Viper co-founder Chad Pink nearly missed seeing his lifelong dream come true and arrived on the back of a motorcycle minutes before the first pitch in Viper history.  On June 4th, 1995 after a year and half of hard work and decades of dreaming, all the pieces were in place for the Vipers to debut in Superior.   Shortly after batting practice the now infamous Ted Whereatt Field tractor stalled behind home plate and would not start.  Desperate to get it moved Pink drove in full uniform ,including spikes, to NAPA auto parts on Tower Ave. in Superior.  In ironic twist, now it was Pink's truck that would not move.  It was stuck at the auto parts store.  One would think that would be the best place to be stuck, but the so-called "experts" inside the store were no help.  Virtually in tears, Pink knew his dream known as the Bayside Vipers was about to come to fruition and he was going to miss it.  Being the mid-1990's and thus before the age when most everyone had a cell phone, the distraught Pink had no way to reach his teammates to find a ride.  Feeling that all was lost an angel on 2 wheels came squeling around the corner.  The angel's name was Jarred Kenville.  Pink and Kenville went to high school together and got along well, but were hardly close friends.  Ever the good samaritan Kenville offered Pink a ride on the back of his "crotch rocket" to the game.  Time was of the essence.  The bike weaved in and out of traffic on Tower Avenue and then North 28th Street.  Had they passed one of "Superior's Finest" Pink's fate surely would have been sealed.  As the baseball gods would have it, Pink jumped off the bike just in time to see his Vipers take the field and thus a new Superior baseball tradition was born.

 

Many often wonder if this twist was some how the work of one Chad C. Susens looking down from above, playing one last practical joke on his friend.  It was typical of #17 to put his friends through a little drama only to let them triumph in the end.  The Vipers won both games of the double-header that beautiful day at Ted Whereatt Field.  Each by one run.