“We have to be willing to cut in the interest of excellence.”
—UVM President Dan Fogel

It happened with the swipe of a pen. Gone were 28 student-athlete’s futures. Gone was Coach Bill Currier’s 22-year career. Gone was the program which, over the last 100-plus years, has had the highest percentage of Vermont high school graduates play on the team—far more than any other sport at the university. Gone were the memories of deceased Vermonters such as Larry Gardener, Ray Collins and Ralph Lapointe. Gone were early spring Saturday afternoon games at the East’s most nostalgic college ball park. Gone was UVM baseball.

Photo courtesy of Brian Jenkins

This is, however, not just a story about a game and the end of an era. In many ways it is instead a metaphor about the Vermont of old being pushed into the recycling bin of memories in order to make way for a new vision. With it comes the questions weighing tradition and heritage vs. dollar value, and the nagging doubts about the cost of achieving “excellence.” Is the price worth it for those that get stepped on along the way, especially when they bleed green and gold?

A Case For Baseball

For the players, it started with a text message on February 20th at about 9:30 a.m. An emergency meeting of the baseball team was called to take place in an hour. No further details were given. For many of the student-athletes, by the time the meeting convened 60 minutes later, they had already learned their faith. Baseball at UVM would be eliminated in an effort to trim the athletic department’s budget.

“It was very, very shocking, it came out of nowhere almost,” said UVM baseball team captain and West Burke Native Ethan Paquette. “One day we were looking at [a season opening series] against Vanderbilt, who were ranked Top 2 in the country, we were all excited. The next day there’s no program.”

Varsity baseball’s roots at UVM dates back well before 1888 when it became officially recognized as a varsity sport. It was a club sport as early as 1866, and UVM’s first intercollegiate game, a 44-4 loss to Middlebury, took place on May 29, 1882. Playing home games at Athletic Park off Riverside Avenue, in what is now about the current site of Charlebois Trucking, UVM competed in the Vermont Intercollegiate Baseball League against Middlebury and Norwich.

Between 1888 and 2009 the baseball Catamounts played 111 seasons (the program was disbanded for a period in the 1970s) and compiled a 1485-1306-34 record. During that period countless “greats” went to bat at Centennial, including two who would become Vermont icons; Ray Collins and Larry Gardener.

Ray Collins was born in Colchester in 1887. After graduating from UVM where he pitched, he played seven seasons for the Boston Red Sox. A good-hitting pitcher and an outstanding fielder, the key to his success was his remarkable control. He consistently ranked among the American League leaders in fewest walks allowed per nine innings, and was a member of the 1912 Red Sox world champion team. After his playing career, Collins returned to the University of Vermont where he served as baseball coach. During the 1950s, he served on UVM’s board of trustees, presiding over the school’s transition from a private to public university.

One of his teammates on some of those teams was Larry Gardener.

Gardener, a native of Enosburg, was discovered playing ball in a field in 1905 and invited to try out for the UVM team which he easily made. After college, his professional career included playing on four world championship teams for the Red Sox and Indians. After retiring, he too returned to Vermont to open a car dealership and coach UVM baseball.

“The greatest thing about Collins, Gardener and so many other UVM Baseball players is that they were Vermonters who returned to Vermont to make a living and raise their families and contributed to the community. That was as true back then as it is today,” said Vermont baseball historian John Anderson.

“In more recent times, Vermont high school graduates such as Dick Cassani, Dave Lapointe, Bill Currier, Jeff Greene, Donnie Picard, Pat Bose, Damon Brink, Mike Talbot, Mark Choiniere, Keith Carter, Trevor Marcotte, Jeff Barry, Kyle Brault, Jamie Merchant, Jason Carey and hundreds of others fulfilled their baseball dream to play at Centennial and represent their home state,” said Jim Carter. “Where does tradition and excellence come into the decision-making process at our state university?”

“You have to ask yourself, with so much talk these days about the way our youth is leaving Vermont and what we can do to keep them here…does anybody up at the University really care about Vermont…and if they do, why would they cut a program that has done so well for so long comprised mostly of Vermont kids,” said Anderson.

Dollars And Cents

Last year the UVM Athletic Department was told to cut 6.5 percent from its budget, which equates to roughly $1.1 million. A seven-member policy and planning committee made up of the athletic department’s top administrators would make the ultimate call for what had to be targeted for cuts.

According to UVM Athletic Director Robert Corran, it was imperative to base this decision on the strategic plan which was developed for UVM sports five years ago. This plan, which was made with input from administrators and coaches, placed an emphasis on competitiveness and making UVM sports top competitors on the national stage.

The results were that when it came time to refer to this plan for cuts, the board deemed that to cut a set dollar amount from each team would seriously inhibit some teams that were in the national eye. In order to spare those programs, other low-profile teams would have to be cut.

The high-profile teams like basketball, skiing, hockey, and lacrosse were protected. Of the ones which were left, baseball and softball combined to make up the budget shortfall.

“The climate, the conditions here, everything about playing baseball or softball in Vermont doesn’t suggest we could be a nationally competitive program,” said UVM Athletic Director Dr. Corran in an earlier interview. “We don’t compete in all sports at the same level.”

Corran went on to add that many of the arguments made to keep baseball at UVM were “emotionally based” and there is a need to be dispassionate at times like this and make decisions with the head and not the heart. This is necessary for the overall well being of the athletic program for the greater number of people.

Bye-Bye Baseball

After the cuts were initially announced friends of UVM baseball went to work around the state. On campus, the Student Government Association voted 40 – 0 with 2 abstentions to ask Athletic Director Corran and university officials to reconsider. Off campus, among other things, an online petition was organized which had over 2,100 signers urging the university to reinstate baseball and softball. Roughly 70 percent of the signatures are from people who identify themselves as Vermonters. Among other parts of the petition was the pledge:

“We the signers pledge that until these demands have been met, the University of Vermont shall not receive any monetary donations from us. We pledge this in the spirit of the student-athletes and coaches whose lives are adversely affected by this grave decision.”

For weeks baseball players and fans held out hope that UVM’s Board of Trustees would come to the aid of the program. Traditionally, the board leaves these decisions up to the administration, but due to the emotional nature of the events and massive public outcry, they decided they would examine it more closely.

At a March meeting they took public comment on the matter on whether or not the decision should be reconsidered, and heard testimony from UVM President Dan Fogel who felt it should not.

“We have to be willing to cut in the interest of excellence,” he said.

After the public portion of the meeting, the board met behind closed doors. Their final decision was that the board needed to stay out of budget decisions like this.

“This day is going to live in infamy in Vermont history,” said Ron Paquette, father of Ethan. “[The trustees] told every Vermont child don’t dream of playing at your state university. If you want to play Division One you have to play out of state.”

Next Step

It is conceivable, but remote, that a decision could be made in May to reinstate baseball at UVM at scheduled budget meetings. The reality though is that baseball is being cut from many college programs across the Northeast. In recent years the University of Northern Iowa and Boston University have both had their programs eliminated. Even the 2012 Olympics won’t include baseball or softball, albeit for reasons other than budgets.

Still, for many the cuts at UVM are a symptom of a deeper problem.

“Fogel, Corran…those guys aren’t from Vermont—they don’t understand it in the least,” said one UVM employee who asked not to be named. “This is the problem with the university right now. The continue to hire people from away instead of promoting from within to run things and the people they hire just don’t understand Vermonters. Everybody is always talking about buying local, localvore…all that stuff. When is it going to apply to the people of the state as well as the cheese and syrup?” he said.

These sentiments are hard to overlook in the face of the baseball program elimination. Through its actions university officials have made it clear where they stand. It is hard not to read between the lines that “excellence” will be judged in a win/loss column and have nothing to do with tradition, and the hopes and aspirations of Vermont’s own youth. Perhaps the bigger question is, does this simply stop on the baseball field, or does it transcend into all aspects of life at the University Of Vermont?

Kyle Scanlon is the editor of Livin’ the Vermont Way magazine.