Shoe Column: Remember Korfmann Field?

By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

I drove over to the Stevens Point Brewery yesterday.

Actually, across the street from the brewery. On Water Street.

That’s where Korfmann Field is. Or used to be.

Korfmann Field. Or Korfmann Park. It went by both names.

It was named after Ludwig Korfmann of Germany. Ludwig purchased the Point Brewery in 1924 and changed the name to the Stevens Point Beverage Company.

I’m not sure when Korfmann “Park” was built. All I know is that my Little League team, the Firefighters, played a few games there in 1961.

And the stands were always packed.

Sixty-some years ago.

Our Firefighters’ “home” field was Mead Park across the river. We were something like 9-0 over there.

But we never had much luck at Korfmann.

So yesterday I parked my car in the Korfmann Field parking lot and walked over to where home plate used to be. For the record, I don’t think a Little League game has been played at Korfmann in over twenty years.

But standing around the home plate area yesterday brought back a flood of memories.

I remember when we played against Rotary. They had players like Jack Roberts, Billy Ekvall, and Denny Bohm.

And I recall when home plate umpire Harvey Mirman yelled, “Take your base!” after I was drilled in the elbow by a fastball.

We lost to Rotary. Our first loss of the season, in a close game.

We hated to play at Korfmann.

Our game against the Kiwanis, a Korfmann team, wasn’t much better. They could trot out Pete Konopacky, John Lutz, Bob Unger, Jim Colby, and John Loomis. We didn’t have much luck against that Kiwanis bunch.

And then came the Medics.

The Medics were a new team in the Korfmann Division, and they were coached by Mr. DeNuccio of Sentry.

Yesterday I stood in the Korfmann batter’s box and looked far away at where the left-field fence was.

Several yards behind that left-field snow fence was a huge barn with tin siding. That barn was a very long way from home plate.

Nobody ever hit one off that huge barn.

But Jerry DeNuccio of the Medics hit one blast over it! Against us!

DeNuccio and Freddie Zivicki of the Medics were like right-handed Ruth and Gehrig. They both hit several home runs.

I stood by the home plate area 60 years later and imagined one of DeNuccio’s towering blasts sailing over that dang barn.

And I shed a tear.

We had so much fun playing in Little League way back then. I’m talking about our Firefighters with manager Garth Whittaker of the downtown Sport Shop. My teammates included ace pitcher Tommy Jensen, John “Yatch” Herek, Dave Garber, my brother Casey, Paul Worzalla, Mike Simonis, Charlie Spaar, and Jack Dana, among others.

And then I’d stand on Korfmann Field and realize no games are played there anymore.

The Medics team was loaded. DeNuccio. Freddie. The late Bob Cooper, my dentist and high school classmate. Pete Kiefer, another classmate and all-around good guy. Jim Lutz. Norm Dake. Greg Gross, a terrific bowler.

The Medics clobbered us.

At least we put up a fight at Korfmann against their JayCees. Dennis Wentworth, Bob Kolinski, Pat “Woba” Witkowski, and Mike Green didn’t beat us by much.

Some of the players from those games are no longer with us.

But a few of them are.

And I’ll bet anything that if any of them happen to drive past Korfmann Field, they will remember what happened there so many years ago.

There are some things in life that can never be forgotten.

And Korfmann Park is high on the list.