3 minute read
Donovan Patin 1994-2015 Howe Youth Baseba
Adam Riggs has been involved with Howe Youth baseball for nine years as a head coach or an assistant baseball coach But when you sign up to coach, you also sign up to work the fields, raise money and do so much more than teach the youngsters how to go from first to third on a bloop single Ever so often a person goes above and beyond the call of duty as a volunteer. Vincent Hash fit that role in softball many years ago and Riggs could very well be his counterpart on the baseball side.
Riggs was worked each baseball field from Ferguson to Hash Field to North Field since his soon-to-be Freshman son Mason was five years old
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"We've played at North Field the most " said Riggs "We have a fall team also, so we start in April and end up in November. You spend a lot of time out there."
Riggs has not only spent just time, but also sweat equity and massive fundraising The backstop and concession stand at North Field can be partly contributed to the hard work of Riggs
Donovan Patin was born July 19, 1994 in Van Nuys, California, the oldest son of Erica and Louis Patin. Donovan succumbed to death as the result of a motorcycle accident at the age of 20 years old The accident occurred in the early morning hours, Thursday July 2, 2015 in the Pottsboro area
Donovan was a proud member of the Texas National Guard holding the rank of Specialist He was an employee of Adam Smith's Texoma Harley Davidson.
The family has requested as a means of honoring Donovan's memory, in lieu of flowers please make donations to David Hutchinson – Fellowship of American Patriots or "Wounded Warriors Project," 6009 West Parker Road, Suite 149-299 in Plano, Texas
A celebration of life for Donovan was held at the home of his parents at 9:30 a m on Wednesday July 8, 2015 Re-pass immediately followed.
"Dono" we love you, and you will forever be in our hearts.
"Several of us got together and tore the whole backstop down and re-roofed the dugouts and did a lot of work on the concession stand." said Riggs.
Riggs says that he does all of the work because most of the other cities that his team travels to have a nice new complex He says that he expects Howe to have their fields one day, but his kids feel like this is a baseball town and they want to provide those kids with the best playing facilities possible with what is currently available.
"We all have to pitch in and do it because sometimes if you don't do it yourself, it's not going to get done " said Riggs
A 1989 graduate of Gunter High School, Riggs grew up playing baseball on fields similar to Howe's current three fields and learned by watching what it takes
"(In Gunter) a lot of the dads did all of the work and that was just part of it." said Riggs.
The process of Howe Youth Baseball sees a dad volunteer to help usually when their child is five years old It's the few and far between that stick with it for the full nine years
"I would tell those new coaches to enjoy the satisfaction, but understand you're going to work your butt off to keep it as nice as you want it." said Riggs. "The city does help, but they don't have someone dedicated full-time to it so they rely on parents and coaches to help "
Riggs says that the most enjoyable part of the nine years is that wherever he goes, kids will say hello to him - even if he hasn't coached them in years continued from Page #5 unhappy because nothing had been done with them He came to town and approached Howe State Bank to find someone to start a library The bank told him that he needed to contact Jean Norman He showed up at her house
"The only reason I let him in was because he was a brother to one of my dear friends in Bonham." said Norman. "After he left, I called some people and we met and started working on the library right then "
With the help from the city, they were able to use the former Davenport place, which sat on Denny Street at the present site of Memorial Park They renovated that small building and hired a local lady to help and be the first librarian
"Some of the Howe pee-wee cheerleaders came and helped me sort all of those books " said Norman. "I had the Dewey Decimal System and new where to put them."
The Friends of the Library was formed and they began to start fundraisers by bringing in The Von Erichs to wrestle at Bulldog Stadium in wrestling matches in the early 1980s
"Some of the hardest work I've ever done was setting up those hundreds of chairs " said Norman "That was very successful and we had some very successful bike races "
