Published: August 15, 2008 01:56 pm      

Semi hauls Jeff/GRC champs through downtown Williamsport during parade

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Imagine Spring Street downtown lined with thousands of people, stacked two and three deep.

Now change the setting to Williamsport, Pa., epicenter of the Little League World Series, but know Jeffersonville’s baseball team — made up of 11-to 13-year-olds is here, with a mission to bring a similar victory parade back home.

The Jeff/GRC All-Stars, along with 15 other teams from around the globe, were paraded down narrow Fourth Street in Williamsport at about 8 p.m. Thursday, with all the trimmings. Fire trucks, high-school bands and cheerleaders performed as spectators threw candy to the teams, which rode on the back of flatbed semi-trucks in the annual Grand Slam Parade.

Jeff/GRC catcher Josh Burke was on board, representing the Great Lakes region.

“That was a huge parade,” Burke said. “I didn’t think there would be that many people.”

Burke’s parents, Kevin and Diane, didn’t make the celebration, as a traffic tie-up snarled Interstate 80 in western Pennsylvania. The Burkes and other parents chartered a bus which got detoured. The team has been in Williamsport since Tuesday.

“We’re sick we didn’t get to the parade,” Kevin said at about 9 p.m. from the Best Western hotel, east of downtown. “Still, we’re just floating on cloud nine. Maybe it will all sink in tomorrow.”

Kevin Burke said he can’t wait to see the facilities at Howard J. Lamade Stadium today.

His son has made his evaluation. He has practiced there this week and was busy shooting a promotional commercial at 10 p.m. Thursday after getting off the parade route and crossing the Susquehanna River to South Williamsport, where the ballpark is located.

“The fields are amazing,” Josh said by cell phone of the two main diamonds that sit side-by-side nestled against the mountains.

Terry Turner knows those hills. He lives just over one of them in nearby Montgomery, Pa. He’s been to many of the tournaments and was at the parade through Williamsport on Thursday.

“It’s amazing. It’s like walking into (Yankee Stadium in) New York or (Fenway Park in) Boston for the kids,” he said.

As Turner, other locals and folks from across the country and world sat along Williamsport’s local restaurant, bar and specialty shop strip, a parade emcee noted that the 10 days of the 62nd Little League World Series are a great melting pot.

The eight teams from the U.S. and the same number from other countries — including Japan, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela, will share lodging, play Ping-Pong and trade traditional friendship pins in the dormitories where they’re housed.

They are all forever bound by this town of about 30,000 people which swells with activity every summer.

Leave it to Turner, a local, to sum it up best.

“They all hit the baseball in the same language,” he said.



WORLD SERIES NOTES

• Kevin Burke, father of Jeff/GRC catcher Josh Burke, said he wanted to thank Southern Indiana supporters for their generosity in donations. He said the funds have helped take a lot of stress from parents and coaches. Those who wish to donate can do so at the account: DNE Baseball, account number 758807211, National City Bank, 1712 Charlestown-New Albany Pike, Jeffersonville.

• The Grand Slam Parade takes on a festival feel, with the smell of carnival-food vendors and games for kids, all set against the backdrop of a vibrant local business scene. People watched from tavern doors and coffee shop patio tables, as well as camping chairs and street curbs.

• Newly elected Hall of Famer Rich “Goose” Gossage was the parade’s grand marshal, and former Major League Baseball Stars Dale Murphy and Mitch Williams were interviewed by parade announcers.

• The Jeff/GRC All-Stars, representing the Great Lakes Region, are wearing the gold-and-black colors familiar to fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates during the Little League World Series.

• Williamsport High School’s sports teams are known as the Millionaires. This is apparently in reference to the city’s West Fourth Street’s “Millionaire’s Row.”

• Shea Van Hoy and C.E. Branham of The Evening News made their first stop on the road trip to get coffee in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, home to the team Jeffersonville beat in the regional finals to move on to Williamsport.



ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM

The City of Jeffersonville will celebrate Jeff/GRC’s trip to the Little League World Series with a series of events beginning at 6 p.m. Friday on the River Stage. All Little Leaguers are invited to wear their uniforms to the events for recognition. Here’s the lineup:

FRIDAY

• 6 p.m. — Family fun festivities with DJ, sports cage, rock slide wall, bounce house and more, including baseball-themed giveaways for the kids

• 8 p.m. — Live broadcast of the Little League World Series featuring Jeff/GRC vs. Maryland

• The Rolling Out the Weekend concert will begin immediately following the game

SATURDAY

• 7 p.m. — Family fun festivities with DJ, sports cage, rock slide wall, bounce house and more, including baseball-themed giveaways for the kids

• 9 p.m. — Twilight Cinema presents “The Bad News Bears”

SUNDAY

• 3:30 p.m. — Live broadcast of the Little League World Series featuring Jeff/GRC vs. Louisiana

TUESDAY

• 2 p.m. — Live broadcast of the Little League World Series featuring Jeff/GRC vs. Washington



All events will take place on the Jeffersonville Terraced Lawn. Concessions will be available for purchase and T-shirts will be for sale to benefit the Jeff/GRC team.

  

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