The Impossible Dream as Reality

Giving Matters by Lawson Knight

You may not know that I am a fan(atic) of the Oregon State Beavers. OSU is home to the 2006 National Champions in Baseball. This storied team overcame six elimination games, a first-ever feat in College World Series history, to bring the NCAA Trophy home to Corvallis.

While the efforts of this squad will be told to grandchildren and great-grandchildren, there is quite a story of giving that made all of this possible. In my view, much of this story is about Bob, a fundraiser and visionary. However, he would defer to Pat, John, Norb and Bert. To honor his preference, here is their story.

Pat is the coach. He came to OSU from George Fox after immensely successful stints as a player and coach. John, a dairyman, lost his older brother, James, after he had played a little baseball for OSC. Norb is a pitcher from the 1952 OSC team, the first team to qualify for the College World Series. Bert is the son of a former OSU ballplayer, an ardent wearer of Orange and Black, who lives in the town where most wear yellow and green.

All these men shared a common dream: With the right help, a group of young men wearing the ugliest logo in College Baseball on their ballcaps could compete for a national championship. Of course, they shared this dream when it was laughable. When Bob rounded up these gentlemen to share their common aspirations, a look at the playing facilities indicated the condition of the program.

Circa 1996, there were no locker rooms. Players had to get ready for games two blocks away and jog over to the field to play a game. The dugouts were long trenches with a bench in them and leaky tin roofs overhead. Seating for games was on aluminum bleachers that could fry an egg when the sun came out intermittently in Spring. Batting practice happened in a century-old, rundown field house just a concrete wall away from the ROTC firing range. There were no lights for night games, a necessity for a team with aspirations to host post-season games.

In this context—a gale force wind—these men stepped forward. John made a very, very large gift in memory of his brother. Norb and Bert knocked on doors across the Northwest to find funds to go along with John's and theirs. Pat would tell anyone ready to listen how he could build a program to play for a National Championship.

Fast forward ten years to Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. 3,194 people, the largest crowd in OSU Baseball history, sat in orange stadium chairs under lights surrounded by a new press box, lobby, restroom, looker rooms, dugouts, concessions and scoreboard. The partisan throng watched a talented bunch of boys mostly from Oregon and Washington defeat the Stanford Cardinal 15-0 and advance to the College World Series.

While I was not at this game, neither was John Goss. He passed before he saw the dream become reality. I imagine Bert, Bob and Norm found Pat after the game and with tear-filled eyes and knowing smiles shook the coach's hand, knowing their dreams—and the giving behind it—created an opportunity for a National Championship.

Of course, the epilogue to this story of generosity is the primary focus. Two weeks later, in a 3-2 victory, Corvallis' cardiac kids piled on top of each other on the Omaha infield celebrating what a few believers dreamed could be possible.


Lawson Knight is the Executive Director of the Blue Mountain Community Foundation, located in the Baker Building, 8 South 2nd Ave., Suite 618, Walla Walla, WA 99362.
He may be contacted at 529-4371 or by e-mail.