William Dean didn’t play on a championship basketball team in 1937. So you can imagine his surprise when a picture he sent to be published in the Concord Monitor’s recent historical book, Concord Memories: The Early Years – a picture he was in, by the way – featured a caption to that effect.
No, it was the Walker School baseball team that took the title that year and appeared in the picture, and Dean was a big part of it, thanks to an in-shooter his father taught him that he used to mow down right-handed batters. Dean recalls striking out about 15 hitters from Garrison School during the championship tilt that led to the picture, which he said was taken on the steps of the Walker School.
“I didn’t have any trouble (that day),” Dean said.
The picture brought back plenty of memories for Dean, who said he would spend most of his free time at White Park playing ball with his buddies during his formative years.
“When I was 10 years old I went down to White Park in summer during school vacation and I was down there the rest of my life until I was drafted into the Army when I was 18,” Dean said. “It was just a second home, and I never heard of anybody getting in trouble.”
The war didn’t end Dean’s relationship with baseball or the park that left such an impression on him. He said he played in the Sunset League for 11 years after returning from the war, referring to himself as one of the few switch-hitters “in the history of the league.” Dean pitched and played outfield and had “great fun,” he said.
Retired after 60 years as an accountant (all of them spent “in the same damn building” on Park Street, he quipped), Dean remains a Concord resident and can’t imagine living anywhere else.
“Concord has been pretty good to me,” he said.
And Dean’s been good to it. It’s the least we can do to run the picture with the appropriate information attached.
Sorry for the mix-up, William!
