BLUE HILLS HERITAGE FOUNDATION

- 2018 Organization Inductee -

K-18 Baseball Association

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The K-18 Baseball Association was organized in the spring of 1949 with the following listed teams entries as charter members: Ada, Bennington, Beverly, Lincoln, Lucas, Minneapolis, Paradise, Sylvan Grove, Tescott and Vesper.  Al Ziegler of Lucas, Kansas was the founder of the league and served as president of the Association from 1949 to 1981.  It was Al’s dream that the goal of the Association was to make organized baseball available to every child, ages 12 to 15, inclusive, in the State of Kansas.

 

The mission of the Association has remained the same for the past 70 years:

 

“First and above all, this program stresses sportsmanship, citizenship, cooperation, and character development.  Second is the development of baseball players and providing children of this age group with a supervised summer sports program, thereby defeating the forces of juvenile delinquency.”

 

“The officers of this Association feel that a service club, church, or other organization can provide no greater benefit to the youth of its community than to undertake the sponsorship for a team entry in one of the Association's component Leagues. The players will be grateful!”

 

The Association was founded in 1949 with 10 teams along Highway 18. A nine-team state tournament was started at Lucas in 1952, and has been held there every year since.  In 1953, just four years after its founding, the Association had 69 teams.  In the mid-1960s there was a high of 142 teams.  In 1976 it was estimated that over 50,000 kids had played in the Association in the past 27 years.  In 1989 there were 59 teams in nine leagues across western and north-central Kansas.  The year 2018 saw 24 teams under the K-18 banner as Al Ziegler’s dream continues to benefit the youth of our state.

 

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K-18’s Rapid Growth Tribute to Men Behind the Scenes

by Bill Burke

“Back in spring of 1949 Al Ziegler, a Lucas lumberman, was toying with an idea.

 

There were lots of young boys in his section of the state without much to do summer nights.  What about a baseball league for youths along the K-18 highway?

 

Six years later – in the spring of 1954 – more than 2,000 boys, playing on 90 teams in Kansas, are benefiting from the Lucas lumberman’s idea.

 

Ziegler and one of his constant companions, Virgil A. “Pete” Siemers, of Luray, are tireless workers on behalf of the K-18 Baseball Association.

 

Most of their free time is devoted to expansion and perfection of the league.

 

It has grown so, they are on the road most of the time, explaining, helping, and encouraging towns and leagues.  They receive no pay.  Expenses come from their own pockets.

 

The league has had a fantastic growth.  It started with only ten towns.  Today, with 90 teams entered, there is a waiting list.

 

In recent days Rush County entered an entire division into the K-18 setup.  And Salina’s Cookie managers, impressed with Ziegler’s zeal and interest, voted to drop their own set of rules and go all the way with the rule book put out by the K-18 Association.

 

However, Salina teams have been in the 81-40 Division of the K-18 Association for the past two years.

 

Ada, Bennington, Beverly, Lincoln, Lucas, Minneapolis, Paradise, Sylvan Grove, Tescott, and Vesper were pioneer towns in the league.

 

The goal of the K-18 Association is to make organized baseball available to every boy from 9 to 15 in the state.

 

First, and above all, the program stresses sportsmanship, citizenship, cooperation and character development.

 

Second is the development of baseball players and a supervised summer sports program, thereby defeating the forces of juvenile delinquency.

 

The officers of the association feel that a service club, church or other organization can provide no greater benefit in the youth of its community than to undertake the sponsorship of a team entry into one of the association’s component leagues.

 

Probably one of the greatest assets of the league is its uniform rules.  Teams playing each other are on par as far as age goes.

 

Every team must play according to the rules laid down by the association.  The rule book contains most of the rules regulating professional teams, with a few additions covering kid baseball.

 

All equipment is equal.  All teams are required to use an official K-18 ball in a game.  And there are K-18 bats in use.

 

Prior to the existence of K-18, each league used its own rules.  Some loops prohibited cleats and stealing of bases.  Lopsided balls and cracked bats with illegal tape were in use.  Diamonds were not laid out with correct dimensions.

 

Now, when a team belonging to a division of K-18 travels in this vast setup all rules, ages, regulations, equipment and diamonds are uniform.

 

Al Ziegler’s dream of a league to cover all of Kansas is beginning to take form.  More and more towns and civic clubs see the benefit of his service to the youth of Kansas.

 

Ziegler, along with Siemers and commissioners Clarence H. Doyle of Osborne, J. Rex Duwe of Lucas, Clay King of Shady Bend, and managers and sponsors of all of the 90 teams are to be congratulated.

 

Kansas will be richer in the years to come because of these men, who work long and hard hours with only the knowledge they are helping boys to become better citizens, as compensation.

 

The Journal salutes them.” – Salina Journal, May 16, 1954.

 

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A dedication for 70 years to bettering the lives of the state’s youngest citizens is worthy of the highest recognition.  We are honored to select the K-18 Baseball Association as part of the First Class of the Russell County Kansas Hall of Fame. 

 

 

SOURCES:

David Urban, Lucas, Kansas.

 

John Walz, Ellis, Kansas.

 

Salina Journal, May 16, 1954.

 

k18baseball.com/.