Board of Directors
Brady Clay
Dave DeWitt
Mike Dietz
Sal Garcia
Tom Garcia
David Graves
Rolando Moreno
Joe Rotta
Paul Thoreson
Art Warren
Mike Williams
Director Emeritus
Chick Embrey
Honorary Director
Steve Bridges
President
Dave DeWitt
Newsletter
Art Warren
Web Site
Paul Thoreson
VOL. LXIX COUGAR ATHLETIC CLUB NEWSLETTER Apr. 13th, 2019
Bill Swank is the author of ten books about baseball, as well as several periodical articles is considered, by the San Diego Historical Society, as San Diego’s preeminent baseball historian. Swank was born in Chicago in 1940. He graduated from San Diego State College in 1962, after which he served as Supervising Probation Officer for the County of San Diego from 1963-1994.
One of Swank’s books, Baseball in San Diego, is a history of baseball in the Pacific Coast League at Lane Field on the foot of Broadway, Westgate Park in Mission Valley, MLB seasons at San Diego Stadium and finally at Petco Park.
Swank is a member of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research). Many references are made about SABRMETRICS in baseball today; using advanced statistical information to inform decisions on player placements on defense, who to play vs. different pitchers, etc. SABR was the brainchild of L. Robert Davids, who in August of 1971 in Cooperstown, New York, met with 15 other baseball researchers and formed SABR. Today there are more than 6000 members worldwide. These members include front office personnel, writers, broadcasters and baseball fans. There are many different groups, organized by interests, within SABR. Mostly, these members just enjoy talking about the game they all love, as well as publishing articles of interest. Swank published an article about a local baseball player named Gavvy Cravath who led the National League in home runs six times! Cravath was born in Escondido in 1881! His father, A.K. Cravath, was the first mayor of Escondido in 1888. Gavvy (Given name was Cliff) was captain of the Cougar football team that lost the first-ever high school football game in the history of San Diego County, a 6-0 loss to San Diego High School.
Swank has worked, unsuccessfully, since 1988 to get Cravath elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Swank has also researched and written about other local major league players Ted Williams, Floyd Robinson, Johnny Ritchey, and Escondido’s Pete Coscarart.
Since 2002, Swank has been very involved, at Christmas time, as a professional Santa Claus in Balboa Park. He has written a book about Christmas in San Diego, as well, that is dedicated to all the volunteers throughout San Diego county who bring joy and hope at Christmas.
He continues to write a column for the Clairemont Times newspaper, titled “Squaremont”. You can follow Swank at http://baseballsanta.vox.com. Sit back and enjoy some stories of baseball and San Diego trivia.
Former Cougar, Robert Freeman, passed away recently. He is a member of the Escondido Cougar Hall of Fame, and a nationally renowned artist specializing in Native American art.
Mark your calendars for the next two meeting dates: July 13, and October 12, 2019. We are looking for speakers for both these meetings. If you have a suggestion, contact any of the Board members listed on the top of this page.
It’s not too early to calendar the yearly Cougar scholarship golf tournament scheduled for Saturday, September 14, 2019 at Reidy Creek Golf Club. Flyers for the tournament are at the sign in table, and available online upon request.
Rolando Moreno is heading the Cougar Athletic Club’s scholarship application group to choose two male and two female recipients to be awarded at EHS’ Senior Award’s Night. Additionally, the 2nd annual Embrey/Shriver scholarship will be awarded at the Cougars Senior Athletic Banquet in May.
