Baseball, softball clinic set for June 7 to honor Greg Swepston

MARION — The late Greg Swepston loved sports, but his passion was baseball.

A former head baseball coach at Marion Harding in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Swepston also worked for decades as a Major League Baseball scout and was a regular at the annual hall of fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y.

It's only fitting that a youth baseball and softball clinic be held in his honor.

"Swep was the most outstanding baseball coach I ever knew at the high school level," said former Swepston baseball player at Harding and lifelong friend Dave Gorenflo. "Our goal with the clinic was to assure the same high level of teaching and coaching for the participants by assembling a staff comprised of what we think are some of the best coaches and players in the Marion area."

On Wednesday, June 7, the one-day clinic will take over the River Valley complex on Ohio 309 east of Marion. Softball players between the ages of 8 and 12 will meet from 8:30 to 11:30, while baseball players between the same ages will meet from 1 to 4 p.m.

Among the softball instructors will be varsity head coaches Phil Shepler of River Valley and Brett McCrery of Marion Harding, Elgin Athletic Director and former Pleasant softball coach Jason Hix, former Marion Harding pitching great and Mount Vernon Nazarene All-American Tara Hines-Davis and current Cedarville star Dana Bertke.

For baseball instructors, the clinic will highlight Harry Fry who played for Swepston at Harding and was a Cleveland Indians draft pick, Harding and Duke grad John Courtright who pitched for the Cincinnati Reds, current Harding head coach Jeff Bolander and his assistant Brett Hall, former longtime River Valley baseball coach Randy Leach and his son Sam Leach who is the current head coach at Ridgedale and also a former NCAA Division II pitcher.

The cost of the clinic is $30 per player, and all participants will enter a drawing for prizes and memorabilia from the Indians and Reds as well as Ohio State with two mini-football helmets signed by OSU football coach Ryan Day as top prizes.

To register by May 31, email Jodi Somerlot at somerlot.30@osu.edu or call 740-725-6340. Payments can be made with cash, check or online via a credit card.

The clinic is a fundraiser to help with improvements to the Alber Student Center's gymnasium on The Ohio State University-Marion campus. The goal is to raise enough money to have the gym named in Swepston's honor, as he was also a passionate Ohio State grad who had season tickets to football and basketball games at the main campus.

"Officially we’re at a little over $100,000. We’re progressing very well," Gorenflo said, who heads the fundraising committee for the Swepston project. "They’ve started with the construction. At first, we thought we were going to be faced with a strict deadline of maybe having to raise the commitments or dollars by this summer, but I think they’re going to extend that for us a little bit. The pledges are already set up to be done over four or five years. I think they are going to give us that time frame.

"We’re hoping that a project like this one generates a couple thousand dollars and extend that out over five years and that’s a good chunk off the total."

Swepston, who was the athletic director at Harding from 1983 to 1993, was a former boys basketball coach at the school, so a possible basketball clinic could be joining the baseball/softball clinic in the future.

"We’re kicking around a few other fundraising schemes," he said. "We really haven’t heard anything yet from corporate folks. We’re hoping there still may be a business or two or three or four with fairly deep pockets that could come up with something over these next several years to get us where we need to be.

"We’re still feeling good about it. We’re meeting all the time and talking about things. Right now, we’re going to throw this one out there and see what we can do and take it from there."

The campaign kicked off last fall when friends and family members gathered in the gym at OSU-Marion for a celebration of Swepston's life. Because he died in the first days of the coronavirus pandemic by an unrelated illness, the funeral for the affable and popular Swepston was limited and many were unable to properly pay their respects.

By naming the gym after Swepston after making needed improvements and repairs to the facility, it assures that a Marion icon will be remembered for generations to come.

"The income has continued to be steady," Gorenflo said. "It’s not like it cut off a month after that (celebration of life kickoff). We just had a donation of a couple thousand dollars last week. They continue to trickle in. I continue to talk to people who (ask) are you still collecting that money because I want to do something and forgot to do it. I think this will help as well.

"We’re hoping to get some donations out of this in addition to parents and grandparents paying for the kids to come to be a part of the camp."

Flyers about the baseball and softball clinics were distributed to youth programs in the city, River Valley and LaRue. There is also a Friends of Greg Swepston Facebook page that has information about the clinics and the fundraising project.

Folks can make donations as a one-time gift or delegate pledges spread out for as long as a five-year span for the Swepston project. Reach out to The Ohio State University at Marion Development Office by calling 740-725-6069 or emailing gerber.10@osu.edu and use fund number 317597. Checks, cash or credit cards are accepted.

"Word is getting out there. We’re getting there. I feel good about where we’re headed," Gorenflo said.

rmccurdy@gannett.com

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