A History of Pachappa Little League

Looking back on opening day

This story was originally published 3/19/2000

There was the time Donald and Kaye Thompson ended up celebrating one of their wedding anniversaries inside a baseball dugout they helped build. The concession stand Kaye spent years helping to run reminds her of the time its old freezer broke down and led to a drippy problem. Donald says he still teases one of his former league players -- now in his 40s -- for pretending to catch an imaginary baseball during games. The Thompsons, both 78, helped found Pachappa Little League and the baseball field at Riverside's Don Jones Park.

The Riverside husband and wife have no children of their own. They say they helped establish resources for young baseball players because they love everyone else's children. The Thompsons, along with four other longtime volunteers, were honored Saturday for their years of service and dedication during the Pachappa league's opening day ceremonies at Don Jones Park. The ceremonies also coincided with a celebration of the league's 40th anniversary. "These people started this field from nothing," Pachappa league president Robert Macias said. The Thompsons, along with Bob Searle, Shelly Wilson, Dan Howard and Joe Moore all received plaques from Macias and other league board members moments after the league's 22 teams raced across the diamond in formation. The Thompsons say the baseball field has changed a bit. There are overhead lights that were installed for night games. The original wooden fencing has been replaced by chain-link. The field used to have two dugouts that were later filled in to discourage students from nearby Ramona High School from mischief. "We couldn't keep the kids out of them," Donald Thompson said.

And the league has grown. It started out in 1960 as a farm league with about five teams. It currently has 22 teams and six divisions. Forty years of Little League memories remain fresh though. There was the time the concession stand's freezer broke down. "Ice cream was dripping everywhere," Kaye Thompson said. "I was yelling `Ice cream! Free ice cream!' "

The Thompsons said they began organizing a small group of baseball teams during the late 1950s after they began noticing that several of their friends' children were not able to qualify for any of the other leagues. Donald Thompson, an active member of the Rotary Club of Magnolia Center, persuaded the service organization to raise money to establish a league and build its own baseball field at Don Jones Park at Jefferson Street and Sycamore Avenue. "In fact, we built the whole stadium, the whole deal," he said.

Pachappa Little League was chartered in 1960. Donald Thompson was the league's first president. He also served on several league board positions and was the manager of the Oranges baseball team for nine years. His wife helped run the concession stand. "We love children," Kaye Thompson said. "Everybody else's children," her husband added. Kaye Thompson said she remembered when, more than 20 years ago, the mother of one the league's players brought in a large sheet cake and carried into the dugout -- catching the husband and wife off-guard. It was the Thompsons' 25th wedding anniversary. "I didn't even know they knew it was our anniversary," Kaye Thompson said. And Donald Thompson said he remembered how a then-10-year-old right-fielder named Terry Dunkel would stare at airplanes passing overhead and pretend to catch an imaginary baseball. "He had a great imagination," Thompson said. "Kids are great."

Roberto Hernandez
The Press-Enterprise
RIVERSIDE