This gentleman is a believer in Legion baseball in general. He
got involved with the organization when his son, started playing in the late
1990s, and - unlike most parents - stuck with it after his child moved on.
Once he got involved
with Legion baseball, it was with the B&P Pac, a 1990s program that was
based in Clarkston. It was this guy and a few other Pac parents who arranged
for Washington kids to once again play for the Twins in 1998, ending about a
decade of valley Legion players being separated by the state line.
But that wasn't the end
of the story. Washington Legion officials weren't always keen on letting
players from their state join an Idaho team.
This fellow was in the middle of that battle, which kept him involved in
Legion ball even after his son went on to play at Walla Walla Community
College.
He eventually became
Idaho state commissioner. How did that happen?
As commissioner, his responsibilities included updating the
state rule book each year, reviewing the eligibility of all players in the
state and keeping tabs on the organization's budget. He also served several
times as an assistant director at regional tournaments in the Great Lakes or
Great Plains areas, as well as the Legion's national baseball committee.
He got to see Legion
baseball at its best: The organization's World Series settled in Shelby, N.C.,
in 2011, and games there draw as many as 7,000 spectators. He was fortunate to
attend three tournaments there, including an appearance by the L-C Twins.
Today he still continues to volunteer with the Lewis-Clark Twins
and Cubs but has retired as the commissioner of Idaho Legion baseball.
Beyond those duties, he has also been a stickler for the values
of Legion baseball. American Legion is a veterans group that was founded at the
end of World War I, and its baseball program - one of the country's first youth
sports organizations - was established in 1925. From the start, patriotism and
sportsmanship have been its bedrock principles.
Almost all Legion players he believes "walk away with great
experiences, great friends and a love of baseball,"
Each summer, American Legion baseball players end up reciting, a
least a couple of times, the organization's Code of Sportsmanship. It includes
these lines:
"Keep a stout heart in defeat/Keep my pride under in
victory."
This guy has heard the code countless times,
But "it makes perfect sense to me," he added. "It
means don't be cocky. And if you lose? Stout heart - you've got a game
tomorrow. Those are values that he really believe in."
Derrick Ater retired as
an attorney and stepped down from his administrative role in Legion baseball. Continues to support all teams from beneath
the 1st base bleachers.
What a better fit could
we ask for, but for the BUCS Merit Award to be the Derrick Ater Merit Award.
