October 23, 2006                   

First ever Cowley College baseball alumni reunion a success

Sharing old stories, laughs, and good times, over 100 former Cowley College baseball players got together for the program’s first ever baseball alumni reunion held Saturday at the Arkansas City Country Club.

The reunion began with an 18-hole golf tournament and finished with a dinner catered by Ponca City’s Head Country Barbecue, and social hour.

“I thought it went really well, especially for the first one,” Event organizer and former Cowley College baseball player Jason O’Toole said. “All of the guys seemed really excited about it and want to do it again.”

Former Tiger baseball coach Rick Holman joined current Cowley coaches Dave Burroughs and Darren Burroughs for the reunion, while players from each of the program’s four decades were represented.

“It was a lot of fun to see those guys that we had not seen in a while,” Cowley assistant coach Darren Burroughs said. “I think it was a success and it was pretty unanimous that the guys want to do it again.”

Bruce Zimmerman, a member of the program’s first two baseball teams (1970-71), teamed with Mark Carvalho, Don Dickson, and Steve Jennings to finish third in the golf-tournament. Carvalho and Dickson were teammates on the 1975 and 1976 Tiger baseball teams, while Jennings played at Cowley during the 1981 season.

The team of Brian Carter (1996-97), Brian Manwell (1996-97) and Laura Manwell won the golf tournament in a tiebreaker over the team of Aaron Sanderholm (1996-97), Justin Helterbrand (1996-97) and Josh Taylor (1996-97).

Carvalho shared the sentiment of many of the former players that attended the reunion.

“It was awesome, we are very appreciative to have this put together,” Carvalho said. “We didn’t have the success of the guys in the 90’s, but we still feel like we are an important part of the program’s tradition. Some of the guys from our team have a bond that will last till our dying day.”

Overall, in the 37-year existence of the baseball program, Cowley has a record of 911 wins and 597 losses, including back-to-back national championships in 1997 and 1998.

Pictured: Mark Carvalho, Steve Jennings, Bruce Zimmerman and Don Dickson teamed to place third in the baseball alumni reunion golf tournament.