Courtesy: Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame
TOPEKA (KSNT) – On Monday night, six individuals and one organization were part of the 2015 Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame class. Steve Anson, Gil Carter, Mike Burton, Dick Cooley, John ‘Big Dawg’ Deedrick, Bob Hentzen, and the Highland Park Baseball Association are forever enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Below is more information on each of the inductees:
Steve Anson
Steve Anson was hired as the Washburn University head baseball coach in 1979 and served in that
capacity until his untimely death in 2014. During his 35-year tenure at Washburn, he coached 1,645
games with a record of 844-798-3. He ranks first among all Washburn baseball coaches in wins, as well
as seasons and games coached.
Anson’s best year with the Ichabods came in 1994, when the team went 37-13 (.740). The Ichabods
claimed the MIAA North Division title that year, and finished second in the MIAA postseason
tournament. Anson was named the MIAA’s Coach of the Year in 1994, as well. It was the second time
that he earned his conference’s top coaching award. The first occurred in 1989, when he received coach
of the year honors in the CSIC, Washburn’s conference at the time.
Among Washburn players coached by Anson, three received a total of five All-America awards; two
made rosters of major league teams; 18 were named as all-region players; 12 made the all-MIAA first
team; and two received Academic All-America honors.
Anson, a native of Indiana, came to Kansas in the 1970s to play on the varsity baseball squad at Kansas
State University (1973-76). A first baseman and outfielder, he lettered as a starter all four years. He also
led the Wildcats in hits and batting average each year. His career total for triples (19) remains a school
record.
His achievements at Kansas State also included a Big Eight batting title, which he earned in 1974 by
hitting .439 in conference play. In 2000, Kansas State honored Anson by selecting him as a member of its
All-Century Team—an elite group consisting of only 21 former players.
After college, Anson served as the head baseball coach at Wayne State in Nebraska for one year before
coming to Washburn. During his first few years at Washburn, he not only coached baseball, but also
worked as the assistant men’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director.
In 2012, Anson became one of the initial members of the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame
Steering Committee. He was an active, valued member who generously shared his knowledge, insight,
and humor during the organization’s formative years.
Mike Burton
Mike Burton is the coordinator of baseball program operations at Silver Lake’s American Legion Post
160. He is the first SCBHOF inductee to receive recognition as a recipient of the Francis “Beany” Conwell
Award, named after our charter inductee who co-founded the Ken Berry League. The Conwell award is
intended to recognize individuals who have made extraordinary, sustained efforts to ensure that
baseball opportunities exist for Shawnee County youth who wish to play the game.
Burton has been involved in coordinating Silver Lake’s American Legion Post 160 baseball operations
since 1975. During the ensuing 40 years, the post has sponsored a baseball team every year except one.
2015 Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees
Over that period, Silver Lake has fielded eight American Legion state championship teams (1975, 1979,
1980, 1981, 1982, 1989, 1992, and 2005). Of the Legion posts in Shawnee County’s rich history, only
Capitol Post 1 has captured more state baseball titles than Silver Lake. Among the Post 160
championships is an historic one. In 1981, Silver Lake, the Class AA Legion champion, defeated the Class
AAA champion, Hays, in the first-ever “large town-small town best of three playoff.” At stake was the
Kansas berth in the Legion’s multi-state regional tournament. In 2005, its most recent title year, Post
160 was the runner-up in the Legion’s postseason regional tournament. The one constant figure
associated with all eight championship teams is Mike Burton.
Burton also has been effective in building a cooperative relationship between the Post’s baseball efforts
and Silver Lake High School’s powerhouse baseball program. In the 1980s, he coordinated
implementation of improvements to the high school’s baseball facility, which also is the home field for
Post 160. Projects included reconstruction of the backstop and dugouts, and later, improvements to the
infield. In 2004, when the high school honored the Eagles’ state baseball championship teams from 1953
and 1954, Burton conducted extensive research on their championship seasons and assisted during the
recognition event.
For decades, Burton’s passion for baseball has translated into a personal commitment to doing
whatever it takes to make the Post 160 program successful. Burton’s commitment—along with support
and help from his wife Jill—has made American Legion baseball a regular feature of community life in
Silver Lake for 40 years.
Mike Burton, a native of Frankfort, Kansas, has been a Silver Lake resident since 1973.
Gil Carter
Topeka native Gil Carter is credited with hitting what is arguably the longest home run in the history of
professional baseball.
It was August 11, 1959. The place was Carlsbad, New Mexico. Carter’s team, the Carlsbad Potashers, was
contesting a minor league game against the Odessa Dodgers. In the bottom of the seventh inning, Carter
foiled a no-hit bid by the opposing pitcher. In the ninth, he launched a shot that went ballistic, traveling
an estimated 733 feet before it landed. The game’s official scorer, concerned about issuing a
“believable” estimate, reckoned the distance at a conservative 650 feet. Calculations based on an aerial
photograph, however, revealed an even more impressive accomplishment, variously reported between
700 and 733 feet.
The Carlsbad home run is Carter’s signature baseball feat, but hardly his only one. Twice, he was signed
by legendary scouts—first, by Tom Greenwade of the Yankees and later, by Buck O’Neil of the Cubs.
Carter spent his three minor league seasons as an outfielder in the Cubs organization, including two with
the Carlsbad Potashers of the Class D Sophomore League (1958-1959), and one with the St. Cloud Rox of
the Class C Northern League (1960). He led the Sophomore League in home runs in 1959, with 34. The
next season, he was named to the 1960 Northern League All-Star Team; among his All-Star teammates
was future Hall-of-Famer Joe Torre. In 296 minor league games, Carter recorded a .264 batting average,
hit 72 home runs, and produced 266 RBI.
Following his minor league career, Carter moved to Wichita and continued his power-hitting ways in the
semi-pro circuit. The Wichita Rapid Transit Dreamliners, with Carter as the starting left fielder, won state
and national semi-pro baseball championships in both 1962 and 1963. After hitting .484 and six home
runs in the national semi-pro tournament in 1962, he was named to the National Baseball Congress AllAmerican
Team. Thirty years later, the Wichita Eagle included Carter in its dream team list of Wichita’s
“All-Time NBC Greats.”
After living in Wichita for 39 years, Gil Carter returned to Topeka in 2000. Back in the city where he was
born and raised, Carter involved himself in community life through a variety of activities working with
Topeka’s youth.
Dick Cooley
Topekan Dick Cooley was an outfielder/first baseman who suited up for five different major league
teams between 1893 and 1905, the St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston
Beaneaters, and Detroit Tigers. His stat line for thirteen major league seasons reads: 1,317 games; 5,368
at-bats; 1,579 hits; .294 batting average; 849 runs; and, 557 RBIs. Cooley’s best full-season performance
came in 1895, when he hit .342 in 133 games for the St. Louis Browns.
Major league credentials landed Cooley the No. 26 ranking in the Topeka Capital-Journal’s list of top
athletes from Shawnee County. However, he also had a strong baseball presence in Topeka before and
after his major league playing days.
Cooley, whose given name was Duff but who most often went by Dick, was born in Leavenworth County
in 1873 and moved to Topeka as a boy. In his youth, Cooley was regarded as Topeka’s “best kid player.”
As he grew older, he organized and led progressively more talented amateur and semi-pro teams. In
1893, he was the player/manager of Topeka’s entry in a short-lived minor league.
When his major league career ended, Cooley returned to Topeka in the fall of 1905 and purchased an
interest in the local minor league franchise. He was a co-owner in 1906-07, and sole owner in 1908-
1910. The Topeka White Sox competed first in the Class C Western Association (1906-08), and then in
the Class A Western League (1909-10). Cooley was manager each of those years except 1907, when he
was the player/manager of the Louisville Colonels.
Under Cooley’s tutelage, the Topeka White Sox won the Western Association pennant in 1906 (82-56-1,
.594) and again in 1908 (89-50-1, .640). In 1906, Cooley not only led the team to a pennant, he led the
Western Association in hitting, with a .305 average. His 1908 team’s win percentage of .640 ranks
second all-time for Topeka minor league teams, behind only the Goldsby’s Golden Giants team of 1887.
After selling the club franchise in late 1910, Cooley left Topeka to establish a team in Utah. In both 1914
and 1922, he came back to manage Topeka’s minor league teams but wasn’t able to repeat the success
he achieved earlier with the Western Association teams.
Dick Cooley died in Dallas in 1937 at the age of 64.
John “Big Dawg” Deedrick
Topekan John “Big Dawg” Deedrick has been a baseball umpire in high demand for 50 years, working
first in American Legion games, then primarily in college and high school circuits.
He was introduced to the craft by Shawnee County Baseball Hall-of-Famers Gene Wilson and Joe Oliva,
both of whom he met shortly after being hired at the Goodyear plant in 1964. His first assignments
came in American Legion contests played in Topeka in 1965. After he worked an exhibition game
between Washburn and KU in the fall of 1966, opportunities in the collegiate game also began to open.
Between the late 1960s and the early 1990s, Deedrick was a ubiquitous umpiring presence in Big Eight
schools and in Washburn’s conferences, the CSIC then MIAA. He also worked in the Missouri Valley
Conference in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1990s, he became the baseball supervisor for both the MIAA
and Heart of America college conferences, and continued in that dual role through 2007.
He has had an exceptional run serving Kansas high schools, officiating not only baseball, but football,
basketball, and volleyball as well. Earlier this year, the Kansas State High School Activities Association
recognized him for his 50 years as an athletic official in high school sporting events. He has worked high
school baseball for at least 42 seasons, and has umpired in more than 30 Kansas high school state
championship baseball tournaments.
Deedrick established a reputation for professionalism from the outset. Early on, he made it clear that he
would not become a “homer.” He would not bias close calls in favor of the home team. An ethic of
fairness and consistency in making calls, a keen eye for the strike zone, a conviction that the game
should be a fun experience for its players, and a flamboyant style—all have become his trademarks.
Born in Topeka, Deedrick spent his childhood in both Kansas and California. He graduated high school in
Wamego (1961), where he excelled in football, basketball and track. After high school, he played center
field for the Manhattan Lumbermen Legion baseball team, and later for the Wamego Daylor Rockets
semi-pro team.
John Deedrick lives in Topeka with his wife Connie. At 71, he still umpires high school, junior college, and
summer collegiate games.
Bob Hentzen
Bob Hentzen wrote five columns a week on average for 38 years before retiring from The Topeka
Capital-Journal. Before settling in Topeka, the University of Oklahoma graduate, a native of Seward,
Nebraska, worked for the Tulsa World, Oklahoma City Times and Daily Oklahoman. His first day at the
Topeka Daily Capital was in January 1958.
Recognized by many friends, peers and sources as Good Ol’ Boy Bob Hentzen, the longtime writer, and
editor, cultivated a wide network of admirers who regularly read his columns. In addition, Hentzen
coached a Topeka woman’s softball team, the Tomatoes, for years and would regularly fret over lineups
while also guiding that club from his spot in the third-base coaches box.
2015 Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees
Hentzen was named Kansas sports writer of the year a record 15 times. Hentzen served as president for
both the Football Writers Association of America and the United States Basketball Writers Association.
He received the Bert McGrane Award from the FWAA and the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the
USBWA, the highest individual honors given by both associations.
Baseball was long Hentzen’s passion. After retiring in March 1996, Hentzen continued to pen a Sunday
column. In it he wrote: “I’ve always compared baseball to sports writing. Both are relentless. No matter
how good or bad things go one day, the next day is brand new.’’ Upon Hentzen’s retirement, the Royals
congratulated Hentzen with a presentation on the club’s outfield video board.
Hentzen died on March 17, 2000, after collapsing on the eighth hole while playing golf at Shawnee
Country Club. His clubs were slung over his shoulder, and a beloved cigar was lit, when Hentzen was
stricken at the age of 67.
Highland Park Baseball Association
The Highland Park Baseball Association (HPBA) is a youth baseball organization that traces its origins to
1941. Throughout its 75-year history, the program has been sustained by the efforts of volunteers and
parents committed to providing organized baseball playing opportunities for the youth of southeast
Topeka. Embedded in its history is a persistent, uphill battle for adequate resources. Yet the program, in
its various iterations, has endured as the longest continuous youth baseball program in Shawnee
County.
The HPBA, which was recently expanded to become the Topeka Baseball and Softball Association,
started as an informal effort by businessmen and community leaders in the Highland Park Boosters Club.
Through the mid-1970s, its games were played on school diamonds—initially, the diamond at 28th and
Indiana, and then the fields at 23rd and California. In the mid-1970s, the program relocated to cityowned
Dornwood Park.
The late 1970s were crucial years. The Booster Club had been in decline and was no longer effective in
coordinating the baseball effort. The Dornwood diamonds were only minimally equipped and
maintained by the city, which made it difficult to attract volunteers and players. Two local legislators,
however, took an interest and began to actively engage. Jim Parrish, then a state senator, became
involved in the mid-1970s by volunteering his time and legal skills, and providing financial support. He
later purchased land and donated it to the HPBA for addition of two new diamonds. Senator Anthony
Hensley became active in the late 1970s as a team sponsor and coach. Parrish and Hensley remain
members of the board of directors and are still active in the league’s baseball programs.
Their involvement sparked a revitalization of the program. In 1980, the HPBA filed articles of
incorporation and soon thereafter, achieved non-profit status. With the land donated by Parrish, the
number of playing fields increased. Improvements were made in lighting, fencing, concession, and
restroom facilities. Team sponsorships increased, as did youth, parent and volunteer participation.
Opportunity to participate has consistently been a HPBA hallmark. Every child who signs up is assigned
to a team; every child gets playing time. Continuing to offer that opportunity is a goal shared by long-
2015 Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees
time president Mike Rosencutter, Parrish, Hensley, and countless others who have dedicated time,
energy, and money to the organization.
Once again, however, the HPBA faces renewed challenges as it strives to become competitive with
Topeka’s other, more heavily-resourced youth baseball programs. Its future viability will depend on
facility improvements planned by the Shawnee County Parks and Recreation Department, increased
sponsorship contributions, and involvement by a greater number of committed volunteers.
