By BART WRIGHT
Hawaii Tribune-Herald
Frank Degele knows some things about hopes being dashed, about being at the doorstep of your dream and having the welcome mat pulled away.
As the Pahoa softball team’s coach getting up and making the effort all over again has been a matter of routine for his small roster of players.
When the lava crept close enough to force people into decisions a year ago, five of Degele’s starters who had played for him for two BIIF seasons were moved to Keaau.
“After that, we were down to 10 players, and then we had to play Keaau,” he siad. “We were playing against five of our best starters. It was really a hard thing to do, but it got worse right after that.”
Two of Degele’s players were hurt and unable to play, leaving the squad with only eight players, necessitating forfeits in its last six games.
“It seemed worse for us when (Keaau) went to the playoffs, but I looked at it as a little pride in Pahoa,” he said. “We were represented on that team.”
This time around, the Daggers have nine players following academic suspensions of six players. With the timing of spring break, that pushed grade checks back, and the next grade check won’t come until after the season ends in two weeks. If they lose more players, the season will close with more forfeits.
“We don’t have much flexibility. We have to just play,” Degele said. “Good game, bad game, all we can do is get up and try again. We stay humble. We try to get a little better every day. It’s the only way I know.”
Forfeiting a game, or even the rest of the season is a big deal for high school athletes, but it’s all a matter of perspective. Degele, 69, grew up around baseball and freely admits it has been in the center of his life. He was a catcher at St. Joseph’s for four years and played as one of the youngest players for the Puna Braves and coach Jimmy Correa.
Degele, 69, grew up around baseball and freely admits it has been in the center of his life. He was a catcher at St. Joseph for four years and played as one of the youngest players for the Puna Braves and coach Jimmy Correa.
“I love baseball,” he said. “It taught me most everything I know. I’m lucky because after all these years (he coached the Pahoa baseball team for 33 years until it was disbanded, and he’s in his 11th season with the softball team) my wife (Delores) understands me. There’s never been a time she said, ‘Why do you have to go to baseball or softball today? Take me out to dinner instead.’ That never happened.”
What did happen to Degele was a moment that transformed his life in 1967. Correa had a friend who knew Hank Bauer, manager of the Baltimore Orioles who had just come off a stunning four-game sweep of the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966.
“It was before spring training,” Degele said, “I got a tryout with Baltimore. I got to catch Jim Palmer. It was an opportunity of a lifetime. They told me they were going to make an offer and bring me to spring training.”
It was one of a small handful of then greatest days in Frank Degele’s life. Until the next day.
“I was in the National Guard ,and the next day, the very next day, I was activated to go to Vietnam,” he said.
He went from a Hilo boy who loved baseball that nobody ever heard of to a catcher that caught the eye of the Baltimore Orioles who wondered if he might fit in on a roster that included Frank Robinson, the Triple Crown winner on the defending World Series champions.
And then, instead of opening baseball season somewhere in the Orioles farm system, he was in an Army uniform in Vietnam.
“It was OK,” he said of his service. “I don’t have all the bad stories a lot of guys did. I was a sergeant and it was, you know, it was OK.
“The toughest part was trying to answer the question, ‘Why are we here? What are we fighting for?’ I don’t think any of us really knew.”
These days, Degele’s memories of Vietnam are mostly dim and distant, until he sees something on the news about the issues troops are having these days and the patriotism that moved those people to enlist.
“It brings tears,” he said.
But the Daggers and their coach continue when they can. A game Saturday was canceled when Hawaii Prep didn’t have enough players and couldn’t make the game at Pahoa. It has been rescheduled, fingers crossed.
“We have issues at Pahoa. Everyone has issues,” Degele said. “I love coaching at Pahoa. When you are at one of the big schools — Kamehameha or Waiakea — you’re expected to win every game. When you’re at Pahoa and get to the playoffs three times (in softball), like we have, it’s a true accomplishment.”
How long will he keep going?
“My uncle answered that question for me,” Degele said. “I asked him once how long I should keep coaching. He said, ‘Keep coaching until you can’t walk out on the field.’ That’s my approach, that’s what I’ll do.
“Stay humble and keep working. I don’t know any other way.”
