This is the first in a series of articles on the 2017 Class of the Clinton County County Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner will be held 5:30 p.m. June 15 at the Expo Center on the Clinton County Fairgrounds. The Wilmington News Journal Clinton County Scholar-Athlete Award also will be presented June 15. Reservations for the event must be made by 5 p.m. Friday. Cost is $20. Call the News Journal office to make reservations. NEXT UP: Bruce Boggs.
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Batting leadoff against Xenia, David Allen remembers Wilmington High School baseball coach Ron Wilt’s instructions. Work the pitch count. Extend the at-bat. See what the pitcher throws.
One pitch into game, Wilmington led 1-0 on Allen’s homerun.
“The first pitch … it came in there and looked like that,” Allen said, holding his hands as if they were on either side of a basketball.
In all, Allen hit three homers that day on four pitches (not exactly working the count, but whatever), drove in six runs and scored five times as one of the Hurricane’s best baseball teams ever defeated the Buccaneers 16-8.
“That winning attitude got in a lot of us (growing up),” said Allen. “It sorta just grew and grew and grew. I don’t like to lose at all.”
Allen was an offensive standout in the orange and black. Some have said he is the best hitter in WHS history. He was All-Ohio as a senior, when he hit nearly .500.
That Allen could hit a baseball wasn’t surprising when you consider he grew up hitting rocks that were much smaller. On a gravel road by his New Antioch farm, Allen honed his hitting skills.
“I was always a good hitter,” he said. “When I was 4-, 5-, 6-years old, I didn’t have (video games). I had chores to do. After supper, I stood on a gravel road and I had taken a broom handle and shaved down one end and hit rocks. I’d throw up the rocks and see how high I could hit them. I’d hit those rocks hours on end. That’s how it started.”
Allen recalled his first organized youth baseball coach, Bob Snyder who coached the Swindler & Sons Florist team in the 8-9 year old City Rec league. Allen said his hitting prowess was evident then when he was intentionally walked with the bases loaded to move his team’s deficit from two runs to one run.
“I had a lot confidence that there wasn’t anyone going to throw a pitch passed me,” he said. “As I got older, I got a little hard to coach. I was pretty ornery, too.”
Allen said during his days with Dick Shaffer’s Hillsboro Legion baseball team he went against the legendary coach’s advice and was thrown out at third base.
“Coach Shaffer … his tobacco juice was boiling. He was livid,” said Allen. “We paid for it later. We practiced til midnight after the game.”
Allen played with the Hillsboro Legion team four years. The year Hillsboro was runnerup in the state legion tournament, Allen led the team in hitting. Hillsboro had a 52-17 record that year, Allen said.
And whether it was at WHS under Don Rauch or Ron Wilt, or at Hillsboro, Allen always seemed to be part of good teams.
“I was always surrounded with good players,” he said. “I never cared whether I was 3-for-3 or 0-for-3, as long as we won, truthfully. A lot of people say that but I really felt that way. I was always competitive, but none of us liked to lose.”
That may have been part of the reason Allen never had success beyond those good high school-aged teams. It started with the All-Ohio game when Allen said there were plenty of good players but none of that team camaraderie.
By the time Allen landed at the University of Dayton or considered going for a professional tryout, he admits he had “lost the desire” to play ball.
“I was out of my comfort zone,” he said. “I really wasn’t prepared or really enthused about the academic end of it. The baseball part wasn’t a problem.”
Allen had not lost his zest for the game, though. He coached knothole baseball for 10 years and then coached 10 more years at Wilmington High School. Now he’s coaching a City Rec team with his son Davey.
“I told Davey just make sure (the kids) have fun and learn a little something, if they want to take that next step,” he said. “I enjoy being with my son. We had guys give back to me (when I was young) like Roger Roberts dad Russell, Ebby Sims … the list goes on and on. The kids I did coach (at WHS) are beginning to catch on and give back, that’s one of the things that makes me proudest is my son, Dusty (James), Brian Carey up at East Clinton.”
