Remembering Tom Channel

(The following is my column for this week's Newton County News.)

During the nearly 20 years that I umpired baseball games, many of them at the old downtown Granby park, there were certain players I grew to dislike intensely.

There were the ones who believed that no pitch they took could ever be called a strike, the ones who thought every situation needed a trip to the mound no matter how sweltering the temperature was, and above all, I hated catchers who couldn’t field their position.

It never mattered how much protective equipment I was wearing, if a ball got past the catcher, it nailed me.

Those are the kinds of players who drive umpires up the wall.

You would never find Tom Channel’s name on that list. There was nothing flashy about his style behind the plate. He never needed many words to take control of a game…and he never, ever, let a ball get past him.

Umpires remember those things.

The same qualities that made Tom Channel a superb catcher also made him a top-flight human being.

He was steady, reliable, knew what his job was, and always made sure it was done.

In life, as on the baseball field, he was always there when he was needed.

I had lost touch with Tom over the years until several months back when he started dating my younger sister.

I don’t know much of what had happened to Tom since the old baseball days, but I knew the person I was seeing with Kelly was the same one who never let a baseball hit this home plate umpire.

In other words, he was exactly the type of person you wanted to see at a family function.

The last time I saw Tom was at just such a family function. My mom and dad, Bill and Joann Turner, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary Saturday in Newtonian.

I was talking to various relatives and family friends during the two hours or so that the celebration lasted and only had a chance to briefly say hi to Tom.

I regret that I did not get a chance to talk with him more.

When I returned to Joplin from a band practice in Granby tonight, Mom had left a message on my answering machine, telling me that Tom Channel died today.

Mom said that Tom had been eagerly anticipating the birth of a grandchild and since he was only in his early 50s, he was looking forward to spoiling that grandchild for years to come.

It’s hard to know why some people are taken so young, but the legacy Tom Channel left behind is one for which others should strive.

In life, just as in baseball, he was solid, steady, reliable, and always came through in the clutch.

Tom Channel will be missed.