I had previously posted the bottom picture that was scanned, obviously, from something we saved. Steve, who subscribes to the UB archives, found the entire article in the feature section of the paper.
In the picture,below, are my brother, Danny and sister, Debbie in the front row. In the back, my Mom, myself, and my Dad. Steve would come along in 1971.
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
Great family photo and nostalgia about the Walla Walla Bears Mike. : Before the Bears formed in January 1969 under the leadership of Dale Hanan, the town had endured a 55-year drought without a professional baseball team, dating all the way back to 1914. The Bears established a working agreement with the Philadelphia Phillies. Because of this, they dressed exactly like their parent team, wearing crimson and white pinstripe flannel uniforms with a custom "Bears" script across the chest. The team played at Borleske Stadium, an iconic venue built in 1926 and named after legendary Whitman College athlete Raymond Vincent Borleske. The team was managed by former Major League outfielder Howie Bedell and operated by General Manager Ronald Kaluzok. The "Bears" moniker only lasted for that single 1969 inaugural season. In 1970, the franchise was sold and rebranded as the Walla Walla Phillies to match the parent club. Local families actively participated in the team's success. Community members ran the manual scoreboards, and local kids volunteered to be visiting team batboys, earning broken bats, used baseballs, and change for making concession stand runs for the players. While the 1969 Bears roster was a one-year wonder, the baseball pipeline they revived at Borleske Stadium directly paved the way for future legends. Within the next decade, icons like actor Kurt Russell (1972) and future Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith (1977) and Tony Gwynn (1981) would call Walla Walla home early in their careers.
1 comment:
Great family photo and nostalgia about the Walla Walla Bears Mike. : Before the Bears formed in January 1969 under the leadership of Dale Hanan, the town had endured a 55-year drought without a professional baseball team, dating all the way back to 1914. The Bears established a working agreement with the Philadelphia Phillies. Because of this, they dressed exactly like their parent team, wearing crimson and white pinstripe flannel uniforms with a custom "Bears" script across the chest. The team played at Borleske Stadium, an iconic venue built in 1926 and named after legendary Whitman College athlete Raymond Vincent Borleske. The team was managed by former Major League outfielder Howie Bedell and operated by General Manager Ronald Kaluzok. The "Bears" moniker only lasted for that single 1969 inaugural season. In 1970, the franchise was sold and rebranded as the Walla Walla Phillies to match the parent club. Local families actively participated in the team's success. Community members ran the manual scoreboards, and local kids volunteered to be visiting team batboys, earning broken bats, used baseballs, and change for making concession stand runs for the players. While the 1969 Bears roster was a one-year wonder, the baseball pipeline they revived at Borleske Stadium directly paved the way for future legends. Within the next decade, icons like actor Kurt Russell (1972) and future Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith (1977) and Tony Gwynn (1981) would call Walla Walla home early in their careers.
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