History of the Rye Little League
In May of 1957, while at a Lions Club meeting, John Hayes,
Sr., Norm Brown, Chester Seaward and Donal Hall decided to
start a Little League program in Rye. Sam Allen wrote a
check in the amount of $300 for part of the application
fee. Sam lived with his family on the corner of Sea and
Central Roads. He had a son with a disability and wanted to
do something that would allow his son, Waymond Allen, to
have socialization. In the middle 30’s he built a
baseball diamond in his back yard. He supplied bats, balls
and gloves. Rye locals that included Jack Hayes, Jr., Phil
Drake and Dick Locke played there religiously. They had
pick-up games with teams from Portsmouth and North Hampton.
On June 11, 1957, they made application for a franchise and
for the right to conduct a baseball program under the name
“Rye Little League.” The population within the
league boundaries was 2,700. There were four teams, fifteen
players on a team, and a schedule of eighteen games.
The founding fathers included:
President: Norman D. Brown
Vice President: John P. Hayes, Jr. (pictured below on the
2006 Opening Day)
Secretary/Treasurer: Chester Seaward
Player Agent: Donal Lee Hall
Braves Manager: Donal Lee Hall
Cardinals Manager: Robert Lovett
Dodgers Manager: John Scully
Pirates Manager: Irving Jenness
Baseball
games were first played at the Rye Junior High School. They
moved to the Rye Elementary School when the new addition
was completed. In 1974, proceeds from the previous season
provided two of the teams with new uniforms. Prior to this,
only one team was outfitted every four years. The
“snack shack” was constructed thanks to Bob
Patton. The fence running from third base to the left field
corners was moved, allowing the players the opportunity to
catch fly balls in foul territory. Bleachers were built
into the hill along the third base line, thanks to Dick
Tompkins. An electric “Ball-Strike Out” board
was added in right field, thanks to Dan Denman, Howard
Noyes and Joe Mills.
In 2001, the Rye Little League Board of Directors
created an award for outstanding volunteer
service. This award is presented to those dedicated
individuals who have volunteered their time, efforts and
abilities to the Rye Little League in such an outstanding
fashion as to be worthy of lasting recognition and
gratitude. John Sexton was the first recipient and it was
named after him - the John Sexton Volunteer Award. At
that time, Mr. Sexton was honored for his 22 years of
volunteer service. He has never had a child in the
league, yet he gives his time so readily. The second
recipient was Brian Berry. Other recipients include Judy
Esposito (2006), Nancy Gardella (2007), Dianne Crisp
(2008), and Christin Keehbler (2009). Please
email us
if you know of the recipients from 2003, 2004 and 2005.
In 2003, the Rye Little League was the New Hampshire State
Champions and in 2005 the Rye 11/12 All Stars won the
District 2 championship.
In July 2006, the Rye Little League hosted the New
Hampshire Little League state championship games for the
first time.
During the 2009
baseball season, a new batting cage was installed at the
Flash Jenness Memorial Little League field in Rye. This was
possible due to donations from individuals and businesses.
The Portsmouth Sign Company generously donated a sign for
the batting cage, which reads:
The following
families and businesses dedicate this batting cage to
Rye Little League on this day, May 9, 2009.
Wilson, Carroll, Kendall, Keehbler, Crapo, Lincoln,
Surprenant, Turner, S. King, Bobbett, Monahan, R.
King, Fox, Crisp, Roelofs, Hickey, Patenaude, Kohlhase,
Fenderson, Hindle, Musto, K. Madden, Shepcaro, Harrison,
Broom, LeCompte, Szmyd, Driscoll, Meade, Sullivan, Durkin,
Luneau, Naimark, J. Fregeau, Kammerer, Sanborn, Alden,
Corradi, Quinn, Leger, Nadeau, Reaney, J. Madden,
MacDonald, Connor, Fitzmaurice, Hanson, Morrissee,
Driscoll, Prinz, Chiaramitaro, Stewart, McLeod, Taylor,
Adams, Paquette, Ekstrom, Amend, Lawton, Gormley, Begley,
Malila, Wade, Petersen-Sheesley, Bourns, Choquette,
Higgins, Bourns, Rizkalla, Husslage, Amend, Morse
Seaside Landscaping, Jeffrey Carroll Landscaping,
Portsmouth Chowder,
Rye Police Department, Seacoast Ace Hardware, Anchor
Management Group,
Rye Education Foundation, GC AAA Fences Inc.,
Blue Water Mortgage, Kane Insurance, Pike Industries
and Portsmouth Sign
Also
in 2009, John Sexton, Chief Umpire for Rye Little League,
was presented with the Kathie Mickel Award during
the District 2 11- and 12-year-old All Star game between
Portsmouth and Rye at Flash Jenness Field on July 3, 2009.
The award was started in 2000 when Mickle, the President of
Portsmouth American League, died of pancreatic cancer after
serving the Portsmouth Little League baseball community
with years of selfless dedication and volunteer work to
keep the league functioning as well as possible. Each year
the award honors an outstanding volunteer in District 2
baseball. This award was given to John from the State of
New Hampshire and Little League District 2 for his tireless
efforts volunteering his time over 30 years to the Rye
Little League. During this time, John has been on the Rye
Little League's Board of Directors, as well as serving as
coach, manager, All Star coach and chief umpire. He also
implemented the process to evaluate players for the major
league. Read the complete story "Rye Umpire's Career
Honored" from the Portsmouth Herald
here.
(Early
history compiled by Susan Record)