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Softball coach with diamond-shaped heart dies

Louise Jordan, 76, passed away knowing the rules of the game and where she kept the checkbook.

By STEVE LEE
Published July 19, 2006

ZEPHYRHILLS - Louise Jordan poured her heart and soul into the East Pasco branch of the Dixie Softball League, a program she and her husband, Clarence, founded in 1982.

Her heart gave out on the Fourth of July, just hours after putting the finishing touches on programs for the DSL World Series. Mrs. Jordan was 76.

"I got up at 2:30 in the morning and she sat there at the computer and said, 'I'll be there in a minute,'" Clarence Jordan said. "At 4:30, I heard her fall (out of bed). I jumped up, and she was gone. Her heart stopped."

Jordan became the state director 19 years ago and paperwork was not his forte. So Mrs. Jordan, a DSL Hall of Fame member who served as East Pasco's treasurer for 19 years, did it all despite stepping down from that post in 2004.

Who will help Jordan with the books from here on out is anyone's guess, Jordan said.

The same goes for the 30-year-old family business, Jordan Electric.

"I don't even know where the checkbook is," Jordan said Tuesday, adding, "I may dissolve the corporation."

Her husband was not the only one counting on Mrs. Jordan. Cheryl Nichols, one of the couple's seven children, is a schoolteacher who said her mother's generosity extended beyond a softball diamond.

Sometimes, Mrs. Jordan reached into her own pocket to cover field trips for underprivileged boys and girls. Other times, Jordan fed his wife coins so she could win stuffed animals at a machine at the Golden Corral in Zephyrhills. She gave her prizes to schoolchildren and seniors in nursing homes.

"She wasn't a selfish person," Nichols said. "She wanted to provide for everybody."

The Jordans, who were married for 41 years, met in Elmira, N.Y. He was 17, 10 years younger than her.

"There was electricity between us, and that was it," Jordan said. "Age made no difference; we knew we were meant for each other."

The Jordans also shared a love for children, raising three of their own and adopting four.

In her latter years, Mrs. Jordan developed heart problems and diabetes. She had a triple bypass in 1987 and five years ago had a pacemaker put in. Being involved with the league and giving to the community, her husband said, kept her mind off her health.

The Jordans were longtime fixtures at the ball fields off Airport Road in Zephyrhills. They helped raise funds for a press box and, in one three-day span, painted the building.

Mrs. Jordan also has coached in the league. In 1984, she coached Nichols on a Belles (ages 13-15) all-star squad that reached the DSL World Series.

Like anyone who knew Mrs. Jordan, Ted Belasic, a former league vice president who also coached and umpired games, spoke of her generosity. But that stopped, he added, when it came to league money.

Belasic recalled a trip to a state tournament in Eagle Lake (Polk County), in which Mrs. Jordan saved league funds by arranging teams to stay and do their laundry at an Eagle Lake firehouse in lieu of a hotel.

"That woman was tighter than a tick," Belasic said of Mrs. Jordan's handling of league funds.

Giving to others, Belasic noted, was her lifelong commitment.

"She always had to have a gift for someone," he said. "She was quite a lady."

Contact Steve Lee at lee@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 18, 2006, 22:44:14]