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Paul Mullan - Thank You Dapper Dan
The following comments were delivered by Paul Mullan, radio station manager at WMSG-WWHC, Oakland, during the 60th annual Dapper Dan Sports Awards at the Ali Ghan Shrine Club.
Thank you, Dapper Dan
It's always an honor to be part of the Dapper Dan Dinner. Tonight, "The Dinner" celebrates its 60th go-around, so (dinner chairman) Dick Sterne asked me to reminisce a little about this affair.
My father started bringing me to this dinner 46 years ago. I was two-years-old and had learned the starting line-up of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dad wanted me to do that for Al Abrams, Bob Prince and Dick Groat.
Al Abrams founded the Pittsburgh Dapper Dan in 1936 and chartered several clubs around the region, including this one. Al would help the local chapters with their dinners, and would use his influence as the editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which meant he called in personal favors from his friends to get celebrities for this dinner and others in the region.
Tonight, we welcome our third Hall-of-Fame toastmaster. Johnny Holliday follows Baseball Hall of Famers Bob Prince and Chuck Thompson. There's a page in the program that outlines the names of other all-time greats from all sports, and other luminaries who have been part of this event over the years.
It's a "Who's Who" of athletics, with professional baseball, football, basketball, motorsports and boxing represented, along with Olympic champions, a member of Notre Dame's legendary Four Horsemen, and a Heisman Trophy winner.
Who was the best? I would nominate Dick Groat. Not only did he win the National League MVP award and a World Series ring in 1960, he was the 1952 College Basketball Player of the Year. Groat led the nation in scoring and assists for two years, and was the first Duke Blue Devil to have his number retired.
And what moments we have had at this dinner! Will any of us forget the courage of Lonnie Athey as he struggled with Lou Gehrig's disease to accept an award at this microphone? Could we forget the dozens of young champions who have represented the Allegany County League for Crippled Children as "Child of the Year?"
How proud do you feel when our young athletes step up to this microphone and salute their God, their parents, their families, their coaches, and their teammates? For one night, we get to know firsthand that we, as a community, have done it the right way.
On a personal note, over the last 10 years, two moments stand out for me: One was six years ago when I sat between Leo Mazzone, Suter Kegg and Sam Perlozzo, with Bobby Robertson in the wings, at what would be Suter's last Dapper Dan Dinner. If you would make a "Mount Rushmore of Allegany County Sports," those guys, along with Bob Kirk and Lefty Grove, would be carved into it.
The other was 10 years ago at the 50th. Deep down, I didn't want to admit it, but I knew that would probably be my Dad's last. And what a party to "go out on." A great dais and a big homecoming of award winners. I had always hoped and prayed that Dad would make the 50th, and he did.
Don't forget those names you read in the program - the people the awards are named after. There are good people therein: Christ Charuhas, Nick Perlozzo and George Stevenson. My father worked with those guys and with others named Taylor, Cioni, Cage, Humbertson, Keegan, Cunningham, Sterne, Ellsworth, Mason, Ferguson, Kreitzburg, Ingram, Nonnenmann, McGraw, Andrews, Hollar, Goad ... Who am I kidding? There's no way to name them all. Those guys put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this club, providing little league baseball and softball to thousands of local youngsters, raising over $120,000 for The League for Crippled Children, and saluting our best at this dinner.
By the way, after Al Abrams retired, it would be wrong if I didn't remember that Suter and Clifton Van Roby used their connections to get celebrities for this occasion, why, for many, many years.
Many times, I stop to think how fortunate we have been to have this dinner, the Allegany and Fort Hill football rivalry, the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament, and the long-time excellence of Bob Kirk and Allegany College basketball in our midst. You add that to Sammy, Leo and the dozens of top-award winners, and we have an athletic legacy that is unmatched by any town in America.
The Dapper Dan Dinner has been the spotlight which has provided the recognition and encouragement to the best of the best from our area. The only shame is that no one has ever given the Dapper Dan Club a Dapper Dan Award, because no organization has done a better job at encouraging those who eventually receive the awards at the event.
We need more Dapper Dans. We need more people who are community minded.
I would ask that you show your appreciation to the members who continue to make this club and dinner a success, and show your gratitude to their families who permit that generous donation of time and their support.
Since he was two-years old and could recite the starting lineup for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Paul Mullan has been a friend to the Dapper Dan Club of Allegany County, having served as toastmaster at the annual Dapper Dan Awards Banquet.
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60th Annual Dapper Dan Dinner
The 60th Annual Dapper Dan Dinner was a success and everyone in attendance enjoyed a terrific evening. The following is the Times-News article about the Dinner that was printed on Sunday January 27, 2008. The picture is also from the Times-News taken by Wesley Haines.
Published: January 28, 2008 11:45 am
Aaron Laffey: 'Believe in yourself'
Mike Burke
Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND - Nearly a year to the day from accepting one Dapper Dan top award and saying regardless of whether he made the big leagues or not all he wanted was the pride of his hometown folk, Aaron Laffey returned to the same podium to accept the same award as the pride of his hometown and as a major league pitcher.
For the second year in a row, Laffey, lefthanded starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, was honored on Saturday evening at the Ali Ghan Shrine Club with the George W. Stevenson-Nicholas A. Perlozzo Memorial Award for bringing the most national recognition to the Cumberland area through athletics. He did so to the admiration and appreciation of another hometown audience in attendance for the 60th annual Dapper Dan Awards Banquet, and he did so as a changed man.
"A lot of things have changed for me since I was standing up here last year accepting this same award," said the 2003 Allegany High School graduate. "I have had two life-changing occurrences happen to me over the past 12 months.
"One, I am now a happily-married man to the girl of my dreams. Two, I am officially a Major League baseball player. All of my dreams have come true this past year in such a short period of time."
The evening provided many highlights, including comments from toastmaster Johnny Holliday, the voice of University of Maryland athletics, and Chicago White Sox pitching coach J.R. Perdew. There were standing ovations galore - for Laffey, League for Crippled Children Child of the Year Timmy Mooney; Cumberland businessman Morton W. Peskin Jr., to whom the program was dedicated for his lifetime service to the League for Crippled Children; and for Major Tom Preaskorn, Allegany High School football coach who is home on leave from serving in the war in Iraq.
The 2-1/2 hour program that annually honors area athletes for their accomplishments during the previous year and turns its proceeds over to the League for Crippled Children was concluded by comments by Laffey, who, just as Perdew had done during his comments, touched on the steroids issue that is dominating baseball.
"There is just one thing I want to say about the steroids issue," Laffey said. "I just returned from Cleveland after traveling around to different towns in Ohio to meet the fans. And every fan that I met said, 'Man, you look bigger on TV.'
"That just solidifies that I've done it the natural way and through hard work."
Perdew, former Fort Hill High School and Allegany College of Maryland pitcher, who will be the pitching coach this season for the White Sox' Double-A Birmingham Barons, called the steroids issues "a shame," saying, "I understand the reason (players take steroids) but totally disagree with it, and it's spreading to colleges and high schools.
"I didn't do it. I wasn't good enough to get to the big leagues, but that's OK with me. I gave it my best, and I pray athletes here don't get caught up in it.
"Number one, it's cheating. Number two, you're risking your life. I understand when you're young you think you have forever to live, but, obviously, you don't. And when you're 40 years-old you're going to regret that your liver and kidneys are failing because of something stupid you did when you were 20.
"I hope this new group of young athletes avoids it. We need to clean it up. I don't care if it's only five percent that's doing it, it should be zero percent.
"These kids are role models. When I was growing up, my role models were Mark Manges and Steve Trimble at Fort Hill. I was seven years-old, but they gave me the time of day and did it the right way. Please do it the right way. Aaron Laffey did, and I hope the next generation does."
Laffey discussed his journey through the minor leagues to the big leagues, which last year concluded with four big-league victories and a stellar one-hit, shutout performance against the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
"I just returned from doing the press tour for Cleveland," he said, "and a little boy asked me and (Indians relief pitcher) Rafael Betancourt, 'What is the hardest thing to do in the Major Leagues?' And I responded that a lot of people do not realize there are six minor-league levels to go through to get to the majors. You must work very hard to get through them just to get a shot at the majors. And if you do succeed and get there, you must work twice as hard to stay there.
"That is my goal this year. I have been there. Now I am working extra hard to stay there. And I thank God every day for giving me the talent and the ability to be where I am and play a kids game for a living."
Laffey said it is not a sin to believe in one's self. In fact, he said, it is a necessity.
"I have worked very hard to get to where I am today and to accomplish the goals I set forth for myself in 2003," he said. "I would not have been able to accomplish these goals if it were not for the belief I have in myself.
"And that is one thing I would like to say tonight to anyone out there aspiring to do something or be something great: Believe in yourself. Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot do something. Whatever it may be, always know that if you work hard, stay disciplined and respect everyone around you, anything is truly possible."
Laffey urged young people to stay the positive course and not be swayed by influences that may steer them away from their goals.
"Do not let anyone influence you in a negative way or discourage you," he said. "I believe these people are not willing to take the extra steps to do what it takes to be successful. Believe in yourself. Respect everyone, and go that extra step. That extra step might mean not hanging out with your friends that night or staying home to do homework.
"I put in the extra time. I took time away from my friends, and I put my heart into my profession in order to obtain my ultimate goal. It is not and was not an easy path to success. You will have plenty of ups and plenty of downs. But as long as you strive to move forward and stay dedicated, your goals are always in reach.
"I achieved my goal and I can stand up here today and say that I made everyone here in Cumberland proud to say this is my hometown."
More coverage from the 60th annual Dapper Dan Awards Banquet will appear in this week's editions of the Times-News.
Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.
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