Longtime Coach Carman Earns 300th W
April 19, 2016
By Dick Hoekstra
Reprinted from Gratiot County Herald
Rollie Carman set a goal of reaching 300 wins when he started coaching varsity baseball at Blanchard Montabella in 1994.
He reached that goal 22 years later when his St. Louis team defeated Harrison 9-1 in its season opener April 12. The Sharks then blanked Harrison 14-0 in the second game of the doubleheader.
“My first goal I ever had as a coach I just accomplished today, and it’s pretty emotional,” Carman said after the sweep. “You go through all those memories of all those years. It’s been a tough go.”
Carman started coaching in 1989 with the Ithaca junior varsity team. After Montabella and four years with the Alma junior varsity, he came to St. Louis for one year, Carson City-Crystal for four, Ithaca for eight, and back to St. Louis for the last three.
“That’s my wife over there,” he said of Karen Carman. “We finally got here, and this is what I’ve been shooting for for a long, long time. “To be honest, I didn’t know if I was going to get there or not. You don’t know if you’re going to be alive tomorrow when you get older. Quite a few kids who I coached in the past showed up to watch it. So that was kind of a thrill too.
“It was definitely a high point.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Rollie Carman, then coach at Ithaca, talks with an umpire during a 2012 game. (Middle) Carman, now coach at St. Louis, holds up the cake presented after winning the 300th win of his career last week. (Top photo by HighSchoolSportsScene.com, bottom courtesy of St. Louis athletic department.)
Vermontville Ace Joins NFHS Hall (Video)
August 15, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Michigan celebrated its eighth inductee to the National High School Sports Hall of Fame with the honoring of Vermontville baseball star Ken Beardslee during the annual National Federation of State High School Associations summer meeting, this summer in Reno, Nevada.
Beardslee, who died in 2007, has been proclaimed as “prep baseball’s first ace” in the NFHS National High School Sports Record Book and was featured in the former print version of the book for his incredible feats from 1947-49. In his three years on the mound for Vermontville, Beardslee won 24 of his 25 starts (the team was 31-1 during that time). His 24 victories included eight no-hitters, with two perfect games, and seven one-hitters.
He set seven national records, and two still stand after 66 years: his per-game season strikeout mark of 19.0 and his per-game career strikeout mark of 18.1. He was drafted by the New York Yankees immediately after graduating from high school and pitched in the minor leagues from 1949 to 1956, when an injury ended his playing career. Beardslee went on to scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 21 years, and he received a World Series ring after the team’s championship win in 1971. He also went on to write eight books including novels, poetry and an instructional on pitching.
He was one of 12 individuals, including five athletes, inducted as part of this year’s class. His wife Marilene represented Beardslee in accepting the honor, and offered this as to the role high school athletics played in her husband’s life and career:
“My time with Ken was long after his high school days. I'm sure Ken's career gave him joy, happiness. It allowed him to accomplish goals. It opened doors; it opened doors to friendships throughout his life ... Terry Collins with the Mets, Doug Melvin (who) just this year stepped down with the Milwaukee Brewers. Those are things that high school opened doors for him.”
Beardslee was nominated for the NFHS Hall of Fame by the Michigan High School Athletic Association after years of research by Charlotte resident Terry Lowery. Lowery didn't have an immediate connection to Beardslee and only moved to Eaton County as an adult. But during a funeral for one of Beardslee’s high school teammates, Lowery heard the stories of the high school ace – and went to work building his application.
Below is the video produced by the NFHS that played during Beardslee’s portion of the induction ceremony and includes a touching interview with Marilene, who received Ken’s plaque from MHSAA assistant director Kathy Vruggink Westdorp.
PHOTOS: (Top) Marilene Beardslee stands with the NFHS’s Bruce Howard (left) and MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts during the Hall of Fame festivities in Reno, Nev. (Middle) Ken Beardslee, during his high school days at Vermontville. (Top photo courtesy of Terry Lowery.)