The Pecan Park Eagle

91-year old Raymon Lacy: native Texan; college graduate and educator; survivor of racism; Negro League veteran of clubs like the Homestead Grays and Houston Eagles; high school coach in baseball, football, and basketball; man of faith; role model; family man; and one of the wisest human beings any of us could ever hope to meet.

Wisdom and love flows through his ancient being as if it were the technicolor stream of all life-blood currents, but, when Larry Dierker SABR chapter chair Bob Dorrill introduced the diminutive veteran of the Negro Leagues to the large crowd that was privileged to hear  him speak this unforgettable night, few of us knew what to expect. All most us knew was that his name was Raymon Lacy – and most us were spelling “Raymon” as though it had the expected “d” at its end. – It did not..

Once handed the mike at the special meeting area we occupied at the Spaghetti Western Cafe on Shepherd Drive, however, the whole room quickly focused entirely upon the small and stoic face that now now took the conductor’s role as to where the mind and soul will travel when we listeners pay close notice to the words a speaker chooses to make his points.

“My brother and I were born in the country near Tyler, Texas,” Lacy said, “and we were raised by a mother who worked like a convict to keep us fed and on the right path until we finished high school.”

Lacy loved baseball from way before the time he and his brother could afford any real equipment.

“We used broomsticks and the like for bats and shucked corn to throw as balls,” Lacy explained. With a barn as our backstop, we took turns pitching and batting. Sometimes we even threw bottle caps because of the swerves they made in the air. It was good preparation for me. By the time I’m hitting against real curve balls, those real pitchers weren’t fooling me. Those bottle caps were a lot harder to hit.”

The details of Lacy’s long and winding road covered more ground than this single pair of ears could retain, but it wasn’t simply the facts of this man’s journey that  jumped off the page at us. By the words this man chose, one could almost count and name the stones on the path of this man’s life travels. It was the path of a committed seeker. It was the wisdom that this man had accumulated in his nearly 92 years that still spoke clearly from his aged frame.  And once he had finished talking, he moved in almost school teacher fashion to a “next question” searchlight focus on what the crowd wanted to ask of him.

Along the way, Raymon Lacy also earned two college degrees that lifted him down the main line of his career activity beyond baseball as a teacher, principal, coach, and school board member.

Matt Rejmaniak was among those who personally thanked Raymon Lacy for his presentation at the July 19, 2014 Houston SABR meeting.

Here are snippets of the wisdom that poured forth from this literal and figurative “Little Big Man” speaker:

On Failure. There is no failure if we get the lessons that spring from our mistakes. If we don’t pick them up, we will just get to see them again until they either get us thrown in jail, buried early, or, finally, to learn and change our lives according to the hard knocks edge of truth.

On Kids Today. Kids need to hear from their parents and teachers that they are loved. If a child doesn’t know he or she is loved, they aren’t likely to learn much from the role model who doesn’t let them know. I knew I was loved because my mama told me she loved me. She also showed me she loved me every time she punished me for getting out of line.”

On Biggest characters he ever met. Lacy answered that question by saying, “that depends on what kind of characters you mean. If you mean good characters, it’s a short list. If it’s bad characters, we could be here all night.”

On Negro League Greats. Raymon Lacy knew them all. Playing third base and right field for or against everyone from Josh Gibson to Hank Aaron to Willie Mays to Jackie Robinson, whom Lacy credits as the greatest because of his ability to hold up under the vicious assault of racial hatred. Lacy gives great weight of value  to those who are willing to face the adversities of life with the courage that all obstacles can be overcome with the willingness of the individual to hang in there and really commit to change.

On picking a Vocation. “I always told my students – ‘You don’t want to end up as one of those people who dreads the thought of going to a job that you hate, but you do it anyway because you need the money. Ask the question that no one else can answer for you: What do I really love? What do I want to do? If it will take more education to qualify, then go back to school and get what you need to move on. It doesn’t have to be college, but it needs to be enough to get you in the door of the line of work you say want to pursue.’ – In the end, if it’s not hurting anyone else, do what makes you happy. And nothing less.”

After the meeting, a number of us made a point of coming forth to thank Mr. Raymon Lacy for being with us. This morning, The Pecan Park Eagle wants to make it clear again, as I think we did last night. We aren’t simply thanking you, Mr. Lacy, for being with us last night. Our appreciation of you extends to the nearly 92 years you have been here as an important resident of Planet Earth.

God Bless You, Raymon Lacy!

In addition to making the Raymon Lacy presentation possible, chair Bob Dorrill also led us through a successful process of filling in many of the critical work assignments with new volunteers to the SABR 44 Plan for the SABR National Convention that is coming to Houston from July 30 through August 03.

Thank You, Bob Dorrill, for all you do!