In the summer of 1952, Fillmore High School teacher and legendary Coach Richard “Toolie” Palmer was on his annual family vacation in Placerville, California when some of his local acquaintances from past summers, knowing he was a high school coach, asked Toolie if he would be interested in managing one of their newly formed Little League Baseball teams. Interested in new challenges and helping young people Toolie agreed. I’m not sure how successful his team was that summer, but for the future youth of Fillmore, it was a “Grand Slam Home Run”. That summer Toolie experienced a firsthand view of the benefits of what the young men of Placerville gained from their Little League experience.

Little League baseball began in Pennsylvania back in 1939 by Carl Stotz. The first game was played June 6th, 1939, in Williamsport, Pa, home of today’s Little League World Series. The first year consisted of three teams in one league. By 1946 there were 12 leagues in Pennsylvania, and by 1948 there were 94 leagues spread around the eastern United States. In 1951 the first teams outside of the United States formed in Canada and the Dominican Republic.

When Fillmore was granted their franchise, Ventura County’s only other league was in Ventura. They had two leagues, the America and the National Leagues. These leagues were some of the very first in California and were formed in 1950 or 51. Ventura’s third league, the Coastal League, received their Little League franchise in 1954, the same year as Fillmore. There were 3,300 leagues all over the World by 1954. Under the Little League organization’s umbrella in 2008, there are 12 different types of leagues (Jr., Sr., hard ball, softball, boys and girls) with leagues in all 50 states and 80 countries, with 2.6 million players on 200,000 teams. During the last 80 years, more than 40 million kids, both boys and girls from around the world, have played Little League baseball.

Back in Fillmore that following fall, Toolie enthusiastically shared his experience of the summer with like minded youth oriented friends, and thus the seed was planted. This small group of friends started to form the organization. They enlisted others and obtained information on the rules and regulations of Little League and how to start the franchise application process.

“Securing a Sponsor”
On Monday, July 6th 1953 Toolie and the newly formed committee approached the Lions Club of Fillmore. They presented their plan for organizing a “Little League Baseball Club” for the young men of Fillmore, Piru, and Bardsdale. The members of the Lion’s Club unanimously approved the plan and graciously consented to underwrite all costs. Now all that was left to do was to create an organization, requite additional personnel and create a plan with a timeline. The last thing to do was to secure players, organize teams and then play ball. Because it had been Fillmore’s first year and it was already late in the summer when they decided to just expose the boys to hardball with some fundamental training, then play a limited schedule.

The members of the original organizing committee in addition to Toolie Palmer were; Chuck Mulvihill, an ex-major league baseball player who played in a couple of World Series; Hank “The Oklahoma Flash” Data, an avid local youth supporter. Ken Creed, a Fillmore High School teacher and coach; Bob Hustis, a local postman who was an outstanding athlete, as was Toolie, at Fillmore High School. Eventually others became Board Members before the first full season, but these four were the original organizers.

...Part 2 of the story to be continued next.