For a team that just wanted to play, they became the first team in Minooka history to make it to state.

Back in 1962, Minooka High School had just over 200 people enrolled in the school. The baseball team, led by Coach Norm Miller,  made a run to state in an unbelievable fashion. The guys played the game just to play, yet came together to create memories not only for themselves, but also for the small town of Minooka. 

“We didn’t really have expectations, we just thought about playing,” Ric Offerman, who was a senior shortstop on the team, said. “I hoped I didn’t lead the team in errors, and I did.”

While living in the small town of Minooka, there wasn’t much to do during the day. Many of the kids of Minooka would spend their time outside of school playing card games or for the 1962 baseball players’ sake, go out and practice. 

Minooka back then was just fields full of corn and children living their lives without some of today’s worries.  Minooka had just 12 and half teachers at the high school.  If a big event happened and everyone left to watch it, Offerman said they needed to hire people to watch the town. 

The baseball team played and practiced at the area that is now the Minooka Junior High School baseball field. 

“Back then, the backstop was back,” Wayne Greenbeck, the third baseman on the team, said. “If you look now, there is a big tree there. That was where the backstop was by that tree. No fences at that time, most diamonds we played on didn’t have fences.”

Minooka’s field backed up to a ditch near the railroad tracks.

“The ditch back there, we used to tell the other teams to be careful because there are water moccasins in there. So in case anyone got lucky and hit one that far, they’d go in pretty slow to get the ball,” Offerman said. 

However, that wasn’t the only thing that happened on that field after school. 

“Somehow we’d get out before school was over,” Greenbeck said. “We’d be out on the diamond practicing, Coach Miller would always be batting when the bell rang and the kids came out and he would be batting lefty and line up balls down the road and hit cars that would speed.” 

With no football at the school at the time, the 1962 baseball team played a 9-game fall season. With 11 total on the team and only two main pitchers, the rotation was manned by sidearmer Don Davidson and Charlie Karr. Minooka ended up finishing the fall season 7-2 along with a tournament win against Coal City in the Coal Valley Conference championship. 

During the spring season, players just looked at it as another few games they will play. 

“We did track in the spring and a lot of the baseball players also did track at the time,” Greenbeck said. “Baseball one day and track another day, we didn’t practice much track. Most of the track players practiced baseball unless we had a meet the next day.” 

While balancing track and baseball during the spring, the team ended their season 9-5.

“Every game was just, hey we’re going to go play baseball, and it wasn’t like oh, this team is really great,” Greenbeck said. “We never really thought about who we were playing.” 

The journey to the holy grail that was the state final wasn’t so easy to get to.  After winning the district tournament by beating Wilmington and Morris, Minooka advanced to the regional. 

Minooka first played Toluca and won 5-0, thanks to junior catcher Larry Korelc, who went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs. according to the Streator Times-Press. 

Against Coal City in the regional championship, Minooka racked up 12 hits while sophomore pitcher Charlie Karr hurled a 2-hitter to blow past the Coalers 11-0, according to the Streator Times-Press. This would mark the first time any sport from Minooka had won a regional championship.

Mike Ries, pitcher from Moline who was 11-1 on the year, stood in the way of Minooka’s path to glory in the first game of the sectional tournament, according to the Moline Dispatch. Minooka trailed 1-0 until the 7th inning where they rallied behind sophomore Don Williamson and junior Larry Korelc. The game had gone into extras and ended in wild fashion on a bunt by freshman second baseman Dave Seeders that then turned into a throwing error to give Minooka the win.

Against Bloomington Trinity in the sectional final, the aces faced off. For Trinity, junior Jim Wochner was the one to try and break Minooka’s dreams, according to the Bloomington Pantagraph. 

Don Davidson hurled a one-hitter for Minooka, but things looked scary until Minooka’s 7-run rally in the 6th inning as Minooka would overcome Trinity, beating them 7-1 victory. 

No one could have ever thought that this miracle could ever happen. Minooka, known as “tiny” and “a dot on the map” was going to Peoria to try and achieve more gold in this historic season.

“(Coach Miller) never told us that we were going to state,” Offerman said. “When we got to the Elite Eight, we had no idea. We just thought we were just playing another tournament and the state was two weeks down the road.”  

There was never a thought of the small school of Minooka competing against schools with thousands enrolled being an underdog, but they would face one in the first round of the state tournament in Peoria. 

They were up against  LaGrange (Lyons Township), and there was a controversial call that ultimately could have been the dagger in Minooka’s historic run. 

“They had a good catcher, and he hit it foul by 20 feet. Down the left field line was a big tree,” Offerman said. “It hit the tree and came down and landed fair and the umpire said, ‘Home run.’ There was a fence and it didn’t even go over the fence. They claimed it went over the fence and hit another tree and bounced in. It was a 3-run homer.”

Minooka’s season was over, but they had finished as an Elite Eight team in the state.

“I can remember coming back, the town was empty and the buses and everyone coming back in. Behind us it was car after car coming back to town,” Greenbeck said. 

The town was behind the team all the way. 

“We got to take a picture with the mayor, so that was pretty cool,” Offerman, who is currently serving as Minooka’s mayor, said.

Not only did the team have fun on the field, but also they created memories off the field as well. These guys were cemented in Minooka history and now will forever be honored as the first baseball team for Minooka to make it to state. 

The 1962 baseball team will be recognized before the varsity football game on Sept. 27.  Other Hall of Fame inductees who will be recognized then include Tom Clennon (athlete), Cyndi Kiper (athlete), Jenna Hall (athlete), Russ Weil (athlete), Wayne Greenbeck (coach), and Ron Lehman (special merit).