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Cardinals will honor their past success

Paul Danzer: Community sports

The Columbian
Published: January 26, 2010, 12:00am

Without Vancouver Cardinals baseball, Rip Ramsey might not have had the chance to play college baseball.

The three summers he played for the American Legion team in the 1980s helped him get to Yakima Valley Community College, and eventually to Washington State.

It’s a legacy that Ramsey believes needs celebrating — and reviving.

So on Friday at the Heathman Lodge in Vancouver, the Vancouver Cardinals will honor their past with a hall of fame dinner. Five individuals — including the two coaches who launched the Vancouver Cardinals in 1983 — will join three players previously honored in the Vancouver Cardinals Hall of Fame.

Curt Daniels and Greg Hopkins were the coaches for the first Cardinals team. Daniels died in 2003. Hopkins is the area scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was their efforts, Ramsey noted, that quickly built the Cardinals into a team that advanced to the American Legion World Series in 1987.

Don Sperry and Charlie Valentine provided financial support for the early Cardinals teams. Sperry will attend Friday’s event, while Chuck Valentine will represent his father, who died in 2002.

Chris Sperry, Don’s son and a member of the first Cardinals team, will become the fourth player inducted. Chris Sperry is the head baseball coach at the University of Portland.

The three players previously inducted were Ramsey, Dick Hubble and Stu Bussey. Hubble is a 1985 Hudson’s Bay graduate who played two years of college baseball for Washington State before an arm injury cut short his career. Bussey was on the Columbia River High School state championship team in 1984, and played for the Cardinals first Legion state championship team in 1986.

Ramsey, a Prairie grad, also played for the Cardinals from 1984-86, an era where the team drew primarily from River and Bay.

He has stayed connected to the program as an outside supporter for the last two decades, but recently stepped forward to lead the organization. This summer, Ramsey will coach the Vancouver Red Birds, the Cardinals’ 17-and-younger team. Ben McGrew will manage the Cardinals, an 18-and-younger squad who this summer will play an independent schedule.

The rosters for those teams have been selected, and those players will be introduced at Friday’s Vancouver Cardinals Hall of Fame event.

It’s been a quarter century since Rip Ramsey was one of the players. He said he was able to play for the Cardinals because of financial support from supporters such as Don Sperry and Charlie Valentine.

In addition to honoring their contributions, Ramsey hopes Friday’s event sparks renewed interest in the Cardinals from alumni and other baseball fans in Clark County.

Tickets for the event cost $40. Anyone interested in attending should contact Ramsey by e-mail at ripramsey@comcast.net.

Bowlers aid vets

When it comes to giving back, the bowlers of Clark County have stepped forward big time. Again.

Most recently, the Clark County United States Bowling Congress chapter donated a 55-inch flat screen television and two 42-inch televisions to the Veterans Administration facility in Vancouver.

That donation continued a tradition of support for veterans started decades ago by the Clark County Women’s Bowling Association. These days, the year-long efforts of the Clark County USBC Bowlers to Veterans committee annual generates between $3,000 and $5,000 which is used to buy supplies and equipment specifically for the 72-bed rehabilitation and extended care center in Vancouver.

Bowler recognized

The local bowling community surprised one of its own on Jan. 13 during Allen’s Crosley Invitational league play.

Fairview, Ore., resident Ryan Oldham was recognized for having the highest standard league bowling average in the nation for the 2008-2009 season. Oldham averaged 253.7 for 87 games in the Guys and Dolls League at Rose Bowl in Gresham, where he works as a technician.

“A pretty cool thing,” Oldham said, both about earning the high average and the surprise recognition in his Vancouver league.

But the biggest thing to happen in recent months for the 25-year-old has nothing to do with bowling. His 8-year-old son, Christian, underwent a pair of open-heart surgeries to correct a birth defect.

His son’s health is one reason Oldham decided to bowl in only one league this season, after bowling multiple leagues during 2008-09.

“I bowled too much last year. It kind of beat me up,” he said.

He said he chose to bowl in Allen’s Crosley Invitational because it is a higher-money league that with four-player teams moves quickly.

“Crosley’s just a good time,” Oldham said.

Paul Danzer covers Community Sports for The Columbian. Reach him at 360-735-4521 or paul.danzer@columbian.com.

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