http://chicagoheights.patch.com/articles/t...ttered-his-nose

 

When you meet Tom DePasquale at Prairie Manor, he tips his Chicago White Sox hat to you and says with a grin, “You wanna hear about baseball?"

 

Tom said he longs for ears to listen to his stories about everything from the long summers of being a Chicago White Sox bat boy to being a father figure to his players during his coaching years at Rich Central High School.

 

So bring a bag of peanuts, put down the wooden seat and go back with Tom to the 1950s at Comiskey Park. Go back to the South Side where baseball made heroes of Nellie Fox and Minnie Minoso.

 

“Getting the bat boy job turned my life around," Tom said. “The Sox players were great. Billy Pierce looked over our homework. He was like a mother hen. Every day I got up, I couldn’t wait to get to the ballpark."

 

But we don't have to take his word for it. Tom's love for the Sox and time as a batboy made it onto the small screen.

 

"There is a commercial the White Sox show about two or three times a year," Tom said. "It shows Minnie Minoso hitting a home run against the Yankees to win the game. I am waiting at home plate for him to shake his hand."

 

That was in the early '50s. Since then, Tom has spent his time helping others, even from his wheelchair at Prairie Manor in Chicago Heights.

 

Tom has many stories and loves to tell them. Like the time a White Sox player gave the 16-year-old bat boy chewing tobacco. Suddenly, Nellie Fox hit a home run, and Tom got so excited he swallowed the tobacco and threw up.

 

Tom's time with the White Sox was not all smiles. He remember a time when a foul ball led to a bloody nose.

 

“One day their was a foul ball down the third baseline," Tom said. "Whoever was working had to field the foul balls. I go down to get a foul ball, this man from the first row gives me a shove, so I gave him a punch. It splattered his nose. The players teased me afterwards. Then after the game in the locker room, I got a standing ovation."

 

After the season ended, Tom said he became a locker room assistant for the Chicago Cardinals from 1951 through 1953. There was no shortage of funny memories there, as Tom talked about Knox Ramsey and the knocks Ramsey had to take.

 

“Knox lost his teeth during a play," Tom said. "Here we are crawling in the mud on a rainy day, looking for his teeth. We found them, so Knox takes the teeth wipes them off and puts them back in.”

 

After leaving his pro sports jobs, Tom married his sweetheart, Georgia, and went to school, becoming a teacher in 1964. He even wrote a book, titled The Many Uses of Oral History.

 

Still, DePasquale retained that passion for America's favorite pasttime. So he began coaching youth baseball, joining the staff at Rich Central in 1972. At Rich Central, not only did DePasquale teach, he announced the soccer, track and basketball games, earning him the nickname, "The Voice."

 

Georgia DePasquale remembered her husband's time at Rich Central.

 

“When Tom teaches, he takes his students and blends them into family,” Georgia said. “They start to care about him then they start to care about each other. He never took his free period, he was always counseling kids. We didn’t have any kids of our own, so the students became his kids. He really loved them.”

 

In 1999, Tom announced his 1,000th basketball game. Not only did Rich Central hold a special ceremony for him, but DePasquale was inducted into the Friends of Basketball Hall of Fame. In his years of service at Rich Central, Tom received many awards.

 

Then, like a broken bat, his dreams became silent.

 

“We found Tom's brother dead," said Georgia. "He died unexpectedly at home. Shortly after that, [Tom's] mother died and then his best friend. It threw Tom into a depression. He wasn’t eating. The systems just shut down. We brought Tom into the hospital and from the hospital we came to Prairie Manor."

 

But Tom wasn't the only DePasquale who was suffering.

 

"I was trying to take care of Tom at home," Georgia said. "I’m a breast cancer lady. I neglected my health and had a flare-up. It was not good; we were both very sick."

 

But spring always comes, and with it comes spring training. Today, Georgia is back home in Olympia Fields and Tom is trying to walk again at Prairie Manor. "The Voice" is still helping people.

 

“I help people here [at Prairie Manor] by being a companion," Tom said. "If someone wants to sit and talk, I’ll talk. It’s still people. I’m a friend to the people here. It’s a thrill. I don’t know if I would change anything about my life, my career. I might prolong a few things, but I wouldn’t change anything.”

Another real cool piece of soxtalk history is that I am offically part of 1000 post CLUB!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Another real cool piece of soxtalk history is that I am offically part of 1000 post CLUB!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Yeah...and I'll join you someday. At the rate that I am going since I became a member, I estimate the timeframe to be about Jan. 2012.

Another real cool piece of soxtalk history is that I am offically part of 1000 post CLUB!!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Congrats!

Yeah...and I'll join you someday. At the rate that I am going since I became a member, I estimate the timeframe to be about Jan. 2012.

 

You'll get there. Just a few more countdown threads should do the trick.