TODD ZEIDLER Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Friday, August 4, 2006 12:00 am
When Natrona County High School graduates gather in Casper for their 35-year class reunion, beginning today, a group of men from the 1970-71 American Legion state championship baseball teams will have plenty to look back on.
Under the watchful eyes of manager Gil Jones and assistant George Tani, Casper won back-to-back state titles for the first time in the history of a program that won its first state championship in 1930.
Jim Kofakis, a shortstop on both championship teams, remembered this about his former manager: "Gil Jones was a tough coach, an ex-Marine with a no-nonsense style."
And Jones' hard-nosed style was instilled in this group of ballplayers early in their legion careers.
While playing on an adjacent field, Jones required the team to bring rakes and shovels to practice so they could spend time working on another field. That plot of land became known as George Tani Memorial Field after Tani's death a few years later.
"When we were done with practice we went over there to the other field," Kofakis said. "And depending on what position you played was where you worked."
As Jones told the Casper Star-Tribune after his team's first state championship, the squad "had a ton of guts."
And after losing just five players from that 1970 team, Casper returned to the state title game the following year. One of the team's returners, Rob Ridley, threw a three-hitter in the '71 title game, a 5-1 victory over Sheridan.
Kofakis was one of at least two players from the championship teams to play college baseball, playing for Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Mont.
Another Casper player, pitcher Paul Levar, spent time in the New York Yankees' farm system after the Yankees paid for him to pitch for Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. Levar developed arm problems during college and was forced to cut his career short while in the minor leagues.
Besides Kofakis, Ridley and Levar, Jim Belcher, Doug Hirschman, and Rob Miller also played in both state championship games.
"When this particular group of guys won the state championship in 1970 we were all pretty much juniors, either at Natrona County or Kelly Walsh. We knew we had a good team coming back," Kofakis said. "We feel we were the jumpstart to making Casper a baseball town. And a lot of good things have happened after those (championships)."
Casper has won 10 more state titles since 1971, including four straight from 1979-1982, compared to only seven titles in the previous 40 years.
Contact sports intern Todd Zeidler at (307) 266-0578 or todd.zeidler@casperstartribune.net