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Bobcat Insider... May Edition
 Bobcat Insider... May Edition
Contact: Bob Lee 5/1/2005
Welcome to the May edition of Bobcat Insider, a monthly column that gives a behind-the-scenes look at Ohio University Athletics. Its intention is to give you, the fan, glimpses of what is happening with the Bobcats both inside and outside the areas of competition… interesting tidbits that may otherwise go unnoticed in the general public and media.
The first pitch was a rise-ball that Morris swung on and missed. The second pitch was another riser that Ohio’s best hitter badly misjudged. The next pitch came exactly as the first two but this time Morris – who only hit five home runs in her illustrious career – knocked it out of the park. That moment epitomized Morris, who finished her career as the Ohio softball program’s all-time leader in career batting average (.367), hits (257), singles (194), doubles (55), at bats (700) and games played (218), all school records that still stand today. She is the only Bobcat to make the All-MAC softball first team three times and was also a second-team selection as a freshman. After her junior season, Morris had been drafted by the Durham Dragons of the now-defunct Women’s Professional Softball League. So after graduating from Ohio University with a bachelor’s degree in sport industry, she had the option of either playing professionally or returning to the Puerto Rican national team in an effort to qualify for the 2000 Sidney Olympic Games. “I actually finished school three weeks early and chose to go back to Puerto Rico,” said Morris about the summer of 1999. “We played some games in Puerto Rico and then went to an Olympic qualifying tournament in Venezuela. We ended up not qualifying and I decided to hang it up right there in Venezuela. I just left my shoes behind and decided not to play softball anymore.”
“To be quite honest, I didn’t even know what a baseball tradeshow was but I took it just to be in the sport,” Morris admitted. “I did that for a couple of years and then transferred into marketing.” Now in her fourth year as a marketing account manager, she acts as a liaison between national sponsors and the 160 teams which comprise Minor League Baseball. “Basically, we’ll sell a large-scale deal and then implementing the details and gameday logistics fall on me to relay down to the clubs,” explained Morris. “I absolutely love it. I don’t get to travel to many ballparks but when I do, I get to entertain clients and make sure they get the full minor league baseball experience.” Another huge task for the Minor League Baseball office is running the baseball winter meetings, which serve as the yearly gathering for all those involved in – and wishing to be involved in – the national pastime. “For the winter meetings, I get to take part in coordinating the set-ups and everything that goes into accommodating the thousands of people who come to these meetings,” she said. “The national media covers it and it’s pretty cool just to be involved in that environment every day. There’s always something going on and there’s never the same day twice.” According to Morris, a highlight of her job came last July when she was able to stand at the plate against a Hall of Famer on the mound.
“Here I had been rubbing elbows with Rollie Fingers, entertaining him and taking him to dinner, but the greatest memory of all was actually getting to swing the bat against him. I hit the first one foul but then got my timing back and made solid contact. At the end, he gave me a hat and signed it, ‘Jen, Nice hit! Rollie.’” Although Rollie Fingers may have provided a thrill, it was former Ohio football player Chad Reinhardt who swept Morris off her feet. The two started dating during her senior year and on Sept. 5, 2004, they were married in Columbus, Ohio. The couple currently owns a house in St. Petersburg just five miles from where Morris – who now goes by her married name of Reinhardt – works. Her husband is employed by the Florida Department of Transportation and is also a computer systems operator analyst in the U.S. Army Reserve. “Chad has applied for officer candidate school and plans to eventually make the military his full-time career,” she said. “He actually received orders three months before our wedding to go to Kuwait for 18 months. By the grace of God, they rescinded those orders and he didn’t have to go.” If you have suggestions and contact information for future Where Are They Now segments, please send them to Bob Lee at leer1@ohio.edu. Kermit Tales… Establishing Ohio’s Golf Program During the 1946-47 school year, Ohio University athletic director Don Peden called assistant football coach Kermit Blosser into his office and said, “Kermit, I don’t think you’ll be doing anything but teaching P.E. classes after spring football ends so why don’t you set up a golf program for us.” Although Blosser confessed to knowing almost nothing about the sport, Peden still gave him the task of establishing a Bobcat golf program.
Fortunately for Blosser, an Athens High School student named Dow Finsterwald was about to join the newly created Ohio golf team. “At that time, Dow was considered one of the best pro prospects coming up the line in the whole country,” said Blosser. “In college, he became about the same caliber as Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus so there wasn’t any question about his ability. I was able to attract people to our program because Dow Finsterwald was here and not because I was a great coach.” According to Blosser, Finsterwald was diligent about making the game of golf his livelihood. “Dow was one of those people who knew golf was his life’s work. He practiced eight hours a day, if that’s what it took. Dow, in my book, was not a great athlete but he worked so hard at hitting balls and things. “I remember him coming out and hitting balls for four to five hours at a time. It got to the point where I asked him, ‘Why do you hit balls all the time? We know you can hit it down the middle every time.’ And he said, ‘Well, I want to keep it that way.’ I thought putting was just as important so I made him putt and he thought I was crazy.” For Blosser, getting each of his players to work on all aspects of the game became an obsession. “In basketball, there’s more to just shooting the ball and it’s the same with golf,” he said. “There’s more than just hitting the cup. You’ve got to be a good putter, you’ve got to be a good chipper, you’ve got to be a good short-iron man. From 50-yards in, you’ve got to be able to knock it right up to the cup for birdies and eagles. Those are the things that I looked forward to getting my players to do.” In the beginning, according to Blosser, the team had to pay its own green fees – 25 cents for nine holes at the Athens Country Club or 50 cents to play 18 holes in Logan – and supply its own clubs. Blosser, meanwhile, was on his way to becoming a scratch golfer himself. He improved his game so much that it wasn’t long before he was better than some of his pupils. “I learned a lot of things and a lot of tricks to the trade because I’ve always played to win,” he said. “I don’t care if its golf, tennis, basketball, football or some other sport, when I coach young men, I put one thought in their minds: ‘If you do not want to be a champion, don’t bother me or waste my time because we’re playing for one reason… to win the conference championship and go to the nationals.’”
Fortunately for Blosser, spending so much time at the Athens Country Club proved to be a pipeline to talent. “Practically every year, we had two or three good players on our team from Athens who were caddies at the country club,” Blosser said. “Great players like Roger Pedigo, Larry Snyder and Bobby Littler were right here in our backyard and they all were very successful playing for Ohio University.” Pedigo was the 1952 Mid-American Conference medalist while Snyder holds the fourth-best season average (74.06 in 1959) in school history and Littler was a two-time All-American (1964 and 1965). Finsterwald, meanwhile, turned pro in 1952 and went on to win 12 PGA events. At the 1958 PGA Championships, he came from three strokes down to defeat Sam Snead by shooting a 67 in the final round. The PGA Tour’s Player of the Year in 1958, Finsterwald also played on the U.S. Ryder Cup teams in 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1963, served as the PGA vice president from 1976-78 and spent more than 30 years as the head pro at the world famous Broadmoor Golf Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Back in Athens, Blosser was becoming a legend himself. His golf teams won 18 conference titles before he retired in 1988. In 1980, he was inducted as a charter member of the NCAA Golf Coaches Hall of Fame and in 1989, the MAC Golf Coach-of-the-Year award was named in his honor. Bob Lee is the Web Coordinator for Ohio Athletics and serves as the sports information contact for the Bobcat soccer, wrestling and golf teams. If you have suggestions for future editions of Bobcat Insider, please email him at leer1@ohio.edu. May Home Contests Sunday, May 1 Softball vs. Akron, 1 p.m. (DH) Friday, May 6 Baseball vs. Ball State, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 7 Baseball vs. Ball State, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 8 Baseball vs. Ball State, 1 p.m. Thursday, May 12 Track & Field MAC Championships, Day One Friday, May 13 Track & Field MAC Championships, Day Two Baseball vs. IPFW, 7 p.m. Saturday, May 14 Track & Field MAC Championships, Day Three Baseball vs. IPFW, 7 p.m. Sunday, May 15 Baseball vs. IPFW, 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 17 Baseball vs. Vanderbilt, 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 18 Baseball vs. Vanderbilt, 4 p.m. |
