BUCKTOWN — He first made his mark around here managing the Junior American Legion Spring City River Bandits their first ever state championship in 2005. Rick Harrison then managed those River Bandits to their second state title in 2008, accumulating an overall record of 262-76 in his eight years as their manager.

After one baseball year away from this area, Harrison returns to take over as the manager of the American Legion NorChester Bulldogs, replacing former Corbin Stolzfus, who stepped down after last season due to family commitments.

When Harrison was approached about taking over, he could not resist.

"I was talking to Jamie Scheck, the Spring City American Legion manager, who told me that Corbin was talking about resigning. A few days later Corbin e-mailed me," Harrison said. "That kind of got the ball rolling and we went from there."

Harrison, 33, married and with a daughter, 19 months, and a son, 2 months, now lives in Oley where he has also been coaching the Oley High School boys varsity baseball team for the past two years. But all the while Harrison continued teaching in the Spring-Ford School District, as he has for a decade.

He also coached baseball in the Spring-Ford School District for years. Scheck is also a teacher at Spring-Ford. They run into each other; they talk baseball.

Harrison also managed the Daniel Boone American Legion team last year, but during that time it kept creeping into his mind that it just didn't seem quite right, maybe even a conflict of interest to be coaching against the Oley American Legion, players he coached in high school.

At the end of that Boone year, he felt it was best to resign.

So when the NorChester job suddenly opened up, he had already resigned from his Daniel Boone legion managing post. "And I was really looking toward trying to get back into the Chester County League in the summer," he said.

"I always enjoyed the Chester County League and had a lot of good relationships in that area. It's closer to my work. All of a sudden that job became available.

"I am really excited about this opportunity. I coached against those (NorChester) kids for eight or nine years. We had some really, really good competitions in games. At the time they were probably our biggest rivalry. I always felt that those kids were very competitive and committed. And that's the type of program I want to be a part of."

The game has been Harrison's passion as long as he can remember. He played it, along with football, at Pennsbury High School (outfield), Class of '93. He also played three years on the Morrisville American Legion team.

And he will take over an excellent program at NorChester, who won the league last year, came in third in the state. Three years earlier the Bulldogs advanced all the way to the National Regionals.

"I know they have quite a bit of talent coming back and they are one of the top programs in the state," Harrison said. "To be able to go in and coach at a program like that is really an honor."

Every good manager is, of course, his own man with his own approach when he takes over a program.

"We try to coach to the kids strength," Harrison said. "But, at the same time, I've coached against Corbin for quite a few years and have seen the kids play, and I think we'll do a lot of the do a lot of the things Corbin did.

"We really like to bunt, really like to play pressure baseball, whether that's bunting, trying to steal bases, or take extra bases. Just trying to constantly put pressure on the other team, make plays."

Lucky for Harrison his wife Evvie shares his passion for the game. With two youngsters, both under two years old and the time legion managing takes these days, that is a good thing.

"She is really supportive and enjoys the coaching aspect or, obviously, I wouldn't be doing a lot of these things," he said. "She liked to bring the kids to watch the games and they enjoy it.

"I'm just really look forward to meeting the kids, getting some workouts rolling and, hopefully, continue in the tradition Corbin had going there."

NOTES:

After winning just two games prior to his taking over at Oley, the Lynx went 15-7 last year. His American Legion Daniel Boone team went 8-7 Berks County League, 11-11 overall last season. Harrison graduated from West Chester University in '98, went on to also add a masters degree in education at Cabrini College.

Reprinted here from an atricle by Rosemarie Ross, Pottstown Mercury

 Coach Corey Dissin has opened a gym in nearby Parkerford and invites Norchester players and their families to visit for free consultations and discounted rates.

 Here's a link to the blog announcing the grand opening of his new location:http://www.trainwithcorey.blogspot.com/

BUCKTOWN – Corbin Stoltzfus never wavered on his commitment to the NorChester baseball program, nor to any of the players who filled a spot on his roster.

But shortly after the Bulldogs’ disheartening season-ending setback in last month’s Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament at Bear Stadium in Boyertown, Stoltzfus wasn’t so sure he was capable of sustaining the same loyalty he expected from his players.

Last week, he was sure, and made what he confessed to be one very difficult decision … to step down as NorChester’s manager.

“The last two or three years I had conversations during the off-season with my wife about this, but I was never able to pull the trigger, never able to step away from (coaching),” Stoltzfus explained. “But the birth of our son (last spring) changed everything.

“Our son’s birth made it difficult for me to give the kind of commitment that I always gave to my own players. We always preached to them about being on time, about giving up vacations, about giving us everything they had to help us become the best baseball program we could be. I have to live by those same rules, too. But it’s just become too difficult since the birth of our son.”

The 38-year-old Stoltzfus has given nearly his entire adult life to baseball.

He played for Owen J. Roberts before graduating in 1988 and, after graduating from Kutztown University four years later, he returned to the area as an assistant coach. He was part of the staff at OJR for 10 seasons and at The Hill School for another five. And in the summer, he teamed up with NorChester an assistant under Bill Scherfel for three seasons and under Ron Stiles for two more.

Stoltzfus took over the NorChester program in 1995, but three years later was dismissed from the post. After a summer helping out in the Perkiomen Valley Twilight League, he returned to American Legion as the manager at Downingtown.

But when the opportunity arose to rejoin NorChester, he didn’t hesitate to make a call or two … and didn’t harbor any ill-feelings over the controversial decision to remove him four years earlier.

“I was just excited to be back (at NorChester),” Stoltzfus recalled.

His enthusiasm, renewed allegiance to the Bulldogs, was evident, too.

He returned to the dugout in 2002 and NorChester soon became one of the winningest teams in the Chester County League, capturing three championships since then. Three of his teams swept Pennsylvania Region Three Tournament titles and finished second once, good enough to advance to four state tournaments. And even though the state title eluded him and the Bulldogs, they managed to finish as the runners-up twice (2006-07) and earned a spot in national regional play.

Stoltzfus’ 2006 team lost a pair of tight games in Indiana, but came back the following summer to get to the final day of the Great Lakes Regional in Michigan. His team lost the winners’ bracket final, bounced back with another victory, but was eliminated in the next game.

“That was exciting, a great opportunity for our program,” Stoltzfus recalled. “We were disappointed we didn’t do better, of course. But we were getting better, and we seemed to be on the right path.”

The Bulldogs appeared to be a path unlike any in the past this summer. They swept the Chester County League playoffs as well as the Region Three Tournament, putting together an offense that punched up double-digits in nearly every postseason outing.

But the bats went surprisingly silent at Beat Stadium.

“This year was definitely different,” Stoltzfus said. “Yes, I kind of expected more, especially the way our regular season went and how we were hitting the ball. But then we got to states and we went as cold as cold can get. It’s just one of those things that happen.”

The early exit closed out NorChester’s season at 36-4 – the best won-loss record in the history of the program, and tying the mark for the most wins in a season.

“Overall, I have no regrets,” Stoltzfus said. “Our program is heading in the right direction, consistently heading in the right direction since 2002. We’ve seen steady improvement.

“Right now we feel everything is going in the right direction, too. I think we have things aligned as they should be, from Little League on up to Legion.”

Stoltzfus isn’t exactly walking away from everything, either. Just recently he was appointed president of the NorChester Youth Athletic Association, which sponsors most if not all of the summer baseball teams in the OJR district.

“I’ve given almost half of my life to baseball in this area,” Stoltzfus said. “I can’t imagine staying away too long, either. Sure, I’d like to get back into it sometime, maybe when my son gets older and doesn’t require as much attention as he needs now.

“Being named president of the athletic association is great. It presents a whole new challenge for me. For now, I just want to help make sure we keep everyone on the right path … everyone, not just those in the American Legion program.”

Stoltzfus, who has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, teaches seventh grade history at Owen J. Roberts Middle School, His wife, Marisa, is also a teacher in the district. … Stoltzfus steps down with a 214-96 overall record as a manager at NorChester and Downingtown.

   I have a few links to the various leagues that some of our teams play for. (If anyone has the Babe Ruth link, please forward it to me and I will add that as well.) This is a terrific way to keep up with what the rest of the league is doing as far as wins and losses, and where our Norchester teams are in the standings!

Senior Legion...Chester County American Legion Baseball...www scorebook.com/ccalb

Junior Legion...Twin County Junior Legion...www.scorebook.com/TwinCountyJrLegion

Junior Legion Prep...MBC Prep...www.scorebook.com/MBCPrep

City-County Junior Baseball League...www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=citycounty

That our website displays upcoming events at the bottom of this page? It's true! Any upcoming event scheduled on the calendar for the next 4 weeks will display in blue text. What an easy way to keep up-to-date !!

   Although as an organization we make no money from this, you may want to click on the "Sportswear" baseball to the left. You'll find dozens of T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants, hats, etc. all available with any number of different Norchester logos on them! Create your own and look great while supporting your son and his Norchester teammates this summer!