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Staff photo by Mark L. Thompson R. Leroy Floyd stands on the baseball field named in his honor. Friends say that he has given unselfishly for the kids to be able to play ball. He has been involved in youth baseball for 42 years. |
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By Dave Thornton When Leroy Floyd began
umpiring at age 18, he occasionally was asked if he needed glasses. |
R. Leroy Floyd
Who influenced you?
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Actually, Floyd
did manage the Monroe team in the Tri-County for a couple of
years in the early 1960s and was a coach for several years when
his son Tony was playing in the Madison Heights League. “I was the league president and I had to ask the board if I could coach while he was playing,” said Floyd. Barry McBride, a Madison Heights insurance man, worked closely with Floyd (McBride was executive vice-president of the league) for many years and has great respect for Floyd for the time he spent building the youth program in Madison Heights. “It would be hard to tell how much time he has put in, in an attempt to make it successful,” said McBride. “He was one of the people that had to beg and plead for money, plan raffles, bingo, get billboards and organize things. He was good at getting the community involved.” Floyd spent long hours at the ball park and at planning sessions in addition to umpiring high school and college games. “Many times, he sacrificed his family for all those kids,” said Wiley. Floyd’s wife of 39 years, Delores, recalls when the couple’s children (daughter Sheryl and son Tony) were young and Leroy was away from home. “Years ago, I used to get mad but now I don’t,” said Delores Floyd. “I used to go watch Leroy (umpire) sometimes and I never missed any of Tony’s games. Now I go and watch Tony umpire (in the Madison Heights League).” Leroy Floyd said he always loved baseball but never played in high school. “I went to work when I was 14 at a grocery store to help with the family finances,” he said. “I graduated (Madison Heights High School) at 16 and I would have liked to have gone to college but we couldn’t afford it.” At 17, he landed a job at Lynchburg Foundry (where he would work for the next 42 years) and met Al Cronin, a supervisor at the foundry. “He (Cronin) was the first president of the Colt League and he helped me get started umpiring when I was 18.” Later, Floyd served as player agent and vice-president before taking over the presidency. During that time, he still umpired. A friend of Floyd’s, who asked not to be identified, said that Floyd would often buy baseball cleats and gloves for kids that couldn’t afford them. Wiley, who coached a team many years during Floyd’s tenure, recalls with humor some of his experiences with Floyd, the umpire and the administrator. “We called him that old bald-headed guy and we used to tell him our pitchers couldn’t see for the glare coming off his head,” said Wiley with a laugh. “And he didn’t have to squat down to umpire (Floyd is 5-foot-3).” Wiley recalls the occasion when Floyd ejected every member of his Colt League team “because our manager (the late Curtis Carwile) had argued over a home run call. He sent us all to the horseshoe pits (at Miller Park) but he did let the players come back one at a time to bat.” Floyd and Wiley made many trips to all-star tournaments and Wiley remembers one visit to Bristol. “Leroy was kinda tight with the money and the team (which included Duval White, Jerry Godsey, and Perry Newman) spent $105 for breakfast,” said Wiley. “Leroy was complaining that we had already blown the whole day’s budget on one meal. But he came up with the money to eat later on.” In 1973, Floyd was the president of the Colt League and the Madison Heights Little League. That summer, he met with national Dixie Youth officials in Lynchburg and decided that Dixie Youth would better serve the Madison Heights community than Little League. The Dixie Youth program, in 12 states in the Southeast, allowed night baseball, double-elimination tournaments and unlimited fund-raisers. At the time, Little League had none of the three. When Floyd took over the presidency at Madison Heights, there were a dozen teams (Dixie Majors and Dixie Minors). When he retired as president in 1989, there were more than 40 teams. “And now, they have 55-60 teams in all age groups and the yearly budget has gone from $55,000-$60,000 when I was there to about $90,000 now,” said Floyd. The Madison Heights Youth Association is the largest or second largest in the state according to Floyd and provides a playground for between 550-600 youth baseball and softball players. Floyd, selected state Volunteer of the Year and presented an award by Virginia Governor John Dalton in 1979, has twice been honored by Madison Heights league officials for his time and effort. At the old Madison Heights youth complex behind John P. Hughes, a sign on one of the fields read, “Welcome to R. Leroy Floyd Field, Home of Madison Heights Dixie Boys Baseball.” Several years ago, the league opened a new complex near Monelison Junior High and last spring, the Dixie Boys field there was named in Floyd’s honor. “I think we spent about $30,000 for the land (for the new complex and I (acting for the league) spent $100,000 on the grading,” said Floyd. “Altogether, I think they spent an additional $200,000 to $250,000 (to complete the complex) and all the fields are lighted except one.” Floyd said he was honored to have his name on the fields but said, “What I’ve done, I didn’t expect anything out of it — just the satisfaction of seeing the kids have a good time was enough.” Over the years, a couple of things have bothered Floyd. “I don’t think the kids and parents appreciate it (the facilities and organization) as much as they used to,” he said. “They just expect you to have it for them. And how many parents come out to help? Also, as I see it, a lot of adults are out there for themselves. I’ve always been there for the kids.” Floyd is also somewhat disturbed that the interest in baseball seems to be ebbing. “The facilities are a lot better than when I played but the kids have more to do now and therefore are not as gung-ho about playing baseball,” he said. “Talent-wise, it’s going down and after 12 (years old), it (participation) starts falling off.” Kenny Dixon, Buddy Bailey, Randy Tomlin, Mike Hubbard and Randy Thomas (all played pro baseball) are a few of the outstanding athletes that Floyd has seen go through the Madison Heights program. And graduates of the Madison Heights league have shown up in abundance in the Amherst County High School program which has been among the most successful in Central Virginia. “I would like to think we helped the high school teams but I don’t know if some of the high school coaches will give us credit,” said Floyd. One of Floyd’s biggest thrills was when Madison Heights hosted the 1982 Dixie Pre-Majors World Series at City Stadium. His goal now is to have Madison Heights host a World Series in the next few years. Since his retirement as president, Floyd said he has missed the association with the players. “I used to know 95 percent of the kids in the program but now I probably know 5 percent,” he said. Indirectly, he is still working for young baseball players. One of three national directors in the state, Floyd works to establish the rules, get more leagues in the state and deal with problems. Also, each year of his 22 as a national director, he has traveled to a World Series site. This summer, he’ll be in Terrell, Tex. for the Dixie Boys (11-12) event. In his retirement, Floyd is also volunteering at his church (Monroe Church of God) and occasionally does house painting as a sideline. Wiley knows that the kids who benefited from Floyd’s efforts will never forget him. “Youth baseball is not all about winning, it’s the seed you implant in the boys that will help them later in life,” said Wiley. “Leroy certainly planted a lot of seeds and in the process, he sacrificed and his family sacrificed.” |