Meggs Means Business

Chico State's Other Ball Team

Under the Rock Shelf

Hot New Ag

It's 9:30 on a gorgeous August morning at Bidwell Park's One-Mile, two days before the start of the last semester of the millennium. It's already warm, and by mid-afternoon temperatures will soar to a hundred degrees. The park's mostly quiet, save for a handful of joggers heading up the trails, a few families setting up picnic tables for later in the day, and a rather ragtag group of some two dozen men-old-timers, some might say-who have staked out Sycamore Softball Field and are wearing an odd assortment of tattered baseball jerseys-red, yellow, white-all adorned with, well, bugs.Look, there's art department professor emeritus Mike Monahan shagging fly balls. And there's Ken Conner (B.A. English, '76; M.A. '78) playing catch with Gary Thompson (English professor, 1974-present). Jim Couberly (B.A. English, '78) is taking batting practice from George Keithley (professor emeritus, English). Fred Boos (professor emeritus, chemistry) is stretching as he talks with Manuel Lucero (Art professor, 1968-present), and Richard Collins (B.S. Business Administration, '80) is taking grounders at short. What is this? Field of Dreams. Well, sort of...

Actually, they're the Pests-or some of them, anyway-past and present, who have come from as far away as Mexico and Puget Sound for a reunion: an "old-timers game" and a party in honor of longtime pitcher Keithley, who is retiring this season, hanging up his rosin bag after twenty-six years with the team. And though never, in their quarter century of dedicated ball, have they been featured on national television, had big-league scouts fly across the country to catch a game, or had their own parade in downtown Chico, they have, with all due respects to Wildcat Coach Lindsay Meggs and his lads, had their own moments of glory. They've won scores of important tournaments (the Gridley Invitational, for example) and taken home dozens of huge, high-quality trophies (although the plastic on some was chipped even before they were delivered), and though their fans have never done "the wave" at a game, the Pests attribute this to the simple fact that the number of fans in attendance at a typical game is, on the average, one.

So, today, the Pests-some of whom have not played in twenty years-are playing again and reliving the old days and telling the old stories, all of which have long since begun their natural evolution into myth. And the famous Pest motto, "Never Through Three," is evoked as proudly as ever, as grounders dribble between the legs of one and then two players, only to be stabbed by the third Pest in line.

Why the "Pests"?

Way back in the spring of 1974, Dennis Bissell (B.A. History, '67; M.A. Humanities, '77) talked his Chico High School pal Jay Rawlins (English professor 1972-present) and his neighbor Vic Lams (professor emeritus, English) into forming a recreational softball team. They drafted English professors Clark Brown, George Keithley, Peter Hogue, Gary Thompson, Gil Prince, and Mike Lopes, art professors Jim McManus and Mike Monahan, and, along with several of their students, began practicing their batting and throwing and seeking a sponsor, which came in the form of a local pest-control company. And though the sponsor and the team soon parted-the sponsor claiming the team's decidedly cavalier attitude toward on-field attire was disrespectful and didn't reflect the image it was seeking-the name stuck. This, of course, only served to liberate the team from the shackles of sponsorship. The newly independent Pests would pay their own fees, thank you, and nearly every year thereafter would wear new jerseys-often designed by one of the art professors-sporting any and all manner of bugs, sometimes crawling up sleeves, sometimes nesting across chests.

By the late 1970s, the Pests' line-up included shortstop Steve BeMiller (professor emeritus, Math), the only Pest who didn't need a calculator to figure out batting averages; outfielder Boos, best remembered for rising Phoenix-like from the disabled list one evening when the Pests were short players, taking a hacksaw to the cast on his broken ankle and running out onto the field to avoid forfeiting the game; pitcher Rawlins, who always brought a canister of Off to the mound and sprayed for mosquitoes between every pitch; and outfielder Marty Buckley (B.A. Physical Education, '78), a soccer fanatic who realized he could use his head more effectively in fœtbol than in softball and who now coaches soccer at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

By the early 1980s, the Pests had begun to define themselves as a team to be reckoned with, although players were already leaving for greener pastures. Left fielder Joe Kane (English, '74-'79) left in 1979 for New York City, where he began an internship at Rolling Stone, and though he quit running down fly balls for the Pests, he continued running, most notably down rivers-his book Running the Amazon is the story of his kayak-and-raft journey from the river's source to its mouth. Kane would also write another critically acclaimed book, Savages, as well as magazine pieces for Esquire, National Geographic, and The New Yorker. The next season, center fielder Bryce Conrad (B.A. English, '76), remembered fondly for his "clothing-optional" approach to the game, left for a Ph.D. program at the University of Iowa, which ultimately led to a university teaching position and several books on the poet William Carlos Williams. Third baseman Jim Riley (B.A. Journalism, '77), who worked as a sports writer for both the Chico News & Review and the Enterprise-Record, also left town in 1980, taking a job in Washington with the Tri-Cities Herald, and a couple of seasons later, shortstop and first baseman Ken Conner left for a job at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Flexibility is the Pests' middle name, though, and over the years they picked up players from around the campus and community. Local actor Larry Tripp (B.A. English, '76; M.A. '78), co-founder of Theater Out of a Suitcase, proved to be excellent Pest material, although he couldn't stop referring to practices as "rehearsals." Bon vivants Mark Peterson (B.S. Business Administration, '78) and Richard Collins joined in the early 1980s. Peterson came and went several times over the years, finally leaving for good in 1996 to take a job in telecommunications in southern California. Collins remains an integral part of the team, his spirit manifest in his position as lead-off hitter par excellance as well as his always buying the lead-off after-game pitcher of beer. Casey Huff (B.A. English '78; M.A. '81) played a solid left field for a decade. Former English professor and novelist Ken Kuhlken was drafted in 1983, and art professor Manuel Lucero joined the team as a third baseman about the same time. Tom Glover (B.S. Civil Engineering, '83) played a stunning shortstop and hit the long ball for four or five years before taking a job with Caltrans in Sacramento, and local political activist Tom Reed (B.A. Philosophy, '69; M.A. Sociology, '78; M.P.A. '85) came on board in 1988, playing side by side with Ken Hardy (B.A. English, '90), who went AWOL after a couple of seasons to fulfill his U.S. Army Reserves obligations and returned to Chico in 1999 to teach English at Las Plumas High School in Oroville. Joe Martin (B.A. Information and Communication Studies, '86) and Matthew Norris (B.A. English, '94) also proudly wore Pest jerseys.

Thankfully, though, as Pests leave, others step into their cleats. Chuck Neipoth (B.S. Business Administration, '87), has played a mean second base since joining the team in 1995, and Maury Ledoyen (B.S. Business Administration, '98), played a couple of seasons starting in 1996 before assuming the role of lifetime player-manager. By the summer of 1999, over sixty "athletes" could claim to have been Pests.

Now the old-timers' game is nearly over-three innings were just about right. And as the last lazy fly ball drifts out toward right fielder Gary Fowler (B.A. English, '78), most are thankful that Gregg MacMichael (B.A. Psychology, '88) has brought a tall cooler full of bloody Marys. From here, they will head out to Collins' house for a barbecue and swim party. Most will bring their families. In some cases that will include kids; in some cases it means grandkids. Pests past and present watch the children closely. When my seven-year-old daughter, Gina, drops her hot dog, all see enormous Pest potential.

Stephen Metzger (B.A. English, '78; M.A. '81) has played every position but pitcher for the Pests.