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The ABCA convention in San Diego turned out very well for the Goldpanners and the ABCA. The ABL had a booth, at which the Goldpanners were represented, and a number of contacts were made with various alums. Here is a look at a few who posed with GM Don Dennis: Don Slaught (79) Don went on to a major league career with Detroit, etc., winning a world championship with the Tigers in 1984. Now he is a performance guru, offering many high tech developmental gadgets. Brent Mayne (86) Brent was a member of the 1986 club that went to Hawaii for the US Open Tournament. The team was LOADED with talent but didn't win. The team might not have done so well because, according to Brent, the team actually was LOADED... every day while in Hawaii. ;) Having finishing up a solid MLB career (1991-2004), Brent now serves as a free agent catching guru to all levels of baseball. Check out his blog at brentmayne.com/blog There is a lot of great wisdom on baseball and life there. Allan Simpson (72-73-74) Allan was the statistician and main sportswriter on the 72-73-74 championship clubs. His title was Assistant General Manager, I believe... perhaps it was Assistant TO the GM... I'm not sure. Anyway, he went on the found Baseball America, which he has since sold. Now his project is PGCrosschecker.com, which specializes in highly detailed scouting information. Allan is planning on attending the 2009 Midnight Sun Game. Mike Weathers (86-87-88) and Don Sneddon (80) Mike was a great three-year head coach for the Panners out of Chapman, and has since gone on to be the head coach at Long Beach. Don was a player in the ABL in the 70s, was a coach for the Panners on the 1980 championship team, and now is the winningest coach in California Community College history. He regularly brings his SoCal Running Birds up to Alaska, and was a strikeout victim against Bill Lee in the 2008 Midnight Sun Game.
We also saw Les Murikami (Hawaii Island Movers), Mike Grahovac (87-96), Alan Regier (88), Gus Knickrehm (04-05-06), Reid Hamblet (04). One of my personal highlights was meeting Paul W. Deese, founding manager of the Glacier Pilots (also out of Chapman), and all around great Alaska baseball man. There are guys that attract hilarious stories like flies, and Paul has always been one. To him alone belongs the remarkable start of the Glacier Pilots (including two immediate national championships), and the man isn't even in their hall of fame! He is one of the under-appreciated greats of the game. A lot of work was also accomplished, but I'll save all that for another post. Pan On! TD (AKGPA FAN#1) |
