Community lends a hand to host Little League tourneys

WARNER ROBINS -- Fifty-four years ago, Claude Lewis moved from Lakeland, Fla., to Warner Robins to revitalize the recreation department.

Last year, after years of encouraging youth activities on baseball diamonds, Lewis volunteered to help host the Little League Southeastern Regional tournaments.

“It just sends goose bumps up my arms every day,” Lewis said as he looked on Sunday at Southeast Park.

The softball tournament, which began Wednesday, is expected to end Monday with the last team standing heading to the Little League World Series. The baseball tournament is scheduled to begin Friday and end Aug. 12. Teams have traveled from as far as Virginia.

“We’re the International City,” said Jimmy Autry, a spokesman for the tournaments. “We’re used to different people from different places.”

About 150 volunteers will help throughout this time, Autry said.

They park cars.

They cart visitors to the field.

They meticulously outline the field with white chalk after each game.

“If we didn’t have volunteers, they couldn’t have (the tournament),” Lewis said.

The first volunteers that the teams meet are the Aunts and Uncles, a group of volunteers who are assigned to individual teams to help navigate the area.

The Aunts and Uncles help find places to shop, eat, wash clothes and even find specialty athletic gear, said volunteer Jerry Vincent. He said his wife, Sherry, heads the group.

“We make them feel at home,” he said.

Vincent said he and his wife, like some other volunteers, have helped with the tournaments since the regional offices moved to Warner Robins last year, because their children were in Little League years ago.

Meanwhile, other volunteers help because of city pride.

“We’re here to leave a good impression,” said Deborah Ann Barnes, a first-time volunteer.

Even city officials have been getting in on the fun. Councilmen Mike Daley and Paul Shealy have signed up for almost every day, though they don’t expect to miss any City Council meetings.

“We’re the hosts,” Daley said of the volunteers. “We’re representing our city.”

Barnes, who worked in the gift shop Sunday, said she hopes the players also take away something that will last a lifetime.

“This is something that people will look back on,” she said.

“They’ll save the pins. They’ll save the T-shirts. And, they’ll remember Warner Robins.”

To contact writer Christina M. Wright, call 256-9685.

This story was originally published August 1, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Community lends a hand to host Little League tourneys."