Honor Page 16

I was stationed in Berlin from June 1956 through December 1958. Although my home base was the 287^th Military Police Company at Andrews Barracks, I was assigned on four (4) different occasions to Special Services - twice to play for the Berlin Bears Command Baseball Team and twice for the Berlin Bears Command Football Team.

Early in my Berlin assignment after a pick-up softball game between the 272^nd and the 287^th Military Police, Stuart Bayer, an MP from New York City suggested that I should consider trying out next season for the Berlin Command Baseball Team. I had not given any consideration to playing sports in the military but I did file that away in my memory for later thought.

Later in 1956 (September through November) some of my MP friends and I also attended several football games at Berlin Command (BC) when the Berlin Football Team played other U.S. Military Command teams. I decided then that I would try to make the baseball team the next year and if I was successful I thought about maybe giving the football team a try too.

In March 1957 I received permission from my Company Commander, Captain Kientz to tryout for the Berlin Command Baseball Team. I really wanted to make the team as a catcher because that was my best position. Before entering the military I had been a catcher in college for one year at Texas A&M. Another person --- Medsall LaGrone (we called him Mess Hall LaGrone) was also trying out for the team as a catcher and he had played in the minor leagues before he entered the service. LaGrone was basically a one-position player so they asked me to play center field. I concentrated on this position and made the team as an outfielder and first baseman.

When I found out that I was going to play primarily in the outfield I borrowed my friend Stuart Bayer's fielders glove that he had brought with him from New York City to Berlin. He agreed that I could use his glove for as long as I played in Berlin but he wanted me to send it to him in New York when I was through playing for Berlin Command. Berlin Command furnished all equipment including gloves but I was especially fond of Bayer's glove. It was a bit larger than the military issues and I thought it was much better quality.

April 1957 - June 1957
The team was made up of twenty plus players, nine of, which had minor league and/or college level experience. The manager was George Blair who had several years of experience with the New York Giants organization as a right handed pitcher and once he had had a cup of coffee with the major league club. (Having a cup of coffee is a baseball expression that means ---- a very short period of time) We also had a trainer and a statistician that traveled with the team.

Most of the team were from various companies from the 6^th Infantry Regiment, however two were from the Military Police ------ myself from the 287^th and John Kilroy from the 272^nd. John was from California and had played in the Pittsburgh Pirate minor league organization. He was our starting right fielder.

The starting lineup generally was: Catcher - Medsall LaGrone, First Base - Arnuflo Andino, Second Base - Walt Kloss, Shortstop - Dick Randazzo, Third Base, Andy Stillo, Left Field - Paul Ammon, Center Field - Walt (Ken) Keener, Right Field - John Kilroy, and the Pitcher. Pitchers that saw most of the action were Don Carey, Bill Kegerreis, Jim Stark, Bill Thornhill, and George Stangel. Others that I remember playing a lot were Outfielder Larry Ayo and Infielder John McCarthy.

All of our trips in and out of Berlin were via the famous Berlin / Helmstedt train. Once we got to West Germany we also rode a lot of military buses.

To while away the hours of travel time we had very active and sometimes very serious card games --- usually either Pinochle or Hearts. Sometimes money changed hands and occasionally tempers would flare. Our manager, George Blair was usually in all the major card games. Whenever the bus driver would run over a rough spot in the road and disturb a card game he would holler out "Keeper on the Road Bussie." Blair was quite a character but he knew baseball inside and out.

Many of the U.S. Military baseball teams in Europe had a lot of current and past professional and college level players on their rosters. The Berlin Bears Baseball team of 1957 was mediocre at best and we struggled to finish in the middle of our conference.

At a banquet marking the end of the season, Brigadier General George T. Duncan gave each player a letter that partially stated that ---- he did not measure the success of the team by our final league standing as our team was composed of members of Berlin Command who enjoy the game, and who performed creditably against teams bolstered by men with professional skill and experience.

We were a little taken back by this because we thought we had players with professional skills and experience too. Looking back on this, I think the General was just trying to be nice and not make too much of the season that had not been really successful from a winning point of view.

I have recently made email contact with Walter Kloss our starting second baseman who now lives in Florida. We made contact through the Berlin U.S. Military Veterans Association (BUSMVA) that we both belonged too. Kloss told me that Bill Kegerreis, one of our left handed pitchers who is also a BUSMVA member lives in Louisville. I remember that Bill had a wide breaking curve ball that was very effective especially against left handed hitters.

After the 1957 baseball season I was reassigned to the 287^th Military Police Company and in mid July I sought permission from my company to tryout for the Berlin Bears Command Football Team. This time I did not receive permission right away. I do not know for sure why but probably someone in the company thought that I had already been on "special services" long enough and I did not need to pursue more playing time for another athletic team.

The football team coach for 1957 was Major Chuck Lacy. I think he was the highest-ranking officer to coach a football team in the whole of Europe. It is likely that Lacy worked behind the scene to arrange for several people to be available for football tryouts that were held in Yankee Stadium at Andrews Barracks. In any event I finally got permission from my company to tryout.

August 1957 - December 1957
I at first worked out as a running back but Lacy and the Assistant Coach 1^st Lt James Asente suggested that I tryout for a Guard position because the team appeared to be set at running back. When the announcement came after two-weeks of tryouts and practice, I made the team as an offensive Guard and defensive Linebacker.

Forty-nine players made the team. In addition to Lacy and Asente we had a defensive coach, Tony Cichoke. We also had a team physician Captain DePriest, an equipment manager, two trainers, and a statistician. One of the trainers is a regular on your site now ----- Mark Lind.

The 1957 Berlin Bear Football Team was a serious venture with top Commanding General support. Berlin Command was combed for football talent and all needs relating to equipment and supplies were provided without hesitation.

We had four players each from California, Pennsylvania, New York, and Texas; three each from Florida, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Michigan; two each from Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Wisconsin; and one each from Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Washington D.C. and West Virginia. All were from the U.S. Army except for Tom Nevling who was from the Air Force. From an experience point of view the team had no professional players and only a few with college football experience. Comparing the 1957 Baseball Team and the 1957 Football Team with appropriate experience, most would conclude the Baseball Team would have fared better that the Football Team. Actually most everyone "in the Military Sporting World Know" expected the Berlin Bears Football Team to finish last in their conference.

August 31, 1957 - The 1^st game with the 10^thDivision Artillery in the Sports Center at Berlin Command was won by the Berlin Bears 16 to 12. No one paid much attention and thought the win was likely a fluke.

September 7, 1957 - The 2^nd game with the 18^th F. A. Group was played in the Sports Center at Berlin Command and won by the Berlin Bears 23 to 0. Still no one paid any attention but the crowd was bigger with both U.S. Military and Berliners attending.

September 14, 1957 - The 3^rd game was with the CCB Braves again played in the Sports Center at Berlin Command and won by the Berlin Bears 20 to 14. The Braves were heavy favorites and were predicted in the pre-season to win the Northern Area Conference Championship. This Berlin victory got a little attention and now the U.S. Military European Sporting World was watching. Berlin had won three in a row and had beaten the highly rated CCB Braves.

September 21, 1957 - The 4^th game was with the 3^rd Armed Div Trains in the Sports Center at Berlin Command and won by the Berlin Bears 14 to 12. Now everyone was saying that the Bears had a chance to win the Northern Area Conference Championship and the crowds were standing room only ---- many military personnel and many Germans. During the week Andy Mouse from Jay, Oklahoma, the starting center signed up for extended duty so that he could complete the season with the Berlin Bears before rotating back to the U.S.

September 28, 1957 - The 5^th game was with the 14^th Armored Cavalry Cavaliers in Fulda. Berlin trailed 20 to 7 in the third quarter but came back to win 26 to 20. This was the first road game of the year and the 5^th straight win. Now everyone was saying that the "Bear Facts" had been discovered and that the Bears would win the Northern Conference and would go on to play for the Championship.

October 6, 1957 - The 6^th game was played at the Sports Center in BC. The Berlin Bears won their 6^th consecutive game by the score of 14 to 7. Now the cry in U.S. Military European Football was ---- somebody has to stop the Bears. No one could figure out how we continued to win because we supposedly did not have any big stars.

October 12, 1957 - On Organization Day at the Sports Center in Berlin Command, the Berlin Bears beat the CCC Cougars 33 to 18 for their 7^th win in a row. No one could remember a better Berlin Bear Football Team. The Bears were now in first place with a 4 - 0 Northern Conference record with CCA in second place with a 3 - 1 conference record.

October 19, 1957 - With the Northern Conference Championship on the line the Berlin Bears took on the CCA Scorpions in Kirch Goens, Germany. Rain, mud, and CCA stopped the Berlin win streak at seven. The final score was 13 to 6 in favor of CCA. This was a tough loss but Berlin was still tied for first place with CCA. Both have identical 4 - 1 records.

October 26, 1957 - The Berlin Bears playing in their 9^th game in the Sports Center at BC won 38 to 7 over the 36^th F.A. Group Rammers. This win in combination with CCA's tie with CCB at 13 to 13 gave the Berlin Bears the Northern Area Championship for 1957. This was pretty good for a team that was suppose to have finished last. Chuck Lacy and his staff pulled off a remarkable job even without any professional or college big stars.

Some of the games that we played at the BC Sports Center in Berlin had been originally scheduled to be played in our opponents home field but because Berlin was such an intriguing place that everyone wanted to visit, often the location of the game was rescheduled by mutual agreement to be played in Berlin. I think many people wanted to be able to say that they had been behind the "Iron Curtain." The next year, 1958 this did not happen because the word was out that we would probably have another good team and our opponents did not want us to have the "so-called" advantage of playing on our home field.

November 2, 1957 - In order to stay sharp for the upcoming championship playoffs Coach Lacy scheduled a game in Wethersfield, England to play the Wethersfield Air Force Base Raiders. The Bears flew from Templehof to England for the game and won 9 to 0. During the week prior to the game we made a side trip to London via an English train and we visited many historic sites.

The Bears were scheduled to play the 8^th AAA Flaks in Wiesbaden, Germany for the USAREUR Quarterfinals Championship on November 10^th. The Bears finished the regular season with a 9 - 1 record.

November 10, 1957 - The Berlin Bears lost the final game of the season to the 8^th AAA Flaks 20 to 7. Berlin was ahead 7 - 0 at the half and led 7 - 6 in the third quarter but could not maintain the lead. After the game General George T. Duncan in a congratulatory message to the team told them that ----- All of us in Berlin are proud of you and your record.

The starting lineup for the Berlin Bears for this game was Center - Andy Mouse, Guards - Algie Simmons and Walt (Ken) Keener, Tackles - Clayton Skenadore and Bill Hunt, Ends - Frank Underwood and Dan Booker, Quarterback - Dick Randazzo, Halfbacks - Eddie Crook and Nick Paulos, and Fullback Albert Jones.

Eddie Crook was named the Most Valuable Player. He played great on both offense and defense and was a consistent ground gainer and occasional passer from the halfback position.

After the season was over Chuck Lacy arranged with Berlin Command to send the entire team to Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria for eight days of R&R. Most of us had never been there before and we all had a wonderful time. On the first day there I got stuck between floors in a hotel elevator and two hours later Army Engineers finally got me out. That was not so much fun but the overall trip was great. I remembered visiting a salt mine near Salzburg.

At this point in my life, I had played on a lot of sport teams in public school and college but the experience with the Berlin Bears in 1957 was the most enjoyable ever! The teamwork was outstanding and the leadership both by the coaches and the players was superior. The morale and the team attitude, win or lose ---- was always sky-high.

Bill Hunt is the only player on this team that I ever saw again after leaving the military. He and his spouse visited my wife and I this past year (2006) in Granbury, Texas. We had a wonderful time reliving the 1957 football season. Most of the things we remembered the same way.

Five of the players this year also played for the Bears in 1957 ----- Larry Ayo, Walt (Ken) Keener, Bill Kegerreis, George Stangel, and Jim Stark. Bill Hunt from the 1957 football team also made the baseball team this year as a right fielder. I was really looking forward to this season because this time I was the starting catcher, the position that I liked the best.

A couple of weeks before the season started and while we were still practicing we were notified that we were going to a baseball field in the Templehof area to practice because Jeff Chandler, the movie star wanted to visit with the team I never did understand why he did not come to our facility at BC instead of us going all the way to Templehof to see him. Maybe he had a scheduling problem or time issue. In any event, he seemed to be a nice guy and he had his picture taken with a fielders glove on his right hand. I assume from that that he was left handed.

We had a better team in 1958 and we were in competition for the League Championship until the last week of the season. We finally finished in second place.

We played in Wiesbaden, Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt, Bremerhaven, Munich, Grafenwoehr, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Hanou, Mannheim, Schweinfurt, Bamberg, Aschaffenburg, Wuerzburg, Nuernberg, and Kitzingen. I am sure we played in other locations too but I just cannot identify them all.

The Most Valuable Player Award went to Walt (Ken) Keener and the Most Improved Award to Frank Krol. The top three hitters were Keener, Art Greenspan, and Dave Ramos. Pitchers doing the heavy lifting were Bill Merriman, Bill Kegerreis, Jim Stark, and George Stangel.

This also, once again setup the Quarterfinals Championship game between the Berlin Bears and the Wiesbaden Flaks. And again the Bears lost a close one 18 - 12 in favor of Wiesbaden. The starting lineup for this game was Center - Walt Murphy, Guards - Phil Hirnyk and Walt (Ken) Keener, Tackles - Bill Hunt and Max Swenson, Ends - Don Saunders and Frank Underwood, Quarterback Eddie Crook, Halfbacks - Charley Hoskins and Tom Flaherty, and Fullback Julie Tant.

The last game lost was a real heartbreaker but the combined record for 1957 and 1958 was 18 wins and 4 losses. Not too shabby for a team with no professional players and very few college players.

Two big events that occurred, one before the season started and the other after two games into the season setup the entire 1958 season and made its success possible.

First Dick (Rocky) Randazzo the starting Quarterback from the 1957 Berlin Bears got married and was transferred from Berlin to Frankfurt. Randazzo then became the starting Quarterback for the rival Frankfurt team. To counter this Coach Chuck Lacy switched the starting halfback Eddie Crook to the Quarterback position. Eddie not only made the All-Army Team in Europe --- he made the Universal All-Army Team. He had the greatest year in football that I ever saw.

Eddie Crook was by far the best athlete that I ever played with. He earlier had been the Military European Middleweight Boxing Champion and he later won the Gold Medal as the Olympic Games as the Middleweight Boxing Champion. He did this the same year that Cassias Clay won the Olympic Heavyweight Gold Metal.

The second event occurred after the season started. Bill Hunt extending his military enlistment so he could finish out the season. He had been originally scheduled to leave the Berlin about October 15^th. Had he not played for Berlin after October 15^th the Berlin Bears would have never won the Northern League Championship because he would have missed the last six games. He had great years in both 1957 and 1958 and was chosen a Northern Conference All-Star in 1958.

Other Berlin players that made the All-Star Team in 1958 were Ends - Ron Kramer and Frank Underwood, Center - Walt Murphy, Halfback - Charlie Hoskins, and Coach - Chuck Lacy.

The football season in 1958 ended November 30^th and I left West Berlin on December 11^th on the train just as I had come in on almost 31 months earlier. As the train pulled away they played Auld Lang Syne and I had tears in my eyes. I was ready to go home but at the same time I loved Berlin and hated to leave!

Bill Hunt and I left Berlin together. We rode the train to Frankfurt then flew to Fort Fix, New Jersey via Scotland and Iceland. Two days later we again flew from Philadelphia to St. Louis and then to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. We were separated from the Army and we both rode the same bus to Texas and Bill got off at Gainsville, Texas, and I continued on to Midland, Texas, where I had enlisted almost three years earlier. We both got home for Christmas.

After Christmas someone asked me if I ever felt "funny" about playing baseball and football in the military during the Cold War.

The one time that I felt "out of place" occurred when our baseball team was in Grafenwoehr. We were playing a baseball game while troops were being loaded and bound for the "Lebanon Crisis." Grafenwoehr in those days was really off the beaten path and was an isolated military training area on Germany's border. The stands were full of soldiers but at the same time all this loading of equipment and personnel was on-going. It was a strange and an unusual time.

To quote General George T. Duncan (who once told us at a sports banquet) ---- our first mission is to be a ready military force and as part of this mission we should have good recreation programs for the military and the local community. He said that a man playing on a team is contributing just as much to the Command as one carrying a mortar base plate or an AR in training. I am proud of all our sport teams. They all have represented Berlin Command in a favorable manner.

So, my answer is that ---- no I didn't feel "funny" about my sports activity in the military. I enjoyed every minute playing for the Berlin Bears and felt that I served my country appropriately. We all felt that we had helped entertain the troops and had introduced American football and baseball to many West Berliners.

One regret that I still have, has to do with the baseball glove I had borrowed from Stuart Bayer in 1957. He had given me his address in New York City where I was to send his glove but I somehow misplaced the address and was never able to return the glove to him. Although I no longer have the glove (it has been 50 years) I would like to somehow contact him and make amends. He was definitely a New York City guy and I am certain if he is still living, he would be somewhere in the New York City area. If any of you know the whereabouts of Stuart D. Bayer that served in Berlin in the 287^th Military Police Company in the 1957 era please pass on that information to me.

When I became a civilian (1959) I went to the San Francisco Giants Rookie Camp in Sanford, Florida. George Blair my 1957 Berlin Baseball Manager arranged the invitation for me. I did not sign a contract however, because Carl Hubbell, Hall of Famer and head of the Giants minor league baseball program did not think I was big enough to be a catcher. I was 5'10 ½" and weighed about 188 lbs. He wanted me to workout as a second baseman but I elected to move on to the Milwaukee Brave minor league camp in Waycross, Georgia where I signed a minor league contact as a catcher. Earlier I stated that George Blair had once had a cup of coffee with the New York Giants major league club. In my case I also had a cup of coffee, only my cup of coffee was in the minor leagues not the majors like Blair. (Remember having a cup of coffee is a baseball term meaning a very short period of time) I was released by the Braves and told that ----- son, you have too much trouble hitting the curve ball, so you need to go home and find yourself a job.

After I got baseball out of my system I got married to Janiece Harralson Keener, went back and finished college with a degree in Human Resources and Labor Relations at TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised two children, a son Kerry Keener and a daughter Kristal Keener Golden.

I worked for almost 40 years in Human Resources and in Labor Relations and retired in 2002 as Corporate Vice President of Human Resources for Personix in Houston, Texas. Personix is a subsidiary of Fiserv based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Remark:
I am confident that the scores, dates, locations of games, and names of players are correct because I still have all the Berlin Observer and Stars and Stripes articles that were written about the baseball and football games that we played in 1957 and 1958. I am certainly capable however of not remembering everything exactly correct ---- after all 50 years have gone by and at my age my memory is not like it once was. Let me give you an example ----- Over the past few years I have told a lot of people that my Company Commander must have been mad at me for playing on the baseball team in 1957 because after the baseball season was over he sent me to the 6^th Infantry Noncommissioned Officers School that I really did not want to attend. In the process of researching all the data for this story I discovered that I had been sent to the NCO School before I ever played on the baseball team. What I had been telling people turns out not to be true at all. I guess I owe my Company Commander, Captain Kientz an apology! So if you are out there Sir, I apologize!

Walter K. (Ken) Keener

Front Row	Back Row
John Baptiste - OF	Gilbert Gill - Trainer
Paul Ammon - LF	George Stangle - LP
Gene Joseph - IF	Tom Landau - IF
John Kilroy - RF	Larry Ayo - 2B & OF
Bill Kegerreis - LP	Dick Randazza - SS
George Blair - Manager	Walt (Ken) Keener - CF, 1B & C
Don Carey - RP	John McCarthy - 3B
Arnuflo Andino - 1B	Jose Felisano - RP
Walt Kloss - 2B	Andy Stillo - 2B, SS & 3B
Jim Stark - RP	Lee LaGrone - C
Bill Thornhill - RP	Frank Murakama - Statistician

5^th Row	4^th Row	3^rd Row	2^nd Row	1^st Row
Mike Holinda	Tom Flaherty	Patsy Clemente	John Lannon	Tony Cichoke
Vernon Taylor	Robert Murray	Bill Hunt	Harold Lanzl	Algie Simmons
Paul Ammon	James Beard	George Campos	Eddie Crook	Don Dvorak
Mark Lind	Chris Widick	William Kleemeyer	Richard Anderson	Dan Booker
George Stangle	Walt Keener	Thomas Gage	Leonard Boulas	Roy Wesley
	Harvey Frankel	Frank Underwood	Richard Rudolph	Chuck Lacy
	Gary Johnston	Walt Murphy	James Ciandella	Dick Randazza
	Clayton Skenadore	John Neu	David Schwarz	Jim Hunt
	Albert Jones	Robert Beardsley	Wes Medley	James Meeks
	Harold Keys	Tom Nevling	Andrew Mouse	O. de Priest
	Nicholas Poulas	George Peters	Justino Bermodez	James Asente
		Charles Holland	Robert Rone

Front Row	Back Row
Coach Earl Strum	Ronald Shaw
Bob Trdla	John Correll
John Strycharz	Jim Stark
Phil DeSana	Bill Kegerreis
Walt Keener	Jack McCracken
Frank Krol	Bill Hunt
Bill Merriman	John O'Connor
Charles Maly	George Stangel
Larry Ayo	Art Greenspan
Frank Cozze	Phil Hirnyk
David Ramos	Howard McFadden
John Fitzsimmons	Jack Newell
De Forest Hinshaw	Robert Beardsley
Charlie Jarrell	Lloyd Johnson
	Dick Joslyn
	Julie Tant