By GARRY BROWN
After getting longtime Boston Red Sox star Dwight Evans to keynote its fundraising campaign in 2008, what could the YMCA of Greater Springfield possibly do for an encore?
Tim Wakefield.
The Red Sox' knuckleball specialist will serve as guest speaker April 8, when the YMCA launches its 2009 campaign with an 8 a.m. breakfast at Western New England College's Healthful Living Center.
Wakefield, 42, is getting ready for his 15th season as a Red Sox pitcher. He has won 164 games with the Red Sox, third in club history behind Cy Young and Roger Clemens, who have 192 apiece.
The Red Sox will be playing at home that night, but Wakefield can make it because his first start of 2009 won't come up until the following weekend.
The YMCA breakfast, which starts a $250,000 fund drive, will be presented by the Springfield law firm of Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan and Blakesley. The drive's co-chairmen are Peter Straley, president and CEO of Health New England, and Jeffrey Sattler, president of NUVO Bank.
Wakefield is well known for his work with the Jimmy Fund and St. Elizabeth's Children's Hospital of Brighton. In 2008, he was Boston's nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which honors major league players for community service.
Funds from the YMCA's campaign provide financial assistance to youth and teen programs, and families in need of day care. They also help health and wellness programs for children and adults.
Information regarding tickets for the YMCA breakfast can be had by calling 739-6951, or visiting springfieldy.org
THAT FOX FAMILY: Two generations ago, Art Fox had an exemplary three-sport coaching career in the Berkshires, first at Adams High School, then at Pittsfield High.
Now, his granddaughter - Stephanie Fox of West Springfield - is doing very well as a basketball player for Simmons College in Boston.
Stephanie, a junior, was selected to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference first team after she averaged 16 points and an astounding 22.1 rebounds for Simmons (17-8), which lost in the first round of the conference playoffs.
NO TIME FOR STU: Bill Thurston, soon to launch his 44th and final season as baseball coach at Amherst College, is nationally recognized as an expert on pitching mechanics and the prevention of arm injuries.
"One thing I have found in recent years is that baseball people have fallen in love with the radar gun," Thurston said. "If a kid isn't throwing in the 90-plus mph range, they're not interested."
What about Northampton native Stu Miller, who used guile and offspeed stuff to make the big leagues?
"Stu? The way it is today, he wouldn't even get signed," Thurston said.
Miller did get signed out of a tryout camp, and pitched in the majors from 1952 to 1968.
Tim Wakefield.
The Red Sox' knuckleball specialist will serve as guest speaker April 8, when the YMCA launches its 2009 campaign with an 8 a.m. breakfast at Western New England College's Healthful Living Center.
Wakefield, 42, is getting ready for his 15th season as a Red Sox pitcher. He has won 164 games with the Red Sox, third in club history behind Cy Young and Roger Clemens, who have 192 apiece.
The Red Sox will be playing at home that night, but Wakefield can make it because his first start of 2009 won't come up until the following weekend.
The YMCA breakfast, which starts a $250,000 fund drive, will be presented by the Springfield law firm of Pellegrini, Seeley, Ryan and Blakesley. The drive's co-chairmen are Peter Straley, president and CEO of Health New England, and Jeffrey Sattler, president of NUVO Bank.
Wakefield is well known for his work with the Jimmy Fund and St. Elizabeth's Children's Hospital of Brighton. In 2008, he was Boston's nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which honors major league players for community service.
Funds from the YMCA's campaign provide financial assistance to youth and teen programs, and families in need of day care. They also help health and wellness programs for children and adults.
Information regarding tickets for the YMCA breakfast can be had by calling 739-6951, or visiting springfieldy.org
THAT FOX FAMILY: Two generations ago, Art Fox had an exemplary three-sport coaching career in the Berkshires, first at Adams High School, then at Pittsfield High.
Now, his granddaughter - Stephanie Fox of West Springfield - is doing very well as a basketball player for Simmons College in Boston.
Stephanie, a junior, was selected to the Great Northeast Athletic Conference first team after she averaged 16 points and an astounding 22.1 rebounds for Simmons (17-8), which lost in the first round of the conference playoffs.
NO TIME FOR STU: Bill Thurston, soon to launch his 44th and final season as baseball coach at Amherst College, is nationally recognized as an expert on pitching mechanics and the prevention of arm injuries.
"One thing I have found in recent years is that baseball people have fallen in love with the radar gun," Thurston said. "If a kid isn't throwing in the 90-plus mph range, they're not interested."
What about Northampton native Stu Miller, who used guile and offspeed stuff to make the big leagues?
"Stu? The way it is today, he wouldn't even get signed," Thurston said.
Miller did get signed out of a tryout camp, and pitched in the majors from 1952 to 1968.
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