Great note from Mike Plant today about the passing of Ellis Fields Sr.
"FAREWELL, MR. FIELDS -- Many Orrville boys and girls -- now well into adulthood -- lost a valued mentor when Ellis Fields Sr. passed away June 1 at the age of 86 after a long illness.
A 1944 Orrville High graduate who served in the Navy before a long career at Quality Castings, Mr. Fields was also a baseball man through and through. I know that he did a lot of good work while associated with the Orrville Area Boys & Girls Club, as a member of its Board of Directors and as a coach, a role he also filled in Little League. One of his sons, Ellis Jr., was a slick-fielding first baseman -- with an afro that rivaled Oscar Gamble's -- on the 1976 Red Rider team that made it all the way to the state tournament, the only OHS baseball team to do so.
After the funeral services at Grace Brethren Church in Wooster, as I stood in the hall waiting to go into the dining area, some pretty significant pieces of Red Rider football tradition walked by. First, Warner Harper, Orrville's version of Jim Brown from the mid-1950s, went past, still looking physically impressive. Then came Reggie Williams, an outstanding linebacker at OHS and The College of Wooster before embarking on a long, distinguished career in the military and then in business, along with Tyrone Barnett, the star back on the great 1960 Rider team who went on to play at Ohio State.
Finally, there was Mr. Fields' brother, Dr. Robert "Bobbie" Crigler, a three-sport star at OHS who, while in college, became a boxing and wrestling champion. When Dr. Crigler graduated from Ursinus, he became the first African-American from Orrville to earn a college degree, as well as becoming his college's first African-American grad, and he went on to earn a Master's Degree and a Ph.D."
http://www.the-daily-record.com/local%20sports/2013/06/16/ohsaa-officially-going-to-seven-divisions-in-football
Mr Williams & Mr Barnett were in the inaugural class of the OHSHOF of 1991, Mr Harper (called the best athlete in OHS history by Bobby Knight) was inducted in 1993 & Mr Crigler in 2007.
Mr Fields is not in the HOF & I'm not sure he's ever been nominated, which is too bad. According to his obituary, he was very involved in the lives of Orrville youths through Orrville Youth Baseball & the Orrville Boys Club & I believe ran a basketball camp as well. Sounds like the start of a worthy nominee.
