A part of the team: Coach’s memory lives on as Scecina wins state softball championship

Father Thomas Scecina Memorial High School softball players celebrate winning the IHSAA Class 2A state championship on June 9. (Submitted photo by Betsy Cooprider-Bernstein)

By John Shaughnessy

Sometimes a season unfolds in the way that every high school team dreams: A blend of talent, hard work, togetherness, grit and even luck leads to the magic of a state championship.

At other times, a season unfolds in a way that devastates a team, leaving players struggling to make sense of, to make something good from, a tragedy: A beloved coach dies unexpectedly, a coach who always reminded his players to have fun while they pursued their dreams, a coach who also tried to show them that even when life doesn’t turn out the way you hoped or planned, you still need to make the most of it.

Either experience can create searing, lifetime memories. Then there are those rare seasons when both experiences converge, when heartbreak, hope and happiness ride together on the same memorable journey.

So it was for the 2007 softball team at Father Thomas Scecina Memorial High School in Indianapolis.

When the team won the Indiana High School Athletic Association Class 2A state softball championship on June 9, the players rushed together—hugging, jumping, screaming, smiling, dancing—including one player who dashed toward the celebration holding a small stuffed bear.

The bear represented the team’s season-long symbol of John Edson, the longtime assistant coach who would have loved to watch them savor this perfect moment.

If you want a sense of the way Edson touched the lives

of the players, consider the story that head coach Tom Moorman shares about his close friend. The story humorously shows the difference between Moorman, the “old school” coach with a demanding, disciplined approach, and Edson, the former U.S. Marine who tried to keep softball fun for the girls.

“He was the type of guy that whatever the girls wanted, they got,” Moorman says, smiling. “We had finished a game in Martinsville. He was driving the girls back on the bus. I was taking the equipment back in my car. He said, ‘What do you think about stopping at Dairy Queen?’ I said, ‘No, we have to get them back. The parents will be waiting for them.’ So as I’m driving back, I pass the Dairy Queen and I see the bus is stopped there.”

Moorman laughs and adds, “John was all for the girls.”

The team’s star pitcher, Emily Wethington, smiles at Moorman’s story and shares another.

“We were coming back from a game at Lewis-Cass,” she says. “Some of the girls were hungry. He stopped and got us Subway.”

Her smile soon fades, replaced by a lump in her throat as she continues to talk about Edson. She starts her description of him by using the present tense.

“He’s fun-loving. He cares more about the girls than he does himself,” she says. “He’d do anything for us. At practices, he’d come up with games to make it fun. He was always showing us how to have fun and live life

as it comes to you. That’s what he did.”

It’s even harder for her to talk when she remembers hearing the news that Edson had died unexpectedly on Oct. 18, 2006.

The father of three had been in the hospital for surgery to remove a tumor from his intestine, a tumor that turned out to be benign. During the operation, doctors also removed his gallbladder and appendix. Everything seemed to go well. He was scheduled to go home on the day a blood clot killed him.

“It was really hard,” Emily says. “They opened up sessions for us at school so we could talk about it. We were so close to him.”

Even after his death, he continued to be part of their close-knit team.

The players wore his initials—J. E.—on their wristbands and the sleeves of their shirts this season. They prayed to him during every team prayer. They remembered him when they lined up for “The National Anthem” before every home game this year at their new field at Brookside Park in Indianapolis, the project that Edson directed. As they looked toward the American flag in those moments, they also focused on the U.S. Marine Corps flag right beneath it.

“We always have a reminder he’s there,” Emily says. “We always say, ‘It’s all for you.’ One of our goals at the beginning of the season was that we wanted to win state for him.”

The stuffed bear in a Scecina softball outfit and cap became part of the tribute to Edson. His wife, Rita, made the bear, stuffing its insides with pieces of Scecina softball shirts that her husband wore. She brought the bear to the games, sharing it with the girls, who kept the reminder of Edson on the bench with them.

“He loved this team,” says Rita Edson about her husband of 35 years. “He’d refer to them as ‘my girls.’ He’d come home and he’d say, ‘You should have seen my girls today!’ When he passed away, the girls signed a softball and we put the ball and a Scecina softball hat in the casket with him so he’d have them in heaven. The girls promised me at the funeral home they were going to win state for him.”

Ever since Emily was a freshman, Scecina has been a serious threat to win a state championship. One of the best pitchers in the state, she has been named the Indiana Gatorade Softball Player of the Year the past two seasons. Yet the first three seasons ended in heartbreak in the state tournament as Scecina was knocked out each year by a score of 1-0.

Realizing they needed to be more consistent hitters, Scecina’s players took extra batting lessons for much of the past year. They also benefited from the determined leadership of the team’s three seniors: Emily, Cassie Byrd and Theresa Weinzierl. This year, they wouldn’t be denied. With their

parents, who have supported them all season leading the cheers, the Scecina Crusaders beat the team from North Posey High School 5-0 to earn the state championship.

Still, the day that Scecina’s team will never forget also became another day when the team remembered John Edson.

The small stuffed bear can be seen in many of the photos that captured the team’s joyous celebration on the field. The bear is also there in every team photo and every player’s individual photo with the state championship trophy. The bear is pictured with a state championship medal around its neck. That medal now belongs to the Edson family—one more tribute from the team to their beloved coach.

As the team celebrated the state championship, Moorman thought of Edson, remembering how they had been coaching together since 1992.

Emily thought of her coach, wishing he was there to join the celebration, knowing how much fun he would have had.

Rita believes her husband was there.

“It was kind of bittersweet,” Rita says. “It was wonderful, too. There were so many people from Scecina there. It was a dream come true for all of us. We knew his spirit would be with the team. I know John was smiling down on them. I know he was feeling proud.” †