The Godfather of Tee Ball

“Stop playing in the dirt!” “Put your glove on…no the other hand.” “Pay attention.” “Do you have to go to the bathroom…okay find your Mommy?”  “No, I don’t know who is getting the game ball yet.” “Where is your hat?”  

Ah, the familiar phrases most commonly heard coming from one of the most fearless, courageous, and patient people on the planet, a tee ball coach.  

Getting a child between the ages of three and six to listen and do as they are asked is a task that can be frustrating, problematic, and downright impossible. In my house you might hear things like, “No, your Pop Tart doesn’t go in your nose,” “who put these Legos in the air vent,” and “you cannot sleep in the dryer.”  Kids are amazing and heartwarming, but also at times, crazy and frustrating.  Try to zip a jacket for a four year old that doesn’t want it zipped. Try getting a 6 year old in the bathtub when he wants to play monster trucks, or try getting your keys back from a one year old who apparently has better “keep away” skills than you.

Coaching the game of baseball at any level is a daunting task that requires attributes like dedication, knowledge, sacrifice, and patience.  Tee ball is much the same.  A tee ball coach’s task is to wrangle in not just one or two, but up to ten precocious little “ballplayers” in order to try and teach them the basics and to hopefully help them develop a love for the game.  Most tee ball coaches are fathers simply wanting to be a part of their children’s earliest baseball experiences. They move on as their child ages through the league, never coaching more than a couple of seasons at the tee ball level. Those few years are highly rewarding yet challenging to say the least. Nobody coaches more than a few years in tee ball. Why would they? They would have to be crazy, right? One man did.  In fact, he coached 45 seasons.  That’s right, forty five. No, the baseball dirt is not in your eyes, 45 seasons…as a tee ball coach. That man is Richard “Dickie” Jones.

In Lexington, Kentucky Dickie Jones is affectionately known as the “Godfather of Tee Ball.” He coached his first season of tee ball at Valley Little League in 1971, the same year he was married.  He was 23 years old.  He moved to the Garden Springs league in 1974 and began a long tenure coaching the Cardinals.  From 1985 to 1987 my tee ball team battled the Cardinals for league supremacy, with Coach Jones usually taking home the hardware. 

 As I grew up and continued my playing and coaching career, I kept up with my old little league and saw it go through many changes, but one thing always remained the same, Dickie Jones continued coaching tee ball.  After my mother passed in 2013 I returned to my old neighborhood to walk around the  park where I grew up and as I pulled in the parking lot I heard a familiar sound.  The unmistakable, booming voice of Coach Jones rang through the air and as I looked down at the field, there he was, on the field still coaching tee ball. I am fortunate to call him a friend and I see him around town or at Kentucky basketball games where he worked security, and we always chat about baseball and old friends.  After my first son was born, he made me promise that Maddux would play tee ball for him when the time came, but “the Godfather” finally retired from coaching in 2016 after 45 years. In a career that lasted more than 4 decades, his lasting legacy is a testament to his love for the hundreds and hundreds of kids he coached and to the love he had for teaching them to have fun playing the game. Recently, I visited Coach Jones’ home in Midway, KY and sat down with him to discuss his career as a “lifelong” tee ball coach.

Knight: Most tee ball coaches coach their kids and then move up with them? Why did you coach tee ball for 45 years?

Dickie Jones:  Well, I did move up with Scott (his son, now 37), but there was too much competition.  I just loved the kids at the tee ball age and loved watching them grow and develop. I loved the parents and getting to know them, but my wife will tell you I was too hyper to sit around the house and I hated yard work!

K:  My wife says the same. What do you remember most about your early years in coaching?

DJ:  Seemed like the competition was a little better, but back then they didn’t start until 5, unlike now where you have 3 and 4 year olds playing.  Good to get them involved at an earlier age, but makes it harder.  The parent involvement was great back then, helping with practice, working the concession stand.  Seems like we had more dad’s involved then too. A lot of kids now seem to be lacking the influence of their fathers and that is sad, but the parents were awesome. I met lifelong friends.  I was so lucky.  I have over 1200 friends on facebook and most of them came from my days as a tee ball coach.  

K: How did coaching change over your years as a coach?

DJ:  Well the competition level definitely changed.  In my early years, even when you played, we wanted to win sure, but afterwards everyone was friends.  It got to a point where other coaches were only concerned with beating me.  They didn’t really care about the kids and for them it was about winning more than helping the kids.  I always switched kids’ positions every inning. I never tried to run up the score.  When I coached against your dad, we wanted to beat each other for sure, but we could go have a beer afterward, you know what I mean?  That’s when I knew it was time to call it quits. It’s just different now.  It was incredibly hard to stop, but It was time.

K: Well that’s what you get for winning all the time, except that one year we beat you in the championship! Not that it is about winning of course (wink) but, how many tee ball games did you win in your career?

DJ:  At last count it was over 600 with 25 league championships, but when you coach as long as I did…I was lucky to have a lot of great kids over the years.

K: Speaking of players, any famous ones in all of those years?

DJ: I don’t know if you would say famous. I coached the former governor’s son, the son of an NFL pro-bowl lineman, a lot of kids that went on to play in college, and a couple that made it to a pro career. But I coached so long. I coached the grand-kids of my former players, 3 and 4 generations. That’s what has meant the most to me, the relationships I was able to develop and keep for all of these years.

K: What did it take to coach tee ball that long and did you ever have any aspirations of moving up to coach at a different level?

DJ: A lot of patience! The hardest thing was starting over every year with new and younger kids, trying to go back and teach all of the basics…How to run the bases, how to catch a ground ball, where to throw it when they catch it. But, it was a joy.  I loved it.  Never thought about coaching any other level, didn’t interest me. It was never about winning and losing, even though I did hate to lose, it was about helping the kids learn the basics of the game and watching them have so much fun doing it.  It was a great hobby and I think my wife loved me being out of the house!

K: So how do you stay busy now?

DJ: Just enjoying my retirement and probably driving my wife crazy.  I worked construction for 25 years, worked as a receptionist at my wife’s hair salon, I bowled, still working security at Rupp, but just enjoying life.  Spending time with my children, Amy, Robyn, and Scott.  I have 4 grandchildren, one great grandchild, and one on the way.  Life is good. 

K: You are affectionately known as “the Godfather of tee ball” what does that mean to you?

DJ: It means I coached too long! No, I can’t tell you anything special.  Looking back, I would do it all again.  It was a huge part of my life and very tough to stop.  I just enjoyed the game, enjoyed getting to know wonderful kids and wonderful families, and loved watching the kids have so much fun learning the game…and I got a few wins along the way (wink).

K: Sounds pretty special to me.  Thank you coach.  Thank you for everything.