Unforgettable West Newton Little League team to be honored 65 years after state tournament run

It is a challenge, but Melvin Fox does his best to stretch his memory back — way back.

Six decades back, to a time when a ticket to a minor league baseball game went for six bucks, a sharp suit cost $75 and groups of farmhands lived with host families while subsisting on $600 a month.

Fox, of Madison, was a catcher and pitcher for the Burlington Bees (Iowa), then the Class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early 1960s. The Bees played in the Midwest League.

“I remember asking the woman who owned the house if I could borrow a cake pan,” said Fox, 77. “She said, ‘What do you need that for?’ I said, ‘To bake a cake.’ She said, ‘OK, but I want a piece of it.’ I made sure she got a piece.”

How sweet it is for Fox to reminisce about baseball, his first love and something that still brings him great joy. How idyllic were those times.

“To be 18 and playing for the Pirates,” he said. “That was pretty special.”

But before Fox, a former Sewickley Township High School standout, played a year and a half in the minors — a shoulder injury ended his career prematurely — he made his mark as an aspiring youth ballplayer in West Newton.

One of his teams remains the gold standard for the wide-eyed boys of summer.

It’s been 65 years since the 11-12 year-old West Newton Little League All-Stars made a historic run to the state championship in Williamsport.

The team will be guest honorees at 1 p.m. Sunday during the Yukon Miners USSSA Little League Tournament, which opens Saturday at Yukon Lyons Field.

The public is welcome to honor the last team from the far west corner of Westmoreland County to get that close to the Little League World Series.

West Newton won the regional tournament and advanced to the state final. Despite falling in their only game in Williamsport, they made local history.

The team was coached by the late Lew Ometz, who also coached Janine Vertacnik in softball in 1970. Vertacnik, the current girls basketball coach at Monessen High School, came up with the idea to recognize her old coach’s youth team on its 65th anniversary.

“I thought it would be nice,” Vertacnik said. “A lot of people don’t realize how far that team went. We’ve invited back several players and it should be a nice event.”

The West Newton all-stars will be presented a banner by the Yukon Lions Club, which will hang from the fence in center field. Each player will receive a replica of the original team picture taken in Williamsport, a scrapbook of old newspaper articles and a T-shirt.

“No one has ever really done this for us,” Fox said. “It’s nice to be rewarded for something you did 65 years ago. Some of us aren’t around anymore.”

Fox, who played a number of positions for West Newton, including pitcher, catcher and first base, said his Little League pin was stolen when someone broke into his car years later. But he still has the faded baseball he launched over the fence for a home run in Williamsport.

“It was signed by the (Little League) commissioner at the time,” Fox said. “It’s has worn off some now. I just remember the field being fantastic. It’s not the field they play on now.”

Fox remembers getting off the bus and the stiff competition that followed — it was no piece of cake to bring home a title.

West Newton defeated Wash-Vesta (3-2), Elizabeth (4-2), Connellsville (6-4), Port Vue (4-2) and Franklin Township (6-0) to win Region 8. It lost to Wellsboro in the state tournament, 11-7.

“I was there to play baseball,” he said. “I didn’t hit too well out there, but it was a good time. I played on other championship teams. I won a lot, but there were some tough ones, too. I guess it evens out.”

The all-star team had players from teams in Yukon, Smithton, West Newton, Wyano and Collinsburg. They had different jerseys but the same cap — with a large “W” emblazoned on the front panel.

Members of the ‘55 team expected to attend this weekend include Fox, Larry Podbesck, Robert Coffer, Barry Lux, John Ondrejko, Butch Etherington and Wayne Hill.