50 MAY 2017 ARCAD A NEWS By Katie Mayer In the early 1980s at the age of six years old, Jack Krawczyk joined his neighborhood little league team. The season brought with it new friendships, fun competition, and of course, lots of baseball. “You’d go and you’d play little league baseball, then the next day, you’d be at someone’s house playing baseball in their backyard,” he recalls. “It was nonstop baseball during the season.” Today, like in the days of Krawczyk’s childhood, Arcadia Little League brings classmates, neighbors and family together for fun and friendly competition at ball parks in the heart of the Arcadia area. Although its traditions have remained largely the same, Arcadia Little League has grown by leaps and bounds, changing rules, moving to new fields and adding softball. With Krawczyk now at the presidential helm of the league he once played in, Arcadia Little League is celebrating 60 years in our community, growing continuously and looking toward a future brighter than the lights illuminating its fields. A LEAGUE TAKES SHAPE The Arcadia Little League got its start as the Ingleside-Kiva Little League in 1957, founded by Sam Kitchell, A.D. Laake, Jim Quayle and Jerry Skarecky, according to records from parent organization Little League Baseball and Softball. Its original four teams were the Redskins, Cubs, Braves and Pirates. The first four managers were P.B. Richardson, Glen Peterson, George Bartlett and Bob Vaughn. The league grew in the 1980s through a merger of the West Scottsdale, G r i f f i t h - O r a n g e d a l e , I ngleside -K iva a nd Arcadia little leagues. The Arcadia Little League name was adopted in 1987, according to the national organization. “The growth has been explosive,” said former league president David Davis. “When you look back at the old charter documents, it’s a really small number (of people) in the league boundaries and it grew exponentially. Today, it’s a large thriving area.” Today, nearly 900 kids ages 5-14 play in Arcadia Little League baseball and softball games on fields at Camelback Christian Church, Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center and Ingleside Middle School. Approximately 200-250 girls play mostly softball, but some play baseball, Davis said. About 80 teams of 12-13 players compete each year. Jeff Wasson, who has coached in the league for 12 years, said the talent he sees each season continues to grow. “Now we’re actually like a little hotbed for baseball talent,” he said, “but it didn’t used to be that way.” Last year, the boys Majors All Stars came close to winning the state tournament, but lost in the final game. Several former players have gone on to play professional ball and compete at Division 1 colleges. THE HEART OF THE HOME FIELDS Longtime league volunteer Jim Baker, 83, wakes up every January and says to himself, “Only two more weeks until Little League starts.” From stats to kids’ and parents’ names to the league’s evolution during the past three decades, Baker has seen or was involved in nearly all of it. “You name all the things you have to do at a baseball field to get it ready, and I’ve done it,” he said. B a ke r s t a r t e d coaching T-ball in the league in 1980. Eventually he added caring for the fields and managing concessions and uniforms. Baker, a retired uniform coordinator and purchasing agent for Arcadia High School, still runs the concession stands at all three fields, saying it is the most rewarding job he’s ever performed. “I’ve never been involved with something this contagious,” Baker said. “The thrill never stops. It’s kept me young – I know it has.” For years, Baker and his wife Jennifer and even son Jacob Renwick woke up at 5 a.m. and prepared the fields for the day. Although Beyond baseball: Arcadia Little League celebrates 60 years

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Don MacWilliam recalls the softball program hurting when he started coaching in Arcadia Little League seven years ago. “There were no older girls and all the little girls stopped playing, so they were sending them to other programs,” he said. MacWilliam, who coached his daughter in softball and coached baseball, which his sons played, wanted to make a difference. “It was my goal to make sure they had a lot of different options to pick from or play,” MacWilliam said. The softball program improved and the younger girls became better players. That resulted in additional younger girls joining the league, where they competed with the older girls and improved as well. “We took the passion I had with baseball and took it into softball,” MacWilliam said. “I think we built a pretty good foundation for what’s continuing now.” BONDING OVER BALL GAMES Back in the 1980s, mother of two Patsy Nodilo served as president of Arcadia Little League. She was trying to secure better lights for one of the fields near the site of The Phoenician Resort, but she also had a problem. The Phoenician’s owners were concerned the effect the tall, bright lights would have on the new resort’s guests. Crafting a solution offered an opportunity. “I got a call from one of the senior people and he said, ‘We understand you’re trying to get lights up at that field, but we kind of have a problem’,” she said. “They were concerned that the lights would shine in their most expensive rooms.” With the new, high-end resort months from opening, its owners offered to pay for lights at another field. Nodilo, an experienced finance executive, not only seized the opportunity, but also returned the gesture. She hosted the league’s inaugural fundraiser at the new resort on its opening day, obtained grant money and put the league on a positive financial trajectory. “It was nice to participate with the community and we got to know a lot of other people,” she said. “I think our children got to be friends with people who weren’t in their classes and even people who went to other schools.” Jay Carlos and Kelly Nunez’s two sons and daughter have played in the league. They say participating has brought many positive experiences to their family over the past seven years. “Little League has been something we look forward to every year,” Carlos said. Added Kelly, “When we go to a game – no matter whose game it is – the kids know so many people and see so many neighbors and friends…it’s family-oriented and I think the coaches have just been phenomenal.” Craig Coppola, who has coached in the league and served on the board, said many of his former players are getting ready to graduate from college and their friendships have remained even as they’ve moved away. He calls Arcadia Little League “different and truly a neighborhood.” Former league president Davis agrees. “You see kids out socializing, being competitive with other kids their age…and you see parents who normally wouldn’t see each other sitting around talking and socializing,” Davis said. “The role of this league is to bring kids and families together for three to four months every spring. It’s less about sports and more about the community bonding that occurs.”