Boyertown’s first state championship turns 50
In the year 1969, man landed on the moon for the first time and a music festival in Woodstock, New York, drew an audience of 400,000.
In sports, the New York Jets surprised the Baltimore Colts by winning Super Bowl III and New York’s “Amazin’ Mets” won the Word Series.
And in Boyertown, the summer of 50 years ago will always be remembered as the time the Bears won their first of 23 American Legion Baseball State Championships, beginning a dynasty in Pennsylvania and taking the first step toward becoming a national power.
The Boyertown program began in 1929, joined the Berks County League in 1930 and won its first Berks title in 1958, followed by another the next year. But the Bears had not won the league since and were still 13 years away from winning a national title in their own brand new Bear Stadium.
They played their home games on the high school field where the gymnasium now stands and entered the 1969 season as a scrappy and hungry bunch, a mixture of veteran and younger players guided by legendary head coach Melvin “Buck” Rhoads and first-year assistant Dick Ludy.
The pitching staff was led by 16-yearold’s Rick Stauffer and Robin Boughter, along with 18-year-old lefty Bill Hart. Rich Zuber was the leadoff man and center fielder, with Steve Mauger in left and Bill Kline in right. The infield consisted of third baseman Frank Kolarz, shortstop Roger Hoffman, second baseman Todd Hannahoe and first baseman Glenn Haas, with Dave Specht doing the catching.
The Bears went 16-3 during the regular season and began the playoffs with a 2-1 win over Pulaski Post in the bestof-3 Berks semifinal playoffs. That was the first of eight games out of 11 decided by one run prior to the state tournament.
They lost the second game 1-0 in 12 innings, but advanced with a 5-2 decision. Then after losing to Kutztown 5-2 in the opening game of the best-of-3 league finals, they bounced back with wins by scores of 3-2 and 2-1.
Boyertown swept Lehigh Valley champion Emmaus 10-2 and 3-2 in the best-of-3 Section 3 playoffs to advance to the Eastern Regional There, needing to finish in the top four of eight to qualify for states, they lost to Williamsport 5-4, but defeated Scranton 6-5 and Bethlehem 4-3.
The Bears began state play with a 6-1 win over Beaver Falls and then knocked off Philadelphia power Loudenslager 5-0 and Bellefonte by an 8-2 score. They followed that with a 3-2 win in 11 innings against Annville and finished up a state sweep by downing Chambersburg 3-0 on a seven-hitter by Stauffer.
Their first taste of national play came in the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Coplay. There they opened with a 10-3 win over Bath, New York. Then Stauffer took a nohitter into the ninth inning of a 2-1 loss to eventual champion Towson, Maryland, and their 30-8 season came to an end with a 2-1 setback against host Northampton.
Besides their record number of state titles (the second most is seven), the Bears have won two World Series, nine Mid-Atlantic National Regional and 22 Pennsylvania Region 2 championships since then. And that impressive list of titles all began 50 years ago during the incredible Summer of ‘69.