Your fellow umpires and their guests enjoyed an evening at the Maplewood
Country Club on Saturday, September 17th . The staff and chefs at Maplewood did a
great job and the evening progressed smoothly.
The evening began with host Peyton Coffin, Member Services Chairman,
welcoming our members, their guests and the guests of NBUA:
Keynote Speaker, Justin Moser, GM of the Fishsticks, Pacific International League,
team and his guests, Araceli Rios and Patrick and JoAnn McCollum of the
Fishsticks/PIL organization;
Chris Moedritzer, Head Coach of Garfield H S and NBUA Coach of the Year;
Dean Corcoran, President of the Washington Officials Association, and Lisa
Corcoran;
Tom Krause, President of PSSBL, and Nicole Krause;
Our friends and partners from Seattle Elite Baseball, Derek and Carly Bingham
and Wil Snyder, and his daughter Harper.
Peyton thanked Chris VonJouanne — and his orchestra — for his talents and a
whole lotta time in producing the audio/video presentation for an evening filled
with well-chosen tunes, followed by the introduction (after the requisite “war
story”), to the Master of Ceremonies, Mark Clough.
Mark entertained the room and brought up Vice-President Brian Rooney, who
introduced the Board members. Then, Mark asked for a moment of reflection for our passed brethren Bill Ranko and Ryan Green. Our President, Hank Margeson, could not join us, but he extended his welcome in a heartfelt video presentation.
Dinner was served! Raffles of gifts for our guests were held throughout the
evening and, during the delicious dinner, we proceeded to awards and promotions.
Awards
Tom Krause, PSSBL President, presented the first-ever PSSBL Umpire of the Year
Award to Pete Perry.
Henry VonJouanne, Director of Training, and Dean Corcoran presented WOA
Meritorious Service Pins to those umpires who were present, with the absent
umpires listed on the screen.
5 Year Pins:
David Jaffe, Chris Lathwell, Ryan McNeil, Chet Morgan, Richard Fried, John
Matson, Brian Tschumper
10 Year Pins:
Mike McQuery, Paul Williams, Mike Opprecht, Brian Rooney, Earl Smith, Greg
Clarkson, Bob Matekel
15 Year Pins:
Ben Bayer, Brian Sweet, Mark Clough, Paul Kahle, Mike MacKinnon, Fritz Timm,
Chris AND Henry VonJouanne, Glenn Campbell, Chris Claflin, Peyton Coffin
22 Years: Bill Fitzgerald
25 Years: John Leeper
We saluted our longest-tenured umpires:
Bill Lewis: 27 years; Thom Denholm: 30 years; Ted Buehner: 36 years and, Tim
Stevens: 39 years. Hey, new umpires! Heed the goals these men have set!
Many of our umpires worked Washington State Regional and Championship
games. Greg Olmstead invited Dean Corcoran (if the President of the WOA shows
up, we’re going to keep him busy), to present commemorative pins to those
present. All umpires who earned state assignments were listed on the screen and
those present were presented pins:
Tony Amado, Phil Bogardus, Glenn Campbell, Greg Clarkson, Peyton Coffin,
Chris Corbray, Reams Goodloe, Jeff Jacobson, Bill Lewis, Bob Matekel, Greg
Olmstead, Michael Opprecht, Brian Rooney, Earl Smith, Tim Stevens, Tim
Sullivan, Fritz Timm, Brian Tschumper, Brett Whipple, Paul Williams
Henry and Corky Trewin asked us to join in their salute to two of our Washington
state honored umpires.
Tim Stevens: Inducted into the WOA Hall of Fame.
Bob Matekel: Selected as the WOA Baseball Official of the Year.
The George Eshleman Award for Service, Integrity and being a Valued Partner on
the Field was awarded to Terry Granillo by Earl Smith, By-Laws and Policies
Chairman.
Taking a break from umpire awards, Peyton handed out the NBUA 2022 Golf
Tournament trophies. Low score was earned by Dan Borgida’s guest (ringers)
foursome at 63, whose members Derek Lohr hit the longest drive and Jake Nelson
grabbed one of the KP’s. The other KP (closest to the pin) was hit by Bill Fitzgerald.
Mark switched hats to his assignor role and awarded the 2022 Assignor Awards.
These are awarded to umpires who are “any game, anywhere” and have minimal
turnbacks. They are hallmarks of dedication to our craft and our association.
C Tier: Mike Leitner
B Tier: Paul Reynolds
A Tier: Paul Williams
T Tier: Mike McQuery
Corky stepped up to acknowledge an umpire who emotes energy and friendliness
and is our best recruiter. Rick Park earned the 2022 Unsung Hero Award!
Dale Wilson asked Dean Corcoran, president of WOA, to receive the 2022 NBUA
Customer of the Year Award for Unwavering Support of Washington State’s
Sports Officials. As he did, Dale acknowledged that NBUA could not have
succeeded as we have without WOA as a partner in officiating management.
The Leslie Fitzpatrick Rookie of the Year Award is very prestigious. Named after
our long-time, beloved assignor, it recognizes an “Outstanding Umpire of the
Present and the Future.” Brian Rooney, Recruiting and Retention Chairman,
stepped up and awarded it to: Nick Gallagher. Nick crossed 153 games off his
bucket list in his first year as an umpire! Thank you, Nick!
Mark introduced Justin Moser, and Justin entertained us with a pertinent and
humorous chat. We should not disregard the enormous amount of work that
leagues, managers, coaches and support personnel put into getting the baseball
game on the field and the work players put into their game to get out there and
succeed. We owe it to them to always give them our best game as well.
Promotions:
One of the highlights of our banquet is the announcing of promotions and at this
point, Greg Olmstead, Evaluations Director, stepped up and did so.
Promoted to C Tier:
Adam Carlson, Craig Tashiro, Dan Eck, Richard Hepler, Andrew Alsdorf, Bryan
McNair, Tedd Dideriksen, Mario Padilla, Michael Skarin and, of course, Nick
Gallagher with 153 games!
We had a special promotion awarded to a 2nd year umpire with NBUA (but very
experienced elsewhere, including Europe), and who attended professional umpire
school and was accepted into the college umpire ranks. Promoted from C to A tier:
Chris Castro!
Promoted to B Tier:
Casey Bloom, Thomas Peckham, Jeff Cannon, Tom Niccoli, Dan Borgida, Carl-
Michael Aoanan, Michael Owsiak, Mike Spear, Mike Leitner, Peter Caro and
Loren Ryan with 129 games!
Promoted to A Tier:
Ryan McNeil, Steve Mueller, and (all working over 100 games), Jim Melrose,
Randy Venters, Ron Klamert, Lane Loland (122) and Paul Reynolds – 143 games!
Promoted to Tournament Tier:
Dennis Williams, Brian Tschumper, Hank Margeson, Greg Clarkson
We have several transfer umpires and they have been confirmed as: Gerritt Nelson
to B Tier, Kerry Clark to A Tier and Regina Boyd to A Tier.
The Brian Gooch Award is for outstanding service to one’s fellow umpires and our
association. Terry Granillo, Treasurer, introduced the award and presented it to our
long-time Director of Training: Henry VonJouanne. The many hours, organization,
teamwork with trainers and attention to detail that goes into the best umpire
training in the state is often taken for granted. Thank you, Henry!
Mark meandered in with gracious closing remarks, thanking our guests and
significant others that support us as we hang out under beautiful blue skies
(sometimes) and watch kids playing baseball, skip dinners and have to say “But, I
have a game that day and can’t go…”.
Thank you, Mark, for not only your engaging talents as Master of Ceremonies but
also the countless hours you dedicated to producing the slide show and organizing
the behind-the-scenes production details, and thank you to your wife, Jody who,
once again, organized the beautiful centerpieces and gifts for the raffle. This
banquet would not have been so successful without you, Jody — and Chris
VonJouanne (and his orchestra) who carried the evening with fun and timely tunes
for our enjoyment.
What a team!
Brian stepped in with a closing toast and reminded us as to the importance of
having officials at the game.
“Without us… it’s just practice!”