Pounders Steps Aside As Baseball League Chairman

SPRINGDALE — Youth baseball in the town of Springdale has seen plenty of changes in the past three decades. Through it all, one constant has remained.

The man in charge.

Jay Pounders, chairman of the Springdale Kiwanis Cal Ripken/Baseball League, has been a fixture in baseball as much as any one person associated with youth sports in Northwest Arkansas for the past 30 years. Or 31 years, in Pounders’ case, when he first took over the Springdale baseball league.

After a long and successful run that included numerous district tournaments, regional events and even a pair of baseball World Series hosted by Springdale, Pounders is finally calling it a career.

“It’s time,” Pounders said. “I’ve said it before that it was going to be my last year, but this time I mean it.”

When Pounders took over the Springdale youth baseball league, the city had just one field. How times have changed. Along with countless district and state tournaments held under his watch, Pounders estimated Springdale has hosted about 12 regional Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth tournaments, including this week’s 12-year-old Southwest Regional at the Tyson Sports Complex.

Pounders, who turned 63 on July 7, also helped draw a pair of youth baseball World Series to Springdale, the 13-year-old Babe Ruth World Series in 1993 and the 18-year-old Babe Ruth World Series in 1995.

“There were some great teams and some great players,” Pounders said. “There was a team out of Brooklyn, New York, that practiced at 3 a.m. because that’s when they were used to practicing back at home because that’s the only time they could get the field in New York.

“And there was a player, B.J. Garbe, who was a first round pick; he was in that World Series.”

Top players weren’t limited to those visiting from out of state, however. Pounders recalls several greats from right here in Springdale in his 30-plus years as a coach and chairman of the league.

“There’s been a lot of great ones,” Pounders said. “Rob Lyall was probably the best player from here I ever saw. He decided to go play basketball instead at Arkansas Tech, but he was a heck of a baseball player.”

Jerry Danenhauer, who also serves on the Cal Ripken League Executive Board, said Pounders is the heart and soul of Springdale youth baseball.

“He is Springdale baseball,” Danenhauer said. “He does the scheduling for all the leagues, and that is a chore. He keeps everything organized with the signups and with getting the coaches together.

“He’s just done the job, and Springdale is going to miss him. But we only have one problem here, and it’s that we’ve tried to have him delegate his job in the past but he’s done it all.”

Pounders said the process to find his replacement as chairman of the Cal Ripken League is in the works. While he has his sights set on possible successors, he promises to make the workload easier on the next person in charge.

“I’ve got all the lists made out of what needs to be done,” Pounders said. “And Jerry is right: We’re going to have to delegate it out more. But we’ve got some people in mind.”

Pounders was this week, as usual, at the Tyson Sports Complex. Whether it was calling out players’ names on the public address system or keeping a running tally in the scorebook, the fixture of Springdale youth baseball looked right at home.

At least for one last time.

“The kids, that’s what I’ll miss the most is the kids,” Pounders said. “But I’m still going to be around. I’m just not going to run the league. I’m 63 years old, and it’s just time.”

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