From the moment he walked into the Sagamore Club last Wednesday night, Joe Bevere was clearly having the time of his life.
Players from his 1975 Division 2 Eastern Mass. championship Chelsea High baseball team and other alumni were there for a special reunion with Coach Joe Bevere, who was joined by his daughters, Jacqueline and Jolene, and his son, Joe Bevere Jr., at the celebration.
The stories were grand at the reunion about what co-captain Bobby Spinney called “a magical year,” that was piloted by head coach Joe Bevere and assistant coach Frank Herlihy.
The 1975 team had it all: great pitching from All-Scholastic Mike Lush and crafty lefthander Bobby Rogers throwing to their awesome batterymate, Tommy Duval, an awe-inspiring infield led by shortstop Kevin Veator, third baseman Jerry Dion, and first baseman Bobby Ham, and the incomparable Bobby Spinney anchoring the outfield in center. Both Spinney and Veator were the first baseball players to become four-year starters for the Red Devils, completing their brilliant careers with the amazing run to the title.
The players couldn’t say enough kind words about Joe Bevere.
“Joe was just a special guy,” said Spinney. “He made all of us better ballplayers. By his discipline, we all jelled together and followed suit with him and Coach Herlihy. We played great baseball under Coach Bevere. We had no pressure because we just played the way he taught us how to play. It was a magical year and it all worked to perfection. It was an honor to win the Eastern Mass. championship with Coach Bevere and my teammates.”
Kevin Veator, who like many of his teammates was a force in Little League, Pony League, and in the Chelsea High baseball program, praised Bevere’s leadership and no-nonsense style of coaching.
“Coach Bevere is the only guy I ever called, ‘Coach,’’’ said Veator. “He was a great mentor. He taught us about life. He taught us on the field, but it was something that I took with me for the rest of my life. He made us all into men, that’s what he did. We didn’t know it at the time, but he was making us all into men, and he did one heckuva job at it. I just want to thank him.”
Bob Ham was nicknamed the “Aristotle of the Infield” by Bevere for his smart, “heads-up” play on the field. Ham made one of the most crucial plays in the Eastern Mass. championship game at Brandeis when he gloved a throw at first base, ran across the diamond directly at a baserunner, and created a rundown between home plate and third base that led to spectacular put-out by Jerry Dion. Ham spoke reverentially about his high school baseball coach.
“It was three years of us being together in Chelsea and being coached in discipline, repetition, and he [Coach Bevere] taught us how to think on a baseball field, so that when it came time for us to perform, we didn’t have to think – we were prepared, and we had the discipline. That’s what coaching is. We couldn’t have been successful without that.”
Ham’s remarks drew applause from his teammates and others in attendance.
Coach Bevere, a superb high school athlete himself before becoming a Collier’s All-American football player at Drake University where he led the nation in punting, said he was elated to see all of his former players. True to his humble manner, Bevere put the spotlight on his team in his heartfelt remarks.
Pointing to the celebratory cake, Bevere offered, “This cake reminds me of one thing: it’s not for me, it’s for the ballplayers who played. They made this season. Ballplayers play the game. Coaches supposedly coach the game. But how much coaching do you really do in a baseball game?”
The personable Joe Bevere Jr. drew laughter when he interrupted his dad and said, “I’ve been saying that a long time. You got too much credit.”
It was the beautiful end to a wonderful evening for Joe Bevere Sr., his family, and especially his players, who knew they were part of a special era in Chelsea High sports when Mr. Bevere and high school baseball were synonymous for more than three decades.