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Overby honored at city ball field dedication
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| By: Amber Gieseke |
August 26, 2009 |
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Chetek's city field will officially be named in a ceremony Saturday in conjunction with a Chetek High School 50-year reunion.
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The field will be christened Denny Overby Field in honor of the 1959 CHS graduate who had a brief stint in the world of professional baseball.
Overby's talents and skills weren't limited to the baseball diamond, though that' s possibly what he's most known for. In high school, he lettered each year in football, basketball, baseball and track.
Through his senior year, numerous baseball scouts flocked to Chetek's games to watch the lefty pitch. As soon as he had his high school diploma in hand, the teams were making their own pitches to win him to their team. The Milwaukee Braves offered the most money-$60,000-so June 18, 1959, he signed over his services and put on a Braves uniform.
He started strong and was as eager to pitch as the Braves' management was to show him off. He was throwing in games, batting practice and working on new pitches. Overby was expected to be the next big thing and was named as the player with the greatest potential in the National League, and the Braves weren't letting him rest.
By the end of the 1960 spring training, Overby started to feel pain in his left shoulder. He kept pitching, but the pain limited the amount of time he could play, and soon the dream of playing in the big leagues faded.
In 1962, he pitched his final games, and the Braves released him. He enrolled in college and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. After teaching in Neenah for a year, he moved back to Chetek, believing the quality of life here was too good to give up.
It was 1968 when he came back, and he jumped right into teaching and coaching basketball and baseball.
"It is risky coming back to your own town to coach," he grinned. "They knew you from before, but I had good teams early in my career so it helped me get established."
"Good teams" may be an understatement, but he would never admit that. He was in it to teach them as much as he was to win.
The switch wasn't too difficult, either. For him, it was just realizing playing wasn't the same thing as coaching.
"Coaching means you have to assess talent and look at more things-the big picture," he explained. "It involves a lot more work, but I enjoyed seeing the kids get better and improve themselves as people as well as players."
Becoming a coach wasn't a hard decision for him to make.
"I always wanted to teach kids the sport well enough so they could coach after playing," he said. "That was what was important to me-teaching kids how to play and perform."
After a few years teaching high school social studies, he earned his master's degree in guidance and took a position as the Chetek Middle School guidance counselor, eventually moving back into the high school.
"I wanted to help kids and make a difference," he explained, then with a smile added, "It was a higher salary, too; I was climbing that ladder."
Overby helped students outside the guidance office as much as he did inside.
He coached basketball for 27 years, resigning the post in 1995. He continued with baseball through his 1999 retirement from counseling, holding the position until 2006.
"I still enjoy going back and watching the sporting events," he said. "I miss the interaction with students and faculty. I guess the challenges of coaching, too."
Although Overby is done coaching, he has his memories.Going to state in baseball and having several sectional appearances in baseball, for example, both as a player and as a coach.
"The big games," he said with a smile. "They were the fun ones."
Not only did he get involved through school and sports, he became the city's recreation director in 1968 when he moved to town. He teamed up with Gary Haugen, who was a few years older than him, and formed summer programs for the youths of Chetek.
"There was very little going on when I got here," he said. "Gary took over as the spokesman with the city council, and I was the guy out on the field getting things going."
They formed summer programs, had swim lessons at the beach, set up baseball games, held open gyms and got the kids active and involved with sports so they could acquire skills and have fun.
"Parents used to watch their kids ride off to town in the morning and not get home until late afternoon and not worry," he smiled. "There were so many things going on it kept them busy and out of trouble."
Haugen and Overby hired students and CHS graduates to work with them as a work study program through college, so it wasn't real expensive, but involved a lot of students who were willing to help out and have fun.
"We were using kids from town as coaches, which the younger kids loved," he recalled. "Playing outside was just what [kids] did then. They had pick-up games on the city basketball courts or baseball field ... they were always having fun."
The duo also organized the first Fourth of July slowpitch softball tournament, now called the Gary Haugen Tournament.
"Gary made the phone calls and I was out on the field getting things going," he laughed. "We made a good team and got things done."
The city field that is being named Denny Overby Field isn't just a random ballfield, either. Overby got his start there.
When he started pitching in adult leagues at age 12, it was on that field. There was no school baseball field when he was in high school; he played on that city field. When he was the recreation director, Haugen and he worked on the field.
"We worked with that field, changed it, bettered it," he said. "The third baseline was on the blacktop, and we moved it to keep the road out of play and to keep kids safe."
Overby has done more with his life than what can be told in a newspaper article, but he isn't one to brag about it all. Yes, he'll tell stories if you ask, but he isn't asking for all the attention: he did what he could for the city and used his talents as best he could.
"It's a thrill [to have the field named after me]. It's humbling and a great honor," he said about the field dedication. "It makes me feel good about what I've done. I just hope I touched kids' lives for the good. I've really appreciated everything through the years."
Overby's Accomplishments
1952-Overby was pitching for adult leagues.
1957-A Prairie Farm team drafted him for the Wisconsin Baseball Association state tournament, where he pitched a no-hitter with 20 strikeouts against Abbotsford.
1956-59-During high school, Overby was 27-2 with 11 no-hitters.
1958-His junior year he threw a perfect game against Cameron in a district playoff game, striking out 17 of 21 batters.
1959-His senior year, the lefty went 9-0 with Chetek, including two perfect games. He struck out 19 in the district playoff and 18 in the sectional semifinal. In 63 innings, he didn't allow an earned run and struck out 142 batters, allowing only 11 walks. Scouts from four teams were at his high school graduation. He signed with the Milwaukee Braves June 18 for $60,000. Overby finished the '59 season in McCook, Neb., under the Class D state league with an 8-2 record and 136 strikeouts in 93 innings.
1960-He threw for Cedar Rapids of the Class B Three-I League and racked up a four-hit shutout and six no-hit innings before giving up a lone run in the seventh. The pain in his arm was starting, so he went to the Class AA Texas League, where he compiled a 2-2 record and appeared in only 13 games.
1961-The pitcher threw in 14 games, but the pain in his shoulder was growing.
1962-He pitched in eight games, compiling a 0-3 record. The Braves let him go, and he enrolled in college in the fall.
1968-Overby returned to Chetek as a teacher and started coaching basketball and baseball. He eventually became a middle school, then high school, guidance counselor.
1968-88-He was the city recreation director and helped organize youth activities in town and on the beach.
1968-90-He earned more than 250 wins as a Bulldog basketball coach and more than 200 wins as the baseball coach.
1988-The CHS graduate coached the Wisconsin North All-Stars in basketball and baseball.
1995-He resigned from coaching basketball.
1999-Overby retired from counseling.
2003-He was inducted in the Wisconsin High School Coaches Hall of Fame, an honor given to him by his peers.
2006-He resigned as the varsity baseball coach.
Present-Overby is still a football referee.
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©The Chetek Alert 2010
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ALLEN KOBLISKA |
Sep, 17 2009 |
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BEST OF LUCK TO DENNY AND GARY FROM CAPE COD. FROM EAST SANDWICH, AL KOBLISKA
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