Baseball makes city a big part of team

By BILL STEVENS

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 15, 2000

Batting practice at John F. Clements Field on Thursday was what you might expect from a high school baseball team that set the state record for most home runs in a season. Cowhide littered the outfield and much of the shagging meant jumping the fence.

Out of range (barely) sits Brant Blessing's State Farm Insurance agency. He knows better than most the excitement that fills each of the players in orange and black, the Zephyrhills High Bulldogs, winners of 31 of 33 games this year. He managed the Dade City Little League team that won the state championship eight years ago and narrowly missed playing in the World Series.

"They are living a special moment," Blessing said. "It's a dream that begins in Little League. And now people who have never even been to one of their games are coming out of the woodwork. They have given this town something to cheer about."

The players, mostly seniors who haven't had much time to ponder how they will join others in the class of 2000 for graduation in only a few weeks, are headed to the Final Four. If they win Wednesday at Legends Field in Tampa, they will play for the championship the next day.

This is big news in the small town. It's been 30 years since the Bulldogs made it this far in baseball, losing in the championship game. They named the field for the coach of that team, and lately John Clements has been getting plenty of opportunity to recall those glory days. He's a regular at Neukom's Drug Store on Fifth Avenue, where for more than 60 years men (and lately a few women) have gathered for coffee and conversation right around sunrise.

"It's widely discussed each morning," said George Neukom, 63, whose grandmother started the drugstore in 1921. "This little ol' school is about to hit the big time! I'm not a big sports guy, so it takes something really special to get me this excited. But I'm going to be at the game Wednesday. I won't be lonely, that's for sure."

Clements was on vacation last week, but Neukom said he thought he would be back in time. "Coach Clements taught me history in high school, so he's getting up there," Neukom said. "I kid him that he's responsible for me turning out this way."

Jim Davis has been principal at Zephyrhills High since 1993 and spent eight previous years at the school as head football coach, dean and assistant principal. In their "vision statement," Davis and his administrators refer to ZHS as a "community centered high school."

"We are this town's high school," he said. "There is no lack of support, win or lose."

Last week, when the Bulldogs won the regional title, fans jammed the bleachers at Clements Field. Davis joked that he wished he could have charged for parking.

"It was just great to see," he said. "I have never been so excited. The student body and the community were united."

Davis was quite a baseball player himself. At Knoxville (Tenn.) Central High in 1969, he was catcher for a team that also played for the state championship. "We lost, but my memories are more of just being involved in the tournament. It's so hard just to get there. Baseball truly is a team sport."

Davis, who played college ball at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, said he thinks this Zephyrhills team is successful because Coach Bruce Cimorelli first taught them how to learn from losing.

"You wouldn't believe it to see them play now," Davis said. "But a few years ago they were getting thumped. Coach Cimorelli knew they had to learn what losing was all about before they could win. He's done such a fine job. You love seeing him get this far because you want good things to happen to good people."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.