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Jesse Tepper Opening Day Speech

Jessie Tepper Speech

Thank you, thank you very much. 

I am happy, proud and humble, standing before you. 

In 1995 my son, Wyatt,then 9, had completed his second year of Park & Rec baseball, a total of 12 games, on those fields with divots, without umpires or outfield fences,coach pitch, when my buddy in Benicia invited us to watch his kids play Little League.  It was awesome to see five diamonds, a snack shack, dugouts, beautiful fields, umpires, uniforms, announcers, bathrooms,--and I wondered why City kids could not have the same love and respect as the kids from the burbs.

I called Williamsport and asked them about starting a Little League team in San Francisco, and they referred me to Sherri Ott, the District Administrator for Marin who referred me to the Sausalito-Marin City board of directors which accepted us into their league and then gave me one week to submit a roster of our team. Which consisted on one player. We were required to enter at the Major league level.

I put up a sign at West Portal, Wyatt’s school, asking if anyone was interested.  Within minutes, Dan Ake  offered to coach.  Dan is the prototypical Little League volunteer, and it is after him the Dan Ake Volunteer award is named. Dan coached, did the ground keeping and now umpires;  like many of you Little League volunteers, he is selfless, helpful and dedicated.

One week later I submitted our roster for the first ever San Francisco Little League team.  Our first parade was driving down Bridgeway in Sausalito, one of ten trucks in the parade.  It was thrilling.

The season began and we were overmatched. We were off to an 0-17 start before the kids won a game. But they persevered and held their heads high.  They are really the founders of San Francisco Little League.  The next year we had two teams, and then five.  When I left the league we had a good foundation for Major and minors and a Challenger team, coached by Peter Strauss, last year’s Coach of the year. Peter, like Dan, and Steve Avigian, and Hans Hansen, continues to volunteer, although his child no longer plays in the league. Challengers, I see you.

Jim Ketchum took over as president and started girl’s softball, and the league is now as you see it, a program for children up to 18 years old,a hundred teams, over 1,000 children,  a girls softball division and a Challenger division, and a parade in San Francisco. This is magical; dream come true. 

To teach children about hard work, teamwork and loyalty, being able to win and lose gracefully, is not easy.  Doing it on the baseball field has been a joy to observe.

To all you volunteers--coaches, presidents, umpires, moms, dads, safety officers, player agents, and everyone I have not mentioned who help the program, I say thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.

Now, let the wild rumpus begin.