One of the great pleasures I have had at Rangeview is coaching baseball. There will be many stories later about our baseball escapades. The colleague that I am thankful for is our head coach Mike Hamilton. Our field for the lower levels were separate from the varsity and JV field and we liked it that way. Mike trusted us to teach the game and keep quality kids in the program. Mike always supported the lower levels. He allowed us to keep 4 teams even when many other programs were reducing to three or even just 2. We always struggled getting games for the 4th team but we always seemed to have ten to twelve games a year. On our field the joy never left the game. In all too many programs there doesn’t seem to be the joy there should be. Baseball is a thinking game and a game to be revered. We walk in the shadows of every kid who picked up a glove and ball. Mike has the same reverence for the game. The coaches he assembled were all students of the game and tried to share that with the kids. We always had camps for young people and worked with a Sertoma club to hold a camp for kids who are deaf or hard of hearing. The camp was one of the highlights of summer with our players contributing to the community. Mike is a genuinely good person that I have always looked to for advice and counsel for things way beyond the diamond. Rangeview has had a history of special people as baseball coaches and Mike is one of the best.
