Pictured is the late Justin Bray in his Easley American Legion uniform with his nephews Tyler Baumgarner (left) and Reagan Baumgarner (right).
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Pictured is David Posey’s American Legion Baseball World Series Championship Ring from his playing days for Post 52.
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David Posey (left) dropped by Joe’s Ice Cream Parlor recently to visit Coach Randy Bray.
EASLEY — Last week, Steve Garrison and Gregg Powell met to talk about an upcoming event in Easley. They could have talked about it for days, especially since it featured their favorite sport of baseball and some heartfelt memories.
Garrison and Powell are looking to celebrate and honor close to 60 years of American Legion baseball for Post 52 on Friday, May 29 at the J.B. Red Owens Sports Complex. There will be a special banquet on that day at the Larry Bagwell Gymnasium at 3:30 p.m. to honor the Post 52 alumni who can make it back. Then, the current Post 52 baseball team will host the Spartanburg Legion baseball team. Both the banquet (that will have a sit down dinner and featured speakers) and the entrance to the game will be free.
“This night that we’re planning means a lot to me because Easley needs community involvement again for its athletics at the high school and the American Legion to ever be prominent again,” said Garrison, a 1977 graduate of Easley High School who was a standout first baseman. “We have to have the community backing these kids. Kids are our No. 1 resource in America and the future. I will be disappointed if the city of Easley does not come out for this night or at least to the game. I want fans of the history of Easley baseball to take this as a serious time and a pivotal time of the history of their kids and grand kids – to tell their stories about American Legion and the camaraderie we developed with other communities in the upstate, and come together and was successful.”
Added Coach Powell, “It’s our hometown and one of the best programs that has been in Pickens County in the last 60 years – Post 52 baseball. It goes back so far – 60 years – with Pickens, Liberty, Easley, Daniel, Carolina High School and Berea – all the people that we drew from. We want them to come back to this special night. We hope that we have 1,000 people there to show up.”
Some of the great tradition of Post 52 will be featured on that day, too. The major theme of this event (listed on the flyers) is: “The Old and The New.”
Randy Bray, who served 25 years as the head coach and six years as an assistant coach of Post 52, is also looking forward to this big day.
Coach Bray took some time to reflect back on the unfortunate situation of when his son (Justin) died in a car accident on June 13, 1999. Justin had played legion baseball for his dad for 4 1/2 years before dying early. The memory of Justin will also be featured on May 29.
“Everybody thinks their children are special and I believe that too,” said Coach Bray, who served as the head coach of that Legion State Championship team in 2001. “I missed a lot of his (Justin’s) all-star games when he was growing up because I was coaching legion all summer. I told JB (Owens) that I was going to give it up when Justin was 13 (years old) and I didn’t tell him. He came home one day and said dad are you going to give up legion? I said yeah Justin I’ve missed all your games. He looked at me and was about to cry, and said I don’t want you to give it up. I want you to coach me (on Post 52). What a great feeling for your child to say that to you. Justin loved legion baseball.”
Powell, meanwhile, coached with Bray for 28 years and he still remembers that unfortunate day in 1999.
“Justin was a special kid and I knew him from the time he was born,” Powell said. “It was just a heartbreaking event. We played Greenwood over to Alice on Saturday night and after the game we all went to Pete’s to eat and Justin never made it home. So, we got the call Sunday morning that he had tragically been in an accident. You can’t describe the love that we have for his family and his parents. We still hold Justin dear to our heart.”
Post 285 Honor Guard: The Easley American Legion Honor Guard, led by Rick Stover, already has May 29 penciled in to perform Colors on that day.
From the scrapbook: David Posey, a 1979 graduate of Wren High School, was regarded as having one of the best arms from left field in Post 52 Legion history.
There is still a laminated article that Coach Bray has – from a game that saw Easley play Irma – that talks about when Posey made a key throw in the ninth inning of the game. The late Eddie Barbary was the head coach at the time and he described Posey’s memorable throw in the cherished article.
“Posey’s got one of the best arms on the team,” said Barbary, in the article. “I told (assistant coach) Randy (Bray), ‘If he can field it, he’ll throw him out.’ And he came in on the ball well, fielded it on the second hop, and … zip! Without Posey, we can take our uniforms off till next year. David Posey’s name ought to be in the headline.”
And it was printed in the headline of the newspaper in the next edition … ‘Posey’s Name Ought To Be In The Headline.”
Bat Girls returning: Local sisters Julie (Lesley) Ellison and Carol Jo (Lesley) Baumgarner were bat girls growing up in Easley for Post 52 for a combined 10 years. And to help bring back that tradition of Post 52, they both said they will return as bat girls on May 29. It’s the “extra things” like this that is going to make it a fun-filled event.
Contacting Coach Powell: If anyone has any questions or comments about the big night on May 29 (or wants to let us know they can make it for the banquet), feel free to call or text Gregg Powell at: (864) 419-9793.