Published on Sunday, August 7, 2005

WHERE ARE THEY NOW — Band of Beetles
By PAUL SHUGAR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

The 1975 Yakima Beetles didn't see the end coming because they didn't plan on ever being done with each other.

They got on a plane to Rapid City, S.D., for the program's first American Legion World Series since the 1953 team won it all and they had one thing on their minds.

They weren't focused on how their final game together was only two losses away. They were dialed into winning something that forever seemed out of reach for a team that won the program's fourth straight state title in 1975 and cruised through the regional tournament, outscoring opponents 40-11.

Maybe this team didn't think about the end because they didn't believe in it.

This is a Yakima squad that circled the wagons after dropping its first World Series game 8-3 to Fullerton, Calif., and then bounced back to win the next three. This is a Beetle team that earned a chance to play for the championship by coming back twice to defeat Puerto Rico — the two-time defending champs — 14-11.

Then the team got a lucky draw among the tourney's final three teams with 3-1 records and got a bye into the championship, where the Beetles dispatched Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 8-4.

So they finally celebrated that one moment they had dreamed about since playing with each other in Little League. They whooped and hollered and remembered this was why they wanted to be Yakima Beetles in the first place.

"Our dads always took all of us to see legion games, and to us that was big-time baseball," said Chris Girard, a relief pitcher on the squad who still lives in Yakima and works for Standard Paint & Abbey Carpet. "That was all of our goals to play as Beetles. We strove our whole young lives to make that team."

And now, even though the end came in grand fashion, it was over.

The band was breaking up and there was nothing they could do. Summer was over and many of them were off to their college baseball programs. Others had high school to finish up. Some were starting calculations for a jump to the professional baseball ranks.

The city of Yakima, however, had one last sendoff for the team. Around 1,500 fans gathered at the airport to greet the squad in what ended up being a 45-minute ceremony led by Yakima Mayor Bert Broad.

The community outpouring caught the newly christened champions by surprise.

"We flew into Yakima and realized there was this huge crowd out there with signs that said things like 'Welcome Back' and 'Beetle Battle' and other fun things," said Dave Edler, who played at Washington State before playing pro ball with the Seattle Mariners. "At that point it got very emotional and kind of hit me that we did something spectacular."

Dave's brother Doug, who played a year at Yakima Valley Community College before taking over the family trucking business in Yakima, still remembers the moment quite vividly. He also is not embarrassed to refer to his time with the team as "the best time of my life."

"(That sendoff) makes you cry," he said. "There's no other way of saying it. It's a feeling that to this day, when you think about it, can bring tears to your eyes."

And that's how the 1975 Yakima Beetles broke up.

THE RENEGADE BEETLES

This Yakima team didn't want to grow up. They were a group of 18 lost boys who wanted to do two things — play baseball and have fun.

The latter need put some added stress on first-year coach Bob Garretson Jr., who had taken over the squad after his father, Bob Garretson Sr., stepped down the year before. Garretson Sr. once said in an interview with the Yakima Herald-Republic during the team's championship run, "I left a year too early."

Garretson Jr. might agree with his father when it came to controlling the boys on road trips. He was often up past curfew as well, making sure the Beetles were in their beds and not causing problems.

"They were a little bit wild around the edges and for us coaches it was a challenge to keep them focused in on what they wanted to do," said Garretson Jr., who coached the team to a 50-22 record that year. "That's why they lost a lot of ball games. They probably weren't focused in like the could have been. But they beat some really good teams. When they were challenged, they could play with anybody."

Many of the players' responses to their wild ways were much shorter.

"Um, you're not going to print this right?" The other favorite was, "No comment."

"By today's standards we were just wild," Doug Edler said. "It was definitely tough to get us in by curfew and half of the time we were gone when we checked in. We were a group of best friends, you know. It didn't matter who you hung with, everybody knew everybody so well."

Time has moved on and so has this once wild team. Many of them have spread out across the country, doing things from physical therapy, to sales, to teaching. Some members live far away in Arizona and North Carolina, while others still live in Yakima or other parts of Washington.

Others are unaccounted for. Players that leave former teammates shaking their heads as they wonder out loud, "I don't really know what happened to him."

Only one, Jerry Hammermeister, is dead.

The team did try to get back together once for its 20th anniversary in 1995 when Dave Edler was coaching the Beetles. While the team did manage to fill eight of the nine positions and easily defeat that year's Yakima squad, it is the closest they have come to being together since 1975.

Many did play against or with each other numerous times in college as most played at schools like Washington State, Central Washington, Idaho and Yakima Valley Community College. Others, like Dave Edler, Jamie Allen, Mike Moore and Don Crow, spent time in the professional ranks.

Now with their playing days behind them, many of the former teammates see each other only on serendipitous occasions. But time and distance have done little to weaken the team's bond.

"The interesting thing about this particular group of guys is we don't have contact very often," Edler said. "Yet when we see each other, it's like we were together just the day before.

"There's a connection, a camaraderie, a feeling like we are part of something. So it doesn't matter how long we don't see each other or how far apart we get. The minute we see each other, it's just like we've been hanging out and seeing each other all the time."

Sometimes the team might go separate ways, but it never really breaks up.

First Row L-R in photo:

1. Dale Ehler

Then: Assistant coach in charge of pitchers and catchers

Now: Retired Yakima School District teacher living in Western Washington.

2. Dan Tesch

Then: Catcher

Now: Cabinetmaker who lives in Auburn

3. Jim Potter

Then: Center fielder who was one of the fastest players on the team

Next level: Played at YVCC

Now: Lives in Yakima and works for Wagner Roofing

4. Mark Lombardi

Then: Team trainer

Now: Lives in Pennsylvania working as a physical therapist

5. Jerry Hammermeister

Then: Second baseman

Next level: Drafted by Cleveland Indians

Now: Died in 1984

6. Brian Davison

Then: Left-handed pitcher

Next level: Played at YVCC

Now: Teacher at Franklin Middle School in Yakima

7. Bob Garretson Jr.

Then: Head coach

Next level: Head coach at YVCC

Now: Retired and living in Yakima

8. Jamie Allen

Then: Pitcher/3B

Next level: Played at Arizona State before playing with the Seattle Mariners

Now: Works as a construction equipment sales representative in Tempe, Ariz.

9. Dave Iraola

Then: Pitcher

Next level: Played at Central Washington University

Now: Works for Volkswagen's corporate office in Issaquah.

10. Doug Edler

Then: Catcher for his brother Dave

Next level: Played at YVCC

Now: Owns and operates Mobile Fleet Service in Yakima

11. Chris Girard

Then: Relief pitcher

Next level: Played with All-Service team while in the Marine Corps

Now: Works at Standard Paint & Abby Carpet in Yakima

12. Steve Wilke

Then: Outfielder

Next level: Played at Washington State

Now: Sells real estate and lives in Kent

13. Ron Gregson

Then: Second baseman

Next level: Played at YVCC

Now: Works for Department of Transportation in Yakima

14. Dave Schmits

Then: Catcher

Now: Works road construction somewhere in Washington

15. Greg McDonald

Then: Shortstop/cleanup hitter

Next level: Played at Central Washington

Now: Works for Pepsi in Yakima

16. Dave Edler

Then: Pitcher/outfielder

Next level: Played at Washington State. Played professional ball with the Seattle Mariners

Now: Senior pastor at Yakima Foursquare Church

17. Mike Moore

Then: First base/outfielder

Next level: Picked by Seattle Mariners in sixth round.

Now: Owns his own business and believed to live in the Yakima area

18. Randy May

Then: Pitcher

Next level: Played at YVCC

Now: Lives in or nearby the Yakima area

19. Don Crow

Then: First baseman

Next level: Played at Washington State and with L.A. Dodgers

Now: Works in real estate in Fort Mill, S.C.

20. Scott Morse

Then: Left-handed pitcher

Next level: Played at the University of Idaho

Now: Works as Chief of Federal Probation for the district court of Eastern Washington and lives in Spokane.

— Paul Shugar