How much fuss is the right amount?

On Board Online • September 26, 2016

By Jason Franchuk
Special Correspondent

At Maine-Endwell Middle School near Binghamton, Principal Rick Otis wanted to welcome all of the students back on the first day of classes, Sept. 7, with a bang. He wanted an exciting, inclusive event for 570 students. But he knew he had to give a special welcome back to nine students who recently had helped make their entire town an international name.

A Little League team known as both "Maine-Endwell" and "Mid-Atlantic" won the Little League World Series on Aug. 28 in Williamsport, Penn. The 11 players include nine from the Maine-Endwell school district and two students from the neighboring Union-Endicott school district

About 7,500 Little League programs around the world started the summer with the dreams of reaching the goal that the Maine-Endwell team achieved.

The team even brought home the sportsmanship award - a fact that is hard to escape when speaking for more than a few minutes about the team with anyone in the Maine-Endwell area.

Otis arranged for a couple of confetti cannons to be installed on the building's roof. He connected his phone to a couple of outdoor speakers and blared songs including "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and "We are the Champions."

While that worked well enough, school officials in Maine-Endwell and Union-Endwell describe the Little League championship as a puzzle or balancing act, from the perspective of a school administrator.

What's fair - and, um, foul - in honoring the group's achievement in decorating various district buildings now and in the future? What's the best way to memorialize the championship for future generations of youth in the two participating school districts? How much celebrating is too much?

Otis said he wants to capitalize on unprecedented local spirit and, at the same time, move on with the school year. He plans on keeping the electronic boards outside celebrating the team "until someone tells me to stop."

An outpouring of community pride

Proud doesn't begin to describe the feelings of people in the Maine-Endwell and Union-Endicott districts after the idyllic achievement of their local boys, all seventh and eighth-graders.

It's been important for an area that's been trying to rediscover itself after major big-business employer losses and the massive flooding that occurred right before the first day of school in 2011.

Hordes piled onto buses and made the two-hour trek to Williamsport to see games over two weeks.

The Maine-Endwell team played in front of about 55,000 fans the last two games, and that's not counting the captivated national-TV audiences.

Maine-Endwell went 24-0 over the summer, astoundingly defeating a powerhouse team from South Korea, 2-1, in the championship game. The team was notable for bringing only 11 players, meaning just two substitutes. That meant players had to be versatile.

Business signs all over town congratulate the team, which is the first New York team to win the Little League World Series in 52 years (1964). It is also the first American team to defeat an international foe in the title game since 2011.

"You have 12 or 13-year-old kids who don't fully realize what they've done," said Otis. "It's relatable to a lot of older people, though, because many of us played baseball or some sport when we were that age. It's probably more relatable than trying to imagine what it's like to be a pro athlete. But these are our kids; they're great, normal kids. Now they're handling coming back, being famous, and also trying to be a normal kid."

At the same time, school officials see a powerful message for all students in the victory. In the words of assistant Middle School principal Michele Doig: "Anything's possible. Hard work. Commitment. You can do anything."

A banner for Union-Endicott

Union-Endicott and Maine-Endwell are neighboring school districts. So it comes as no surprise that they are rivals, as well. But Little League teams are drawn from geographic areas that sometimes involve multiple districts.

And therein lies a crux: How do officials in the Union-Endicott school district honor something that has never really had its name on it, and never will, despite being home to two of the 11 players?

"It's hard to figure out what to do," said Toby Riddleberger, the new principal at U-E's Jennie F. Snapp Middle School. "We want to single them out a little bit, but more importantly it's a team effort."

Riddleberger - with plenty of other chores at the beginning of the school year - found himself mulling what an appropriate way to commemorate the players' achievement and inspire future middle schoolers.

Right now he's looking at a banner to celebrate all of the players. There will likely be a reference to this group being known as the "Mid-Atlantic" champions, as that is a title U-E students can relate to more easily than "Maine-Endwell."

Notably, U-E students Ryan Harlost and Jude Abbadessa were stars in statistics and were media darlings.

Union-Endicott is also proud of the coaches, two of whom are U-E district graduates.

Return to normal? What normal?

The team has enjoyed celebrity extending far beyond the Binghamton area. The players were honored at Yankees and Mets games. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo provided free admission to the State Fair on Sept. 1 for all residents of Broome, Chenango and Tioga counties so they may join in a celebration of the team and its championship.

Team members soon will be bound for a couple of NFL games, including one in Pittsburgh. Steelers minority owner Thomas Tull, a movie executive, graduated from M-E in 1986. He's still highly involved in M-E and has bought students iPads and helped with various sports-facility infrastructure. He attended the title game and was on the field with the boys at the end.

(It may bear noting that the team adopted the slogan "Be Legendary" and that Tull recently sold his "Legendary Entertainment" enterprise to a Chinese group for $3.5 billion.)

There was some talk about the team being flown out to Los Angeles for the Ellen DeGeneres television talk show. Many parents and others assume this group eventually will get a White House invitation and get to meet President Obama, a big sports fan.

Riddleberger figures his school can't compete with that, so he wants to keep his school's fete simple.

M-E's Otis, however, said he couldn't resist holding a second celebration on the third day of school, Friday, Sept. 9.

Otis even had a Little League World Series day. Students and faculty were asked to wear team-related T-shirts. (Otis had been told that a local sporting goods store had sold $85,000 worth of Maine-Endwell gear.)

Otis also played a baseball-themed song during seven of the eight school periods. (Too bad there weren't nine periods, right?)

Extracting the right lessons

Otis said the message in his school's celebrations is that these are "normal kids" who "worked hard, stayed focused and gave it their best effort."

An "it takes a village" mantra has been drilled deeply into this baseball team, and that includes the idea of serving others. In fact, players on the world championship baseball team often serve as ball boys for their respective school's varsity football teams.

This Maine-Endwell team wasn't a bunch of flash in the pan. It won a state title when players were 10-year-olds and came within one game of reaching Williamsport last summer.

School officials said that this year's fairy tale outcome actually involves a long history of support to help local youth achieve excellence. For instance, the varsity football program recently finished off a state-record 62-game winning streak.

Administrators say their goal is a well-rounded student population that takes pride in a variety of accomplishments. Otis noted that more than half of the students in his building are involved in band, chorus or orchestra. There's a 90-percent participation rate in modified-style athletics for students in at least one sport, he added.

Riddleberger's message to parents has focused on the value of continued participation.

But good genes don't hurt, either. Matt Raleigh, the father of player Brody Raleigh, was a hitting coach in the Florida Marlins organization when it won the World Series in 2003. Matt is a former pro player who still holds the Binghamton Mets (minor league) record with 37 home runs in 1997. He runs a baseball facility in the area.

So this achievement wasn't just about getting a few good bounces.

Small town values

And that leads us to the kids, really. You may be wondering why we haven't quoted any of them. On Board has honored the baseball coaches' wishes to not have the youth conduct any more interviews for a couple of months.

It's easy to understand why the coaches want to shelter the youth, considering their travel schedule in July and August might only be rivaled by those working on presidential campaigns. , , for regionals. The team became the Mid-Atlantic champions and was whisked directly to Williamsport by a chartered bus.

One team parent, William Dundon, estimates he saw his son Billy a total of two hours in a 21-day period. "The story is beyond surreal, even going through it," said Dundon, who is principal of M-E's Homer Brink Elementary School.

"Being in the Little League World Series has been one of the best things in my life, and just helping my team win is what I wanted to do most," U-E's Abbadessa told ESPN before the championship weekend. The final victory was the sweetest. M-E bunched all three of its hits into a two-run fourth inning to win the title by a run.

"The sensation isn't just that they won, but how they won," Dundon said. The team members showed their colors by inviting the despondent South Koreans to join them in a victory lap around the field.

Dundon, who has coached youth baseball, chokes up thinking about that. The boys knew that game - in which about half of the batters they sent to the plate struck out - could've easily gone the other way. They had the maturity, instinct and grace to share the glory with the South Koreans, who were their opponents only as long as the games lasted.

It reflected small-town values (about 17,000 people live in the area Maine-Endwell's team drew from) and big-picture ethics: sportsmanship, community.

School officials describe the players as friendly, caring, humble and helpful. They see those traits displayed in their hallways as much as they saw it on the fields. Their sportmanship needs to be remembered, school officials said.

"I don't think anything that they get is too big for them," Dundon said. "If you go and do it the way they did it, you should get to do everything you want to do for as long as it lasts," he said.

Otis said he wants something permanent in the middle school to commemorate the team's victory. He says the best idea he's heard is to get a replica game jersey and have the team members sign it, then frame and hang it in "the most prominent place I can."