's Parkinson's disease. I've had it for several years now. First the miniscule signs, then the increasing tremor and rigidity. Swelling and restlessness in the legs is common, especially at night. Needless to say, I don't travel very well.
Oh, yes, I went through the denial phase and "Why me?" At this stage of my illness, when on medication, it would probably still not be noticable to an observer. But the reality has sunk in that this is something that isn't going to go away. I have just retired from my job of thirty-three years at Wisconsin Public Service. My health was a factor.
"What does the future hold for me?" I thought.
"I'm fifty-six years old and not ready to let Parkinson's disease rule my life."
Life 's not fair, I thought.
I have been looking forward to this trip. It should do me some good.
Little did I know about fairness than from what life lessons I would come to experience.
CHAPTER 2
The Inspiration
As our flight takes us to Atlanta, Mary Jo and I can't help but reminisce along the way about the wonderful times we've had with the Alfords on occasions in the past. Dean and Terre are two of the finest and most hospitable people you could ever want to know. We don't see one another very often, but when we do, it's just like old times again, catching up on all that has gone on in one another's lives. There were the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. The Alfords housed our family at their home for one of our most memorable vacations.
Then there was the speedboat cruise we, and our spouses, took on Dean's friend and co-worker, Chuck Thomas's Cigarette-type racer, off the coast of Florida, near Tampa. We all met there on a weekend after a business trip. On a beautiful sunny, hot, Sunday afternoon, which, coincidentally also was a date when the Green Bay Packers were in town and playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, we listened intently to the game on the radio. The boat traffic on that perfect afternoon seemed like a highway out on the Inter-coastal Waterway. Catching the wake of a large cruising yacht as it passed us in the opposite direction caught us all offguard and sent us airborne, grasping at one another's feet, just to stay onboard. We must have been going seventy miles per hour at the time and smacked that wake head-on. We survived to tell about it.
On another family trip we stopped in Georgia with our boys on our way through to visit my brother in Florida. Dean, who at the time, among other things, was a State Representative in the Georgia Legislature, took us along as guests in a mountain resort for a couple of nights where his Legislative Committee was on a retreat. Fishing was on the agenda. Something my sons will never forget.
As our house guests one time, we'd recall when Dean's steamy shower set off our fire alarm. Startled, and wondering if he should make a run for it, you should have seen the look on his face as he peeked out of the bathroom wondering what was going on.
As always, Dean knew how to entertain his clients whenever the opportunity arose. We were one of his clients. Often times he and Terre would be at the utility industry conferences we attended. Hosting a dinner or something, he always knew how to make the spouses happy. Our wives became friends too. I have known Dean Alford as a business associate and as a personal friend for over twenty years. Mary Jo and I looked forward to this visit as we did all the others. We would not be disappointed.
On many occasions over the past few years, the Alfords had invited us to come visit, come to a Georgia Tech football game some weekend, if we could. Dean, an avid Tech alumnus, has a skybox and had an open invitation for us to come for a game.
"Just check the game schedule" for a date when you and Mary Jo can come," he'd say. "Bring the boys, spend some time. I'll take time off."
Well, this year, having just retired in August (I hadn't told Dean about that yet) from my executive position at Wisconsin Public Service Corporation after thirty three wonderful years, I decided we would take him up on the offer and chose the Georgia Tech - North Carolina football game weekend to be their guests in their skybox. More on my retirement later.
"I wonder if I will recognize Dean?" Mary Jo said as we landed in Atlanta and I left her to watch for him while I got the bags. He was there to pick us up. And yes, unmistakably, Dean is the same, just a little more silver haired.
Not surprisingly, Dean had the day planned. We would go to the Alford's cottage on the lake, about a fifty mile ride, meet wife Terre and daughter Jacque there, have dinner at the marina nearby where Dean would also pick up his boat, and stay for the night. In the morning Dean would launch his ski boat (a simple task as it turns out, as his concrete driveway weaved right down into the water for boat launching) and take us all aboard for the ride while he pulled daughter, Jacque, on her wake board. We could tell that Jacque, sixteen years old at the time, was no rookie at this. She bobbed and weaved as dad cranked up the music aimed at the skier, and filled the ballasts of the specially equipped "wake" skiing boat, to make more wake. We met others that day out on the lake, friends of Jacque's, with parents in similarly equipped boats for wake boarding, who stopped and talked.
The afternoon we would head back to the city. Terre and Jacque would go one way, Dean would take Mary Jo and me with him in another direction. Dean had some business to do at the State Capital, and had to see the Dean of Engineering at Georgia Tech. Mary Jo and I accompanied him. Now the State Capitol building and Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta are relatively close to each other. At the Capitol, Dean stays involved as a member of the State Board of Education and serves as Chairman of the Governor's Education Finance Task Force. Here we would meet one of the State Representatives, the Chairperson of the Education Committee, as Dean stopped by the office to pick up a package.
On we went to the Georgia Tech campus and to the Dean's office. There we would be introduced to Don Giddens, Dean of the College of Engineering, as Dean Alford's "very good friends from Green Bay, Wisconsin."
"Green Bay?" Giddens said. " My daughter-in-law is from De Pere, Wisconsin." "Come into my office where I, in fact, have a picture of her."
In his office was a framed action poster of Olympic kayaker, Rebecca Bennett Giddens and another framed action poster of Don Giddens' son, also an Olympic kayaker. I do not know Rebecca personally, but do know that her interest in kayaking all was inspired by my late friend, Ray McLain, who taught kayaking lessons at the Green Bay YMCA, where Rebecca Bennett learned the sport, and who later went on to coach and train Rebecca for the Olympics. My employer, Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, in fact, also sponsored her training. Ray McClain attended the Olympics that year in Atlanta, 1996, where Rebecca won her medal. He worked as an official on the kayak slalom course. Ray was retired and established a guided tours kayaking adventure business in Central America before he died from cancer. I told Don this story ... small world.
Dean led us on a tour of the athletic facilities of the Georgia Tech Stadium. First, it was a visit to the athletic training room, where we would meet up with Dean's son, Chandler Alford, an engineering student at Georgia Tech, and an Olympic Weightlifter, in the midst of his afternoon lifting session. We were thrilled to see him. He did not skip a beat in his repetitions as he conversed with us in his usual southern gentlemanly "yes, sir" and "yes, ma'am" demeanor.
That was back in 2005. Chandler has competed in Olympic Weightlifting for eight years. As of today, 2009, he has won four national titles, numerous city, state and regional titles, and has competed on the international platform, including Chile, Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Chandler is the current Collegiate National Champion, just competed in the USA Weightlifting Olympic Team Trials, and is now ranked seventeenth overall in the country. Now a senior, his next stop was to be the World University Games in Athens, Greece, during Thanksgiving 2008. That didn't take place, however, as his time for acedemics required to graduate was decidedly a priority.
Small in stature, but in the 77 kg (175 lb) weight class he snatches 125 kg (275 lbs) and clean and jerks 175 kg (385 lbs.). He just missed qualifying for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He plans to continue training for the 2012 Olympics. Needless to say, we are very proud for him.
We saw the athletic department as Dean took us through the inner perimeter of the Stadium, the coach's offices, including head football coach, Chan Gailey's office, the player's lounge, and the school's Hall of Fame. Dean was greeted by name everywhere we went. After a quick bite to eat at the famous Varsity Drive-In across the street from the campus, we headed for their home. We'd been at the Varsity before, a landmark-drive up and walk-up counter service order place. Fortunately we knew what and how to order, which spared us from the embarrassment and tongue-in-cheek humiliation that the place is known for.
We would stay this night at the Alford's residence in College Park, Georgia, near Woodward Academy, literally across the street from the school that the Alford children attended.
That evening Dean planned for him and me to go to watch his nephew's high school football game. This would be Dean's brother, Dan's, son's game. I also knew Dean's brother, Dan, from being a business partner in Dean's consulting business too, so I was excited that I'd get to see Dan on our visit also. We would leave shortly.
"The phone's for you, Dean," Terre called.
As Dean got the phone, Terre explained to us that the call was regarding a major Miracle League fundraiser event. Dean was in charge.
"Dean is involved in so many things. I don't know how he does it, but this is really special."
For Dean, a day off means never being more than one foot from his cell phone or a land- line, and he was on it often.
"What's the Miracle League?" I asked Terre.
"It's a baseball program for handicapped children that Dean and his Rotary Club started. It is played on a rubber surface field. They raised a million dollars. They built this field ... Dean can tell you about it," Terre responded.
When Dean got off of the phone, I asked him more about the Miracle League. He told me about his Rotary Club starting the program and how they built the first rubber surface field. He mentioned the big league Atlanta Braves players and other celebrities that were involved. The first field was built in Conyers, Georgia. The idea took off so well in the Atlanta area that several others were soon built.
The question entered my mind about how you could justify a dedicated field for just children with disabilities.
"That's a question we get all of the time," Dean said.
Dean knows about my health. Hearing about his accomplishments for children with disabilities peaked my interest. I listened closely.
He told me about how there are 5.2 million children in this country with some form of disability. When you count all forms of learning disabilities in this count, 1 in 5 in our local schools have some type of disability. Your town school district will be much the same. That's a huge population with a need for this type of entertainment. Little Leagues are selective. They have tryouts. Only one hundred or so will get selected to play, for which there will be a dedicated Little League field. On the other hand, all 5.2 million children with developmental challenges are eligible to play Miracle League baseball, regardless of their capabilities. Surely, we can dedicate a special field for them.
Dean's dream would be to see a league in every community, and, he, in fact, started a national organization, staffed to help others replicate the Miracle League concept and create their own leagues. His goal is for starting at least five hundred leagues around the country in the next five years, and maybe go International as well.
I still just could not envision what these special rubber surface fields were like. Miniature? Rubber? Dedicated to just a handicapped league? Can it be used for anything else once it is surfaced?
"There is one of these fields nearby the high school where the football game is tonight. I'll drive by there and show it to you," he exclaimed.
So, off to the football game we went, me asking Dean more questions about the program as we drove.
After the game, we returned home and Dean forgot about driving by the Miracle League field to show me. I didn't remember either. It was late, too late to go back. Tomorrow we would be going to the Georgia Tech football game.
Along came Saturday. It was college game day, a real treat I had been looking forward to. Dean had a reserved parking spot below the stadium. No walking involved. Just get out of the car and into an elevator up to the skybox section. Georgia Tech stadium only seats about fifty thousand. Not a huge venue, by comparison to, say, Wisconsin's Camp Randall, but they have their traditions. There's the "Ramblin Wreck," the band, reserved "Club" seats on the fifty yard line, and, of course, sky boxes. We met some wonderful people in the skybox who were guests of the Alfords as well and had a chance to talk more with their children, Jacque and Chandler. The food and beverages were excellent. I couldn't help thinking and talking about the Miracle League, however. Everyone seemed to know something about Dean's quest for the development of the Miracle League.
Georgia Tech won the game that day, so it was a happy day at the Alford's as back at their house, Dean checked his e-mail and said that when he was done he would show me one of those video documentaries produced about the Miracle League that he had stored on his laptop computer.
"The Press has been good to us. It has given the League national attention, with news features being done by MSNBC, Sports Illustrated, and HBO. Celebrities like Matt Lauer, MSNBC, Bryant Gumbel, and Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated, narrate the video features," Dean provided.
"The video tells the story better than I can describe it. We use them in presentations to groups. You can see the fields, the buddies, the kids at play, the faces and smiles of the kids and parents." He booted up his laptop and ran the video for me. He showed me the video done by MSNBC, Matt Lauer.
Dean went on to tell me more about the history of the league. He clicked on their web site and repeated the story as we read together.
"In 1997, the Rockdale, Georgia, Youth Baseball Association's coach, Eddie Bagwell, invited the first disabled child named Michael, to play baseball on his team; Michael a 7-year-old child in a wheelchair attended every game and practice, while cheering on his 5-year-old brother playing America's favorite pasttime."
In 1998, the Rockdale Youth Association formed the Miracle League to further its mission of providing opportunities for all children to play baseball, regardless of their abilities. The disabled children in the community had expressed the desire to dress in uniforms, make plays in the field, and round the bases just like their healthy peers. The league began with thirty- five players.
There were no programs for the Miracle League to copy. It was decided that:
• Every player would bat once each inning
• All players would be safe at the base
• Every player would score a run before the inning was over
• (last one up hits a home run)
• Community children and volunteers serve as "buddies" to assist players
• Each team and each player wins every game
The main concern was the playing surface, presenting potential safety hazards for players in wheelchairs and walkers.
So, in its spring of 1999 season, the Miracle League gained support and became a source of pride for all involved as participation grew to over fifty players. During that season, the magnitude of the need for such a program was recognized. It was learned that there are over 50,000-plus children in the Metro Atlanta area alone, who are disabled to some degree that keeps them from participating in team sports. That is when the dream of building a unique baseball complex for these special children was conceived.
The Rotary Clubs of Rockdale County, and Conyers, Georgia, where Dean is from, stepped forward to form the Rotary Miracle League Fund, Inc., a 501c3 organization. The new organization, he said, had two objectives, (1) raise the funds necessary to build a special complex with facilities that meet the unique needs of Miracle League players, and (2) assist in the outreach efforts for Miracle Leagues across the country.
