Baseball memories 20 years later

I want to thank the Southeast Missourian for the story they ran on our 20th reunion of our 1994 American Legion baseball state championship team at Capaha Park. I also want to thank KFVS television and ESPN radio 1220 for their coverage; Jess Bolen, who allowed us to introduce our players during his Capaha game; and River Eagle Distributing for providing their hospitality room for our banquet.

Our 1994 team was very talented, with great attitude, baseball knowledge and a great desire to win. We will always remember the team bus rides and all the fun things that happened, as well as the success we had.

The coaches on that team were Bill Bohnert, Jay Crosnoe and myself. The story in the Missourian mistakenly reported that I was the head coach. That was not the case. The head coach/manager was John "Doc" Yallaly, who has headed up American Legion teams for 40 years. In fact, I was the least senior of the coaches. "Doc" has dedicated his life to American Legion baseball and we all honor him.

Our team members were: David Michel, Shawn Pemberton, Mark Kiehne, Lance Craft, Robert White, Scott Hopper, Brad Borgfield, Leroy McCulley, Robert Kern, Mark Schultz, Talley Haines, Tom Bolen, Brandon West, Chad Bogenpohl, Greg Hellwege, Randy Stovall, George White and Corey Knight.

We thank the American Legion Post 63 for its sponsorship. We all had a great time being together, renewing friendships and recalling great memories of the summer of 1994.

DON HOPPER, Cape Girardeau