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Marshall woman completes hike of the Appalachian Trail
John Hendler • Nov 24, 2021
Clementia Kelly, a 2017 Marshall High School graduate recently accomplished the impressive feat of hiking the length of the Appalachian Trail - Georgia to Maine, some 2,107 miles in all in just over six months.
Clementia said hiking the trail was something she decided to do shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
After high school she attended Western Michigan University to study engineering but then switched to nursing, at which time she transferred to Kalamazoo Valley Community College because of their nursing program.
“It just made more sense financially,” said Clementia, who said she had to start all over and complete the nursing program prerequisites.
She left school after the fall 2020 semester to do her hike.
Clementia had some friends in Kalamazoo, and she would occasionally go with them on short backpacking hikes.
“With everything that happened with COVID and school going online, and the general confusion about life, I decided I wanted to do something different and just experience the world differently,” said Clementia, who in summer 2020 cancelled plans to travel to Europe. “I was thinking, ‘what am I going to do now?’ I had thought about the Appalachian Trail and figured it was something I’d do eventually. I guess eventually came a lot sooner than I planned.”
Clementia spent about nine months preparing for the hike, which she began on April 3.
“My plan was to do to the entire thing,” she said. “I read a lot of articles about how people prepare and also watched a lot of YouTube videos…A lot of reading, a lot of research on the internet…I’m really lucky I had these resources compared to those who did the trail before the internet.”
She also got some advice from a former classmate who has done some smaller through hikes including the Colorado Trail.
“He and another friend helped me pick out my gear and make sure that I had light gear and that I was also comfortable,” said Clementia. “I had a very light pack because the friends who helped me, they are what you call ‘ultra-light’ hikers. Ultra-light people usually have a base weight – all of your stuff without food and water – of 12 pounds or less. The average for typical hikers is 20 pounds. But I didn’t want to have a super-heavy pack because it makes hiking a lot less enjoyable and I’m a smaller person, so you have to make the pack weight relative to how much you way. With all my food and water, my pack ended up weighing 23 pounds when I started.”
Clementia said the pack gradually got heavier as the hike progressed because she said she was running more of a caloric deficit.
“When I would have a full four days of food, it weighed 28 pounds,” she said.
She said she saved money by sewing a lot of her gear leading up to the hike.
“My grandmother is a quilter, and she had an extra sewing machine,” said Clementia. “So, I sewed my tent and several bags. The tent was the really big project, but it worked really well for me for the first month or so.”
Not sleeping well on the ground, however, Clementia decided to switch from a tent to a hammock.
“I was only going on four or five hours of sleep a night,” she said. “When you’re exerting yourself so much, sleep becomes really important. So, I used the hammock for the rest of my trip and that was really comfortable for me. It was like a cocoon. I slept like a baby.”
Leading up to the hike, Clementia, 22, met another young woman named Katie through a Facebook group and they decided to do a short “shakedown” hike to test out their gear in February in Tennessee.
“We got along pretty well,” said Clementia. “So, when I started the Appalachian Trail, we went to Amicalola Falls, Ga. where the trail officially starts. She lives in Ohio, so my mom drove me to Katie’s place. Our parents got to meet and then Katie’s mom drove us to Georgia.”
Clementia said her father was excited for her, as he had talked of running the Appalachian Trail before.
“That’s been a longtime dream of his,” she said. “My mom, though, was super terrified. I really had to ease her into it. She got me a tracking device that I carried with me so I could send messages stating that I was alive. My message was literally, ‘I’m still alive.’ I would send that once a day for her. The cool thing about that was that I didn’t have to have cell service to send the message.”
It is not as if Clementia was all by herself on the trail.
“The thing that a lot of people don’t understand about the Appalachian Trail, and a lot of trails in general, is that there’s a really big community around it, so I started by myself, but I was not alone,” she said. “I was around people every day and every night, and I made friends very quickly.”
This year, said Clementia, it was estimated that about 5,000 people were on the trail and about a quarter of those people hiked the entire distance.
“I started in Georgia and ended in Maine, but some people start in Maine and finish in Georgia,” she said. “ And then there are some people who will start in the middle and hike up and then hike back down…But the most common way is northbound or Nobo.”
Clementia and Katie hiked together for about a month and then Katie went ahead on her own.
“She went way faster than I did and finished about a week before me,” said Clementia. “During the day, I mostly hiked by myself because I preferred to hike alone. Sometimes though, I would hike with people and there were a couple friends I would camp with almost every night when we would meet up. But I felt that the biggest reason for doing this hike was to get comfortable being with myself…I traveled in and out of a lot of groups just because I preferred to make my own decisions. When you’re with a group of five or six, then things become more complicated when you stay at a hostel or hotel.”
She admitted that there were times she and other hikers would hitchhike when looking to go into a town near the trail to get supplies or to spend the night.
“The nice thing about that though is that the people who live in towns along the trail are very familiar with hikers,” she said. “So, when they see people with packs on, they pretty much know what you’re doing and they’re super willing to help out. I never felt in any danger hitchhiking.”
A “nice surprise” would be the occasional times Clementia and other hikers would encounter locals who set up food and drink stations along the trail so hikers would not have to venture off the trail.
“I think the biggest thing about the hike was that I realized how much I took many things in life for granted,” she said. “Getting fresh fruit on the hike, for example, was such a blessing.”
Most days, Clementia averaged 15-25 miles a day on the trail.
“They say you don’t get in shape for the trail; the trail gets you in shape,” said Clementia. “I did yoga prior to the hike and a few shakedown hikes, but I really didn’t do anything that much different from my normal routine. I really didn’t train at all.”
Not surprisingly, having the proper footwear, she said, was vital to successfully completing the trail.
“Trail runners are nice, but they wear out faster, so on average, they will last 300 to 500 miles,” she said. “I had two different kinds of trail runners to start for the first 1,000 miles, then I ended up switching to a lightweight hiking shoe and that one I had for 900 miles. Those shoes were great because they had a structure of a hiking boot, but they were lightweight, and they dried out fast like a trail runner."
Foot pain, she said was a frequent occurrence, especially as the terrain became more rugged the farther north she traveled.
“Up until I got to New Hampshire, I never doubted what I was doing,” said Clementia. “I knew that I was going to finish. I knew in my soul that I was going to finish. However, New Hampshire and Maine are known for being the hardest parts of the trail. By the time you get to those parts, you’re worn out, you’ve been hiking for five months, and the terrain is super hard. You have to move so slowly, and the terrain is super technical, and you could really hurt yourself if you fall so you can’t go fast. Your mileage goes way down. In New Hampshire and southern Maine, I didn’t go more than 12 miles a day – I usually averaged about 10 miles a day. It really beats up your body…There were days that I didn’t enjoy it at all.”
After southern Maine, there came a reprieve with the “100-mile wilderness.”
“It’s relatively flat compared to the rest of the trail,” said Clementia. “There’s beautiful views and lakes and ponds. Once I got there my faith in the trail was restored. I loved it. It was all worth it – the pain I went through to get there.”
Clementia reached the end of the trail at Mt. Katahdin on Oct. 8.
“It felt like it wasn’t really over,” she said. “It felt like just another day on the trail, and I’d be waking up to hike again the next day. But then soon after, I was sort of in disbelief at what I just did.”
Since returning back home to Marshall, Clementia said she has missed being out on the trail.
“I feel a little disconnected from things,” she said. “I’ve been staying active, going on hikes every day. I still count my mileage. I’m getting in 5-10 miles a day. It feels good to stay moving.”
Clementia said the Appalachian Trail is the toughest and she is looking forward to conquering other trails.
“I’m glad that I started with that trail because it will set me up to do well on other trails because at least I know I can hike whatever is thrown at me because it will be way easier, terrain wise,” she said.
That said, next week, Clementia will be back on the AT in the Smoky Mountains, meeting up with a friend for five days who is on a southbound thru-hike.
On her six-month hike, Clementia said other than missing good food to eat, she really did not feel like she was missing out on anything while being mostly off the grid.
“In some ways I felt guilty being so disconnected,” she said. “It’s a privilege not having to pay attention to the news or have other responsibilities. You don’t have to worry about a job, you don’t have to worry about a lot of life things on the trail. Having said that, I do feel I kept up communication with my family and friends more while on the trail than when I was home. Having the familiarity of the people you cared about back home was so nice.”
She said she enjoyed Instagram on the trail, following other people who were ahead of her or behind her on the trail.
“I’d also be able to see where other people stayed and the places they’d recommend,” said Clementia.
She said that at the beginning of her hike, she listened to music a lot, but eventually stopped.
“I really started to prefer the silence over music,” said Clementia, who added that she eventually made her own music. “I hiked with a ukulele and there was a friend who had a guitar and another who had a mini keyboard, and we formed a little band on the trail. It was so much fun. I was also the singer. Throughout the trail at the shelters the three of us would make a setlist and would tell the people which shelter we would be at that night. at was one of my favorite memories of the trail – having that little band for a while.”
It was her musical talent that earned her the trail name “Crook.”
“I had a song I played on my ukulele I called ‘Crooked Lines’ and a couple of weeks into the hike, I played it for my friends and one of them said that should be my trail name,” said Clementia. “Crooked Line was my initial trail name but there was a talent show at Trail Days about a month into the hike in Virginia and I showed up late, while the last person was performing. I signed up and performed and got second place. My friend told me that I stole the show and my name got shortened to Crook after that.”
After she gets back from her five-day hike in the Smokies, Clementia said she’d like to plan her next big hike, maybe the Colorado Trail next summer.
“I’m at the point where I’d rather work short-term jobs, save up and go travel while I can,” she said. “I realized on the trail out in the woods that I don’t need that much to live.”
Since she moved into her grandmother’s house in Marshall, Clementia said she hasn’t unpacked much, calling herself “an aspiring minimalist.”
She said her plans are open-ended, and she is also mulling over an offer to live with a friend in Montana.
“I’m really enjoying the freedom of not having to be somewhere for too long,” she said. “I know eventually I will go back to nursing…But for now, like I learned on the trail, you just go with the flow. I’m excited to be a free spirit…I really learned to like myself on the trail. I really started to enjoy my own company, and I’m so grateful I’ve been able to learn that now.”
Get to know MPS Superintendent Becky Jones as she looks ahead to the new school year Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Becky Jones said she has always had a passion for wanting to work in education. Even though her master’s degree is in business from Spring Arbor University, Jones originally went to school at Eastern Michigan University to be a special education teacher when she was an undergraduate before making the switch to the business field. “I always wanted to work in some sort of line in education and be a part of the school system,” Jones said. “My aunt was a special education teacher in an early childhood role and she worked for Jackson ISD. That was part of the reason why I wanted to go to school to be a special education teacher when I started. I ended up changing and I’m not 100% sure why I changed, but it’s interesting that I ended up into the system in the career path of doing that.” After Jones graduated from EMU, she landed a job in Jackson as a business manager for a construction company before being hired at Jackson County Intermediate School District in business operations. Jones has been in the school system ever since her time at Jackson County ISD before coming over to Marshall Public Schools, where she served as the director of business operations for the district for eight years. Jones said the relationships she built over the eight years in that role has helped her transition into the superintendent role. “I think with how I am as a leader and how I am as a person, I like to build a lot of personal relationships,” said Jones. “So I think that’s just something that has come natural for me over the eight years, I’ve just always built really good relationships with the people that I work with. I care about the people, I care about families, I care about our students. It didn’t seem unnatural for me to fill into the role of interim, because it was something I wanted to do.” Jones was appointed interim superintendent in May 2021 after the departure of former Superintendent Randy Davis. After eight months, the Marshall Public Schools Board of Education unanimously agreed to hire Jones into the permanent role. When reflecting on when she officially was hired into the permanent role, Jones commended the many who have supported her during the process and said she feels honored to now be serving in the role. “I think that educating people’s children and educating our youth is a very important role,” said Jones. “It’s an honor and a blessing in how I look at it.” Jones added that she is driven and inspired by being able to serve two communities, being students and families in both Marshall and Albion. “When I look at the district as a whole, I look at it as serving two communities,” Jones said. “Obviously we have an interesting history as a school system with bringing Albion into the system and serving both Albion and Marshall. That to me alone, just having the two communities that we get to serve, is a wonderful thing. Both communities have a lot to offer when you look at it. There are a lot of great people, leaders and businesses that are really supportive of the school system and really supportive of our kids. That’s one of the many benefits of this role.” Jones added she is also inspired by being able to serve the students as a whole and being able to interact with them and the teachers who are involved in their learning development. “Also the kids and the interaction with the kids. We get to go out to buildings and interact with the kids and interact with the teachers,” Jones added. “We have a wonderful staff in the district. When I look at the role, I don’t look at it as a superintendent role, I look at it as ‘I get to work with these amazing people who work for Marshall Public Schools and I get to meet all of these wonderful community members.’” In a March article from the Battle Creek Enquirer, former Board President Richard Lindsey acknowledged Jones played a key role in the annexation of the Albion School District and Marshall Public Schools in 2016. Jones further explained how she was involved in that process. “I walked alongside Dr. Davis when annexation happened,” she said. “I sat in all the meetings, went through all the financials and worked on all those things and what it would look like. So I was right alongside working through the annexation piece of it. Through annexation, there were a lot of people that care about both communities and about wanting to make sure that all of our kids have equal opportunity and equal access to good education. To me, in my eyes, that’s the one thing that matters, is equal access to kids for education.” As superintendent, there are both challenges ahead for Jones along with some things that she is excited about in terms of plans the district is implementing going into the school year. “I’m really excited about our strategic plan,” Jones said. “I think it’s really important for organizations to have a vision for what they are working towards. And I think that we’ve clearly written out what our vision is as an organization. I’m really looking forward to putting that in place.” As far as challenges go, Jones brought up being able to educate students in a post-pandemic world and focusing on providing support for students and families on what they need to further their education in light of all the disruptions that took place in schools during the past two years. “I think we still have a lot of challenges post pandemic when we’re looking at children and we’re looking at education,” Jones said. “We as a district need to sit down and focus on where our kids are at and where we need our kids to be in terms of education. So, I think for this year it’s really going to be a huge focus on what support we can give our families and the things we can do to really get our kids educated and where they need to be in a post pandemic world.” Another challenge in Jones’ eyes is how to put a new bond on the table and how to get community members to support one this time around. Last November, a $45.6 million bond was voted down by a 2 to 1 margin. She also mentioned the school’s sinking fund millage that she said will be on the ballot for voters this November. “We have $75 million worth of needs,” said Jones. “We obviously had a failed bond attempt and those needs haven’t gone away. So we’re going to have to go back out to the community in looking at a bond and (figure out) what we need to do. We need to sit down and talk about where we’re at with that. Another thing is with our sinking fund millage. That is set to expire and we’re going to be putting a renewal on the November ballot. It is a renewal but it’s not going to be worded as a renewal, because we’re going to add in security and technology services for that. So we’re really going to have to get out there and communicate effectively with the communities about that.” When Jones’ time is done at MPS, whenever that may be, she said she just hopes for both communities to look at the school district and be proud of what it represents. “I want both communities to be proud of their school system,” she said. “I want Marshall Public Schools serving both Marshall and Albion communities and for it to be a choice district for those communities. I want them to be proud of the work we do here and how we educate their kids.”
Get to know MPS Superintendent Becky Jones as she looks ahead to the new school year Marshall Public Schools Superintendent Becky Jones said she has always had a passion for wanting to work in education. Even though her master’s degree is in business from Spring Arbor University, Jones originally went to school at Eastern Michigan University to be a special education teacher when she was an undergraduate before making the switch to the business field. “I always wanted to work in some sort of line in education and be a part of the school system,” Jones said. “My aunt was a special education teacher in an early childhood role and she worked for Jackson ISD. That was part of the reason why I wanted to go to school to be a special education teacher when I started. I ended up changing and I’m not 100% sure why I changed, but it’s interesting that I ended up into the system in the career path of doing that.” After Jones graduated from EMU, she landed a job in Jackson as a business manager for a construction company before being hired at Jackson County Intermediate School District in business operations. Jones has been in the school system ever since her time at Jackson County ISD before coming over to Marshall Public Schools, where she served as the director of business operations for the district for eight years. Jones said the relationships she built over the eight years in that role has helped her transition into the superintendent role. “I think with how I am as a leader and how I am as a person, I like to build a lot of personal relationships,” said Jones. “So I think that’s just something that has come natural for me over the eight years, I’ve just always built really good relationships with the people that I work with. I care about the people, I care about families, I care about our students. It didn’t seem unnatural for me to fill into the role of interim, because it was something I wanted to do.” Jones was appointed interim superintendent in May 2021 after the departure of former Superintendent Randy Davis. After eight months, the Marshall Public Schools Board of Education unanimously agreed to hire Jones into the permanent role. When reflecting on when she officially was hired into the permanent role, Jones commended the many who have supported her during the process and said she feels honored to now be serving in the role. “I think that educating people’s children and educating our youth is a very important role,” said Jones. “It’s an honor and a blessing in how I look at it.” Jones added that she is driven and inspired by being able to serve two communities, being students and families in both Marshall and Albion. “When I look at the district as a whole, I look at it as serving two communities,” Jones said. “Obviously we have an interesting history as a school system with bringing Albion into the system and serving both Albion and Marshall. That to me alone, just having the two communities that we get to serve, is a wonderful thing. Both communities have a lot to offer when you look at it. There are a lot of great people, leaders and businesses that are really supportive of the school system and really supportive of our kids. That’s one of the many benefits of this role.” Jones added she is also inspired by being able to serve the students as a whole and being able to interact with them and the teachers who are involved in their learning development. “Also the kids and the interaction with the kids. We get to go out to buildings and interact with the kids and interact with the teachers,” Jones added. “We have a wonderful staff in the district. When I look at the role, I don’t look at it as a superintendent role, I look at it as ‘I get to work with these amazing people who work for Marshall Public Schools and I get to meet all of these wonderful community members.’” In a March article from the Battle Creek Enquirer, former Board President Richard Lindsey acknowledged Jones played a key role in the annexation of the Albion School District and Marshall Public Schools in 2016. Jones further explained how she was involved in that process. “I walked alongside Dr. Davis when annexation happened,” she said. “I sat in all the meetings, went through all the financials and worked on all those things and what it would look like. So I was right alongside working through the annexation piece of it. Through annexation, there were a lot of people that care about both communities and about wanting to make sure that all of our kids have equal opportunity and equal access to good education. To me, in my eyes, that’s the one thing that matters, is equal access to kids for education.” As superintendent, there are both challenges ahead for Jones along with some things that she is excited about in terms of plans the district is implementing going into the school year. “I’m really excited about our strategic plan,” Jones said. “I think it’s really important for organizations to have a vision for what they are working towards. And I think that we’ve clearly written out what our vision is as an organization. I’m really looking forward to putting that in place.” As far as challenges go, Jones brought up being able to educate students in a post-pandemic world and focusing on providing support for students and families on what they need to further their education in light of all the disruptions that took place in schools during the past two years. “I think we still have a lot of challenges post pandemic when we’re looking at children and we’re looking at education,” Jones said. “We as a district need to sit down and focus on where our kids are at and where we need our kids to be in terms of education. So, I think for this year it’s really going to be a huge focus on what support we can give our families and the things we can do to really get our kids educated and where they need to be in a post pandemic world.” Another challenge in Jones’ eyes is how to put a new bond on the table and how to get community members to support one this time around. Last November, a $45.6 million bond was voted down by a 2 to 1 margin. She also mentioned the school’s sinking fund millage that she said will be on the ballot for voters this November. “We have $75 million worth of needs,” said Jones. “We obviously had a failed bond attempt and those needs haven’t gone away. So we’re going to have to go back out to the community in looking at a bond and (figure out) what we need to do. We need to sit down and talk about where we’re at with that. Another thing is with our sinking fund millage. That is set to expire and we’re going to be putting a renewal on the November ballot. It is a renewal but it’s not going to be worded as a renewal, because we’re going to add in security and technology services for that. So we’re really going to have to get out there and communicate effectively with the communities about that.” When Jones’ time is done at MPS, whenever that may be, she said she just hopes for both communities to look at the school district and be proud of what it represents. “I want both communities to be proud of their school system,” she said. “I want Marshall Public Schools serving both Marshall and Albion communities and for it to be a choice district for those communities. I want them to be proud of the work we do here and how we educate their kids.”
In February of 1921, while what would eventually become the Marshall Country Club was being organized, 70 acres on the south shore of Lyon Lake was purchased for the golf course. That summer was spent by members raking stones, tearing down fences and leveling off and cleaning land while Harold C. Brooks, the club’s first president, hired golf architect Tom Bendelow of Chicago to help design the course. The following year, Brooks erected the club house that was planned by his architect friend Howard Young of Kalamazoo. A breezeway connected the club house with a pro shop and the country club was up and running. There have been a few changes made to Marshall Country Club over time, including the course being renovated into an 18-hole course from a nine-hole course in 1972. But 100 years later, the country club is still serving area golfers, with numerous events on tap as MCC celebrates its centennial year. Director of Communications Nancy Card said she believes Marshall Country Club’s ability to adapt over time has allowed the golf course to stay open even during ever-changing times. “It (country clubs) used to be much more formal,” said Card. “It used to be the ‘good ol' boys club.’ It used to be a high stakes kind of a thing. And now, through the evolution of all of these years, it’s interesting to me to see how creative we’ve had to become in order to continue to operate in the new world. It’s so different and we can’t operate like we used to back then. Just watching the changes and the evolution and how things have made us who we are today, that’s very important. And it’s so exciting to see how people are consumed with this. They really love our country club.” According to a 2019 article from Business Insider , country club memberships dropped 20% from 1990 to 2014. The number of clubs are also diminishing, as there were over 5,000 member-owned full-service golf and country clubs in the U.S., according to the article. By 2017, that number had fallen to about 3,900. MCC used to be a strictly private country club, but over time has morphed into a quasi-private, quasi-public course, with a restaurant, Lyon Lake Grill, that is open to the public. Feef Dillon, a member of the centennial celebration committee, said offering a warm environment has been one of the main keys to making the country club a successful operation. “I think we have to have a welcoming environment that welcomes all walks of life,” said Dillon. “Female, low and high income, we have to make it affordable for people to want to be here and make it worth their while and offer activities that are appealing to people. Long gone are the days where you could write off your country club membership. It used to be that companies would foot the bill. That’s no longer the case. Now we have to find ways (to gain members) and the relationships make it happen.” Tom Duffey, an MCC Board member and past club president, added it’s not only the friendships that are created, but the community environment that has made the country club a special place for him and many others. “This is a great place for family activities,” Duffey said. “We have both Marshall golf teams here, Homer golf teams, Albion College, Olivet College. I brought my kids out to play and now I’m bringing my grandkids out to play. It’s just a friendly, nice place to bring kids. You’ll see a bunch of kids out here hitting balls. It’s just a nice place to come out to.” The COVID-19 pandemic brought tough times to many businesses across the country, and MCC was no exception. House Manager Sarah Coco has been at MCC for four years and said while there have been some difficult times to get through, she did not ever want to leave because of her passion for the country club and seeing how much it matters to so many people she interacts with. “This is my first time working at a country club and it is different than any other restaurant, bar or hospitality place that I’ve ever worked at,” said Coco. “It was pretty challenging during COVID in that situation to get creative with how to be open, how to serve the members. It was a struggle, a huge struggle. You kind of step back and think ‘why am I doing this? You could go anywhere right now and get a job.’ But for me, I can’t do that because this place just means so much to so many people that it becomes special to you.” Vicki Knickerbocker, another member of the centennial celebration committee and MCC member said the country club is special to her in many ways, from building friendships to simply giving her and her husband a hobby. “I think it’s very important for both myself and my husband because it gives us something to do,” Knickerbocker said. “We could be working in our yard or doing something (else), but we’re outside and it’s beautiful out here. My husband is out here (frequently). I’m here maybe a couple days a week, but if it wasn't here where (would we be)?” To date, MCC has held monthly celebrations to honor its centennial year. On Aug. 13, two golf tournaments and a dinner will be held at the country club. The first tournament of the day is for current and past members only and will begin at 8:30 a.m., while the second tournament—a four-person scramble, is open to anyone and is set for an approximate 1:30 p.m. start time. Both tournaments have limited spots available. The centennial dinner is open to the public and tickets are currently on sale. Anyone interested in purchasing tickets can contact MCC. There will also be a raffle drawing that event organizers hope will be held that night, where ticket holders will have a chance to win a variety of prizes, with the top prize being a free membership to the country club. MCC will conclude its celebrations on Oct. 1 with “100 years of fun” and standup comedian Dave Dyer, an event that will also be open to the public. “We want people to know that we are celebrating, why we are celebrating and that we invite them to come and celebrate with us,” Card said.
Jerry Sacharski was a recreation league director in Albion who pioneered T-ball as an organized youth sport in 1956 because he couldn’t stand to turn away young children with the desire to play baseball. Sacharski passed away in February of 2009, but his memory has lived on, which was apparent on June 25 when well over 100 community members came together at Tee-Ball Garden in Albion, where a new T-ball statue and historic plaque was unveiled under the leadership of the Restore Our Coke Sign: Bring Art and History Downtown campaign team. Many of Sacharski’s former players and their families were present to celebrate the event, along with members of the Sacharski family, including Jerry’s three sons—David, Michael and William. Following the ceremony, current T-ball players played a short game in Victory Park near Hannah Street, which was followed by an “Old-Timers” game. John Sims, one of Sacharski’s former players who spoke at the ceremony, expressed appreciation for his former coach and the impact he left on him and many others who played for him growing up. “I go down to that field and I can see him (Sacharski),” Sims said. “I think everyone who played “pee-wee” ball with him remembers him. We have very few people in our lives as young people who make a mark like that. I’m 70 years old and I still remember that guy with very great kindness. He was good to us.” Sims also cited a 1960 T-ball exhibition game, when Sacharski took him and other pee wee players to Michigan State University to put the sport on display in front of a TV audience as the game was videotaped by a local television station. In 2000, the video was accepted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. Sacharski was also a teacher with Albion Public Schools for nearly three decades. His son David said his father was great at teaching the fundamentals of the game and brought his teaching qualities to the baseball field. “My dad wanted the kids to learn the fundamentals of baseball while playing T-ball, which was sometimes called pee wee ball,” said David. “Notice the word ‘fun’ in fundamentals. He wanted the kids to have fun and at the same time, learn basic skills. Being a teacher, he made T-ball a classroom activity on grass.” William, another of the three Sacharski sons, said he was one of the original 60 T-ball players in Albion. He remembers the summer of 1956 when “everything changed” in terms of how the game of baseball was played when he was a young boy. “The whole game that we played changed,” said William. “As a 7-year-old kid, we actually got to go up to bat and we actually got to hit the ball (instead of getting walked or striking out). You could take a stance and that ball was sitting there on the tee and you could just kind of drive through it. There were no free passes, there were no strikeouts. Every play, something happened. Just like Dave said, after a while, your fundamentals and your skills (improve) because you’re not standing around.” Michael is the oldest of the Sacharski boys and said he was an umpire during the first T-ball game in June of 1956. He thanked everyone who showed up to the event and commended all who helped his father make the sport successful. He told a story about his father after Jerry retired from school teaching when he was in Hawaii that embodied the type of person and coach Jerry was. “I think the second spring he was there, he ambled up to the park that was near our home, because they were staying in our home,” Michael said. “And he ambled up in the park, and in Hawaii they have springtime youth baseball. He was sitting around on a picnic table watching how teams were practicing on the various fields and he did that a few times. Finally, one of the coaches of one of the teams—the players would have been T-ball players here, but they had (the pitcher) throw the ball, they don’t hit it off the tee—the coach said ‘I’ve seen you here, do you know anything about baseball? Would you like to help coach?’ And he said ‘yes, I will do that.’ The name of the team was the Padres, and they were already 0-3 and by the end of the season, they were I think about 12-3 and took the championship. He never told anybody who he was or where he came from. And to this day, the coaches, the players, the parents—have no idea who this guy was.” Janet Domingo and Linda Kolmodin lead the Coca-Cola team and led the effort for the new plaque and statue at the Tee-Ball Garden. The garden is a cooperative venture with the Calhoun County Land Bank and Albion Community Foundation. Money was raised for these art installations and additional landscape improvements through a matching Patronicity campaign through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, according to a press release that ran in the ad-visor in the June 25 edition. Donated funds were held by an Albion Community Foundation. Other completed projects included the iconic Coca-Cola sign restoration and the new Malleable Mural celebrating Albion’s long foundry history. “This is the completion of our three (main) projects,” said Domingo. “Many years ago, when I was working at the hospital, I made a video about Albion. I named it, ‘Small Town, Big Heart.’ Well, the town’s a bit smaller (now), but it hasn’t changed. As a result of a very successful campaign, we were able to continue with our goal to bring art and history downtown. We’re not quite done yet. We have a couple other small projects in the works. Thanks again to everyone and to everyone who supported us.”
