White retires from Little League post

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It was only Bob White’s second year as president of the Caribou Little League when, as he mowed the baseball diamond, one of the Little Leaguers cheerfully approached him, tugging his father along behind.

“Dad, this is Mr. White – the janitor of the Little League field!” the boy said.

White, 63, has been president of the league for 20 years, but

It’s easy to understand why the youngster mistook White, now 63, for a janitor. His daughter, Sue White, said used the story to explain how he made mowing diamonds, picking up litter, and laying the chalk lines his personal responsibility during the 20 years he directed the league.

White resigned as president this summer. Dave Holabird, who will replace White as president, said he won’t have time to do everything White has done.

“The word next year is going to be delegation,” Holabird said. “Bob is one of those guys who says, `If you want it done right, do it yourself.’ He even picks up soda cans to help the budget.”

When White became president the league was $250 in debt and had one field with a dirt infield and no bleachers. White oversaw repairs on the old Rotary field, the building of a new field, and the addition of bleachers, bathrooms, fences, dugouts, scoreboards, and a concession stand to the fields.

The new field was completed and named White Field in 1980. The league now uses four fields – two in Caribou, one in Woodland, and one in New Sweden.

The league also has several thousand dollars in its bank accounts.

White assumed leadership of the league when his son Mark, now 30, was a Little Leaguer.

“Dad went to all of Mark’s games and there was a kid on my brother’s team who the closest he ever got to being in the game was he coached first base for one inning. didn’t like the way things were being run,” said Sue White.

White immediately introduced a rule stipulating that each athlete must play two consecutive innings in the field and get at least one at-bat.

“Bob was about teaching kids sportsmanship and how to have fun. He also promoted good coaching techniques – no barking at the kids,” said Holabird.

“I always thought kids should be taught skills,” said White.”Winning is not number one. After the game I want the kids to go home and have an ice cream and forget about it.”

White removed the league from the District 3 All-Star Tournament in 1984. He said the Caribou league had expanded to 12 teams, and focusing on 28 all-stars made it too difficult to meet the needs of the other 140 athletes in the program.

The league now picks its own all-star teams and plays an all-star game.

White said that during the season he spent about five hours a day working for the league. He attended every game, but was at the field hours before the first pitch, putting down the lines and stocking the concession stand. When the games ended he put the bases away and patrolled the grounds for litter.

Before the league established an agreement with the Caribou recreation department, White mowed the fields by hand.

He faxed game results to the local television station, counted the money from the concession stand, repaired equipment, and sent a weekly report to the local newspaper.

In the off-season, White lined up sponsors, coaches, and umpires. A certified umpire, he often filled in at the games if an umpire failed to show.

White said he still plans to attend and umpire some of the games. He will continue to do maintainence work.

“I was just tired of getting home at 8:30 or quarter of nine every night. But I’ll still help out, just not day in and day out,” said White.

“It was a year-round thing for him,” said Willard Hamilton, who coached and managed in the league for nine years.

“People don’t have any idea how much he does behind the scenes, from ordering game balls to getting uniforms,” said Holabird. “They don’t understand what a great thing they’ve had going.”

White works part-time at the Caribou Shop N’ Save and said he will stay busy by working more hours there.

The Ludlow, Mass., native graduated from Springfield College in 1956 and accepted a teaching job at Patten Academy in Patten.

“I took the job over the phone – sight unseen. When I heard `academy,’ I thought it’d be something like Phillips-Exeter. But I got there and it was grades three through 12 and I was coaching everything,” said White.

White taught physical education at Patten for six years and received his master’s degree from the University of Maine in 1963. He became principal at Bridgewater Classical Academy, but the school closed the next year.

White moved on to Limestone Elementary, where he taught for 25 years before retiring in 1991.

White is the state rules interpreter for high school soccer, so every Sunday in August he travels to a different area of the state to conduct a rules clinic.

His wife of 32 years, Karen, is the dean of continuing education at Kennebec Valley Technical College in Fairfield.

“She comes home on weekends. We have a very good relationship,” said White.

“We all (the White family) were involved in Little League,” said Sue White. “Our family has met great people through Little League. We enjoyed the social part of it.”

Sue, an elementary school teacher at Caribou and the Caribou High softball coach, coached little league teams for 12 years. Mark, who coaches soccer and softball at Skyway Middle School in Presque Isle, also coached Little League for several years.

Sue and Mark both played four years in the coed league.

The league honored White with a surprise retirement banquet last Friday at the Caribou Inn & Convention Center. White thought Mark and Sue were taking him and his wife out to celebrate their anniversary.

About 85 people attended the banquet.

“Without Little League, I wouldn’t know half the people I do,” said White.

Although White has had problems with some parents and coaches over the years, he said the Caribou community has offered excellent support.

“You can’t go through 20 years with 48 coaches, 20 umps, and 160 kids without problems. That would be utopia,” White said.

The most difficult part for White has been coping when people who were involved with the league passed away.

He misses Vern Anderson, who died this spring at the age of 76. Anderson attended all the games and helped White maintain the fields.

“The first time I met him, I was working on the new field [in 1980],” White said. “He went away and came back with coveralls, rake, and shovel and stayed to help three hours. He helped every afternoon after that. He used to say he did it because he didn’t have a place to play ball when he was a kid.”