send for coach Littlewood, I'm thinking, you know, how can I honor this?
So we did a coach, there was a coach Littlewood award and we started a
tournament and named it the little wood and I'm so pleased to see that
that's still around as the little would, they're great coaches on the
staff. I have the opportunity to meet um, and Pittman and then of course
to know Sheila Mcinerney and uh, so many of my colleagues and to be
exposed then to the other softball coaches in the pack and become
um definitely the camaraderie of being in such a premier conference and to
be sort of again, um, in the lead in terms of what's happening in the
sport to be um feeling valuable and contributing to the international
scene and to the national scene through the coaches association, they
start a coaching education program which becomes a master's program and
you know, have the opportunity to teach in that and to begin to do lots of
clinic work for the International Softball Federation. But gosh, I met
Arizona State and it's beautiful and we're in the new Carson building and
um, there's work to do in softball in terms of, especially the facility,
but the players have throughout my whole time where just premier um,
athletes and, and people and I think as you know, you look at all the, you
know, as I did in thinking about this and um, you know, talking about the
time, it's just, it's hard to believe it was that long really. It just is
a flash um of teams and tournaments and opportunity to work with so many
of these young women who now I I look at and I'm so honored to be friends
with or to have watched them grow and develop into many of them coaches
themselves and um many of them opportunities to just follow throughout
their life and whatever they're doing. When you arrived at Arizona State I
believe Russell nelson was president, is that correct? And we have not yet
hired ladic as president coming in and uh Charles Harris was director of
athletics and Herman Frazier over was managing the what we called olympic
sports which was really a unique concept also at A. S. U. It was not only
upscale with a new building coaches had budgets and recruiting money. Um A
lot of support Herman Frazier uh an Olympian himself but in A. S. U. Alum
who were very proud of um he came up with the idea of not calling it other
sports or you know be sports um or women's sports or men's other sports.
He called it olympic sports and we may have been one of the only ones that
really did that but it was it was a mindset of excellence everywhere. Yes
we had football, we had basketball and we had olympic sports and they had
great deal of attention um along with a group um wings of gold which
supported women's athletics a booster group um Similar to the Sun Devil
clubs on Angel Foundation but really to support women's athletics and all
that transpired during, I believe your, your time as a coach. Um, one of
my favorite stories that I'd like you to tell us about. It was building
Farrington Stadium. Um, we were very fortunate, um, the Alberta Farrington
Foundation to provide the funds for the new stadium and uh, I remember
coming out to see you and having to put on a hard hat to walk around the,
the site as it was being constructed, but there was something about the
color of the seats that was kind of unique that the construction folks
hadn't thought of. Could you share that with us? Well, it was just, it's
just one of the
premier memories of being here is that opportunity to build a stadium. And
um, I, I guess several little things, one of them is that the architects
um were sort of new to the athletic facility front. And so I, I didn't
show them any softball facilities. I only showed them baseball and said we
want this but smaller. Um, so we were able to really do what I thought was
a true design of a great facility for softball, uh, from the ground up.
And it has so many little things, it has shoe cubbies so that your spikes
don't have to go dirty into the locker room and it has bad slides in the
back of the dugouts. That's a very professional opportunity to store your
bat and helmet and I wanted colored seats. I thought why not? You know, we
should have maroon and gold seats. So that was at one of the hundreds of
construction meetings that I attended where I'm in there, you know, saying
let's, let's do it. And, and now I'm pleased to say that, you know, you go
over there and it's just a beautiful, beautiful field. I remember when I
took my interview here riding over there with tom Collins, then one of the
, um, senior administrators and the parking lot and driveway, we're not
even asphalted. So we were like going through the, and I'm like, well tom
, I, I think one thing should happen, you might want to, you know, put a
last fall on the concrete and then of course we went years with, um, just
the field and the stand up block dugouts and, and it's sort of hard every
, yeah, everybody wants something and, and so you're kind of standing in
line and then, um, yeah, Farrington, um, what a, what a great story. Their
family, you know, steps up to make this opportunity happened and they're
kind of, uh, you know, they had Minneapolis ties. So for me that was also
very, uh, special. And I think there originally out of, out of
pennsylvania, but they had come here and they had settled here and they
were, they, they were, um, kind of a strapping couple and they often
dressed in cowboy clothes and they were, you know, just very, um, unique
individuals. And I think they would be very, um excited about
what we did, um, with their name to represent softball. So definitely, and
then, you know, the everyday, how it changed to become Absoluteal one of
the best, if not the best stadiums in the country. Well, knowing a lot
about facilities is really important. And many people, um, don't really
recognize the depth that you have to know to build the proper facility. Um
, you know, when you walk into a gym, you can see if the baskets are down
completely. You know, some won't, they'll be like at an angle when you
walk into a facility. You can see where the seating is great for the fans
or, or, or the visitors, you know, accommodations. But for Farrington
Stadium, I remember that the architect wanted to make the seats right
behind home plate yellow. And uh, you may not remember that. Some people
may not know that the softball is yellow. Um, so that created somewhat of
a dilemma for your picture. And uh, that was one battle I believe you won.
Here's another one I, one, here's another one I won because of all the
years, you know, coaching and going to events and playing and standing in
line to go to the bathroom. There are there, I said, if nothing else
happens, you're not going to have to stand in line to use the bathroom,
the women's bathroom. So I'm also very proud to say and it sounds like it
doesn't mean much, but when you are Recruiting and standing in line with,
you know, 400 other people trying to use, you know, two stalls in the
women's bathroom. It's just another hurdle, you know, another hurdle. And
, and we've seen that change in the bigger arenas to where there's become
much more of a sense of accommodation. And I think just general respect
for the needs of women and women in sport and um, you know, I think it
reflects that and then you deal with your so proud of it and then you deal
with, here come the alums who say, well why didn't we get that? And so
always along the way, that's been a common story, the lums from the year
before coming and go, well why didn't we get that? And then how did they
get all this? So it was a very big jump, but I'm also proud to say we put
every alums name on the wall over at Farrington. So I hope they're all as
proud as I am of the opportunity now for the women to play in a true
stadium environment and, and, and they, they brought that forward. You
know, they were the women who, yeah, who had to go to the down the block
to go to the restroom and then come back to the field that allowed us to
continue to pursue to the degree of perfection that we have today. But
when mary Littlewood retired, she mentioned going on the road and taking
her crockpot for the team dinner and uh really a shoestring um and the
budgets um that you had allowed you to travel, stay in hotels, not always
use the bus. Um can you talk a little bit about what it was like to go on
the road with your softball team? Yeah. And I would definitely say that um
you know, Herman was a dream to work for. I really appreciated the chance
to come and be with Charles, Harris and Herman Frazier and the whole staff
of people and I think that many of those hurdles, we were, we were over
the, the hurdles of the seventies were just, you know, the basics and and
scrapping and clawing for every dollar and by the time I had arrived at
Arizona State it was clear that um I didn't really have to fundraise my
budget that the budget was there provided Players were able to stay two in
a room. We were able to fly to our competitions, we were able to be rested
, we were able to be, you know, serviced and prepared for action. So I
think um Arizona State stated certainly by the time I arrived made those
big strides forward and then we were also able to, you know, fundraise and
I was able to take a team to Australia and a team to Greece for
international trips, which you know, I think in the memory bank of those
players is going to be um you know, as international travel has been for
me, it's just gonna be a life highlight for him. You know, many of them
will always comment to me and remember when we did that, I just think
about how great it was, you know, so um, yeah, the programs have now um
sort of all grown up and as I kind of now in retirement, look back and
reflect, it was just such a great time to be a part of it all is really a
good kind of joyous and family and celebratory environment for the most
part, but there were probably some challenges some days when it was tough
and uh, I wanted to ask you if there was a particular turning point in
your career where you had to kind of dig a little deeper and get going
again. Um Well, I think um My dig a little deeper probably were my last
years and it was kind of a positive dig deeper because by now I am also
coaching the Greek team. Um so I received this opportunity in 2002 to
begin to work with the Greeks In. Yes, yes, the Olympic games in Softball
began in 96 in Atlanta. So they played softball in Atlanta had been played
as exhibition in 1984 in Los Angeles but wasn't retained into the games,
but it was played as an olympic sport And it was just another shot in the
arm for the sport, you know, and by now, of course, the world series is
very popular. Um, issue is being well represented in regionals and um,
advancing into the um, playoffs and we're pretty consistently ranked in
the top 10 in the country.
Um, and I get this additional opportunity now to help prepare a team for,
um,
Beginning in 2002 for the 2004 games. So I am now From 2000 to 2005,
concurrently coaching an olympic team and developing a budget and um, also
coaching, uh,
my ongoing duty said issue. So you kind of burn out because you're trying
to do too much. So I think that's what I would see. And so I'm on this
kind of just kind of rocketing into um, 2005, I knew, um, well I'd always
imagined that I would retire at age 50. It was my goal. And then, you know
, I enjoyed all the teams so much. I, I waited and, and, but when I was,
uh, I think at 52, I knew I was signing my last three year contract at
Arizona State and so then retired in 2005. So you had a multiple year
contract. That's an idea. Yes. And that was something that had changed
from the time I came in, I was a single year and then they began to offer
multiyear contracts, which was very nice for me because it gave me the
opportunity to plan out and you know, this was how it was going to run.