Southern hospitality

Friday, September 26, 2008

DAWSON SPRINGS – Carol Keller has two children, but she never had a son. Tradewater Pirate Kevin Schlegel stayed the past summer at her home, however, and describing their relationship nearly sent her to tears.

“We had two girls, I never had a boy,” she said. “He’s just like my son to me, he really is. I’m going to tear up just talking about it.”

Keller and her husband Joe represent one of nine households that acted as a host family for the 2008 Tradewater baseball team, members of the KIT League.

By welcoming a player into their home, host families relieve the financial burden placed upon the team, which would otherwise place them in apartments.

“Host families are definitely the backbone of the entire financial picture for the Pirates, there are no questions about it,” general manager Dwight Seymore said.

Some host families, like the Kellers, are recruited by Seymore because they have shown an interest. Other families become involved after getting attached to a player as the season progresses.

For Madisonville resident Keith Cartwright, welcoming young adults into his home is not something new. Cartwright’s family has hosted four foreign exchange students before, but never a Pirate.

Cartwright was not set to host a Tradewater player during the 2008 season except for his son Will, a 2007 Hopkins County Central graduate, until Will became good friends with Pirate Nate Wright.

“He sort of hit it off pretty well with Nathan and we fortunately have a house with an extra bedroom. Nathan fits in with the rest of the family real well.”

For each household the family structure is different and finding the right match personality-wise is a process typically handled by Seymore.

In some cases though the players and families develop their own matches as the season progresses and the players blend into the community.

Alyssa Butler and Chelsea Mills are both 2008 graduates of Dawson Springs High School. Each befriended players on the team who initially began the season housed in apartments. After developing friendships with the young men, the Butler and Mills families opened their doors to the players.

Rhonda Mills’ daughter, Chelsea, is the youngest of four children, and Rhonda had no qualms about hosting Pirate Sean Mahley as long as he was comfortable being around her young grandchildren.

“I'm used to having four kids at home, so it's no different having an extra one downstairs,” Rhonda said. “They just have to be used to kids because I have two grandkids there at the house all the time. But he has two sisters, so it works out really good.”

After spending nearly two weeks with Mahley, Rhonda’s four-year-old granddaughter Cameryn LaGrange became attached.

LaGrange said she likes to play softball with Mahley and chase down the foul balls at Riverside Park. After the games she runs around the bases with Mahley.

“I run around them,” she said. “We tried to slide, but Sean had to keep his pants clean.”

The Butler family and the players staying with them also made an adjustment.

Teresa and Travis Butler never have had a son. Their youngest daughter Alyssa is the lone child living at home, leaving them with three open beds. Because of their available space, the family decided to host George Hebert, Don Pugliese and Mike Ritson.

Now in a house overrun with testosterone, Teresa said she understands a little more about the opposite sex.

“We've never seen so much Sportscenter in our life,” she said. “We learned that you don't really interrupt the Sportscenter. We've learned that. My husband is having a good time because he's always been with girls and now he's surrounded by men.”

While Travis enjoys having a few more males in the house, Alyssa said she has been taking the usual ribbing and jibes that accompany having older brothers.

“They're always making fun of me, especially the way I speak,” she said. “‘Y'all and fixin', I say that a lot. I try not to say it around them because they think it's hilarious. My room is bright pink and they're always teasing me about being girlie and how I'm high maintenance.”

Pitcher George Hebert said the embarrassment go can both ways, however.

“Her bedroom is right next to the shower, so you kind of have to peek out before you walk out of the bathroom or bath tub,” he said.

Hebert, an only child, said it was awkward adjusting to life with a girl in the house, but made it clear the players get their own back from Alyssa.

“She beats up on us too,” he said. “She'll come up and hit us. She's definitely like another part of the gang.”

Although the players may poke fun, they also make sure to take advantage of having such a girlie “sister.” Alyssa pushes the cart for them when they go shopping and even took Matt Kulbacki and his cat to the vet.

“The little girlie things that make them feel feminine, I go do it for them,” Alyssa said.

Alyssa and the players also spend their spare time playing Rock Band, an interactive video game that allows players to accumulate points on how well they play their individual instruments.

Sometimes there can be a fight over who gets to play which instrument, but there is a general line-up.

“We have some singers on the team, some closet singers,” Alyssa said. “Jon Moore likes to play the drums mostly. Mike (Ritson) gets into singing. Mike's a singer. Andy (Gerhartz) likes to play the guitar.”

Most interaction between the host families and players revolves around meals though because the players are constantly on the go.

“You put food in their guts and they’ll spill them,” Pat Solomon said.

Pat and her husband Jim hosted Moore and Eric Faint. The players moved into Pat’s parents’ house, both of whom are deceased.

“To have kids back in my mother's house must be just thrilling her to death,” Pat said. “They love it up there. My mom would be tickled to death.”

The couple has three sons, but all have moved out, including Tradewater’s marketing director, Tony Solomon.

Sometimes after meals or games the players joined the Solomons at their home and conversed about hunting or the day’s game. Looking at several deer heads on the wall, Jim even shared his stories and discussed fishing with the ballplayers.

The funniest conversation, however, took place when Pat decided to make a simple southern meal for the “yanks” who were staying with them.

“I said, 'tomorrow I'm going to make you guys white beans and hoe cakes,'” Pat said. “I look and they're both going, huh? I said great northern beans and they're still going, huh?

“Jim says, you've never had great Northern beans? Jon says, 'I don't even know what they are.' So I had them soaked and Jim went over and showed them. They said, 'I never had them before.' They ate every bit of it. I guess it's regional. It never dawned on me that somebody never ate white beans.”

The Cartwright home also produced a colorful food story during the 2008 baseball season.

Cartwright and his daughter Kathryn, a sophomore at Central, exposed Wright to a new food that propelled him to an offensive onslaught.

“He had never hit a home run for the Pirates until he had bananas rolled in peanuts,” Keith said, “then he went on a streak and hit all of his home runs right after that, so it's the secret to his success.”

For Hebert, he enjoys a more conventional meal prepared by the Butler family.

Hebert, who hails from Virginia, said he likes when the Butlers serve barbecue because it’s not a staple in his region of the country.

“The barbecue is good,” he said. “The sauce that they have – the hot sauce is really good.”

Besides the barbecue, Hebert said he enjoys not having to clean his plates like he does back home.

“The first night I ate dinner there I was trying to clean the dishes, but (Teresa) said just leave them,” he said. “I was just startled about that.”

Teresa said her kitchen is always open, but after two or three in the morning, the players are on their own. During the week she tries to make each player his favorite deli sandwich at least once a week.

Ritson said he couldn’t believe the “four-course meals” he woke up to each day.

“I wasn't expecting anything like that,” he said. “I thought it would just be go eat, have a place to sleep. I felt like I was at a hotel the entire time. They're great people.”

Pugliese, who also spent his summer with the Butlers, said he noticed he actually put some weight back on after enjoying some of Teresa’s meals.

No southern meal is complete without sweet tea, and Teresa said some days she makes three or four pitchers just to satisfy the players’ thirst.

One particular player, Jonathan Lee, even received a new nickname when the Chicago native became obsessed with the beverage.

“He never had sweet tea until he came to Kentucky,” Seymore said. “The first day he got into the sweet tea and now he's got the nickname Jon “Sweet Tea” Lee because he drinks about a gallon of it day.”

Each family may boast some funny stories from the summer or memories they will share when the players leave, but the Kellers said after becoming so close with Kevin, they’ve basically adopted him.

“I don't think we'll ever lose touch with Kevin,” Carol said. “I'm going to tear up again. It's just two weeks before he leaves and I can't stand the thought of it.

“I think we'll be there when he graduates college and hopefully the rest of his life we'll keep in touch whether it's phone calls or e-mails.”