The year was 1937 and Wilbur Koplitz (pictured, Chaska 1988) was driving by St. Paul's  Lexington Park. He heard some cheering and stopped by to see what was going on.  It was the Minnesota State Amateur Baseball Tournament.

Intrigued with the spirit of the crowd, he sat down to watch.  He was so intrigued that he saw every state tournament for the next 44 years!  "He was truly an old fashioned baseball fan that really loved the amateur game," remarked Tom Koplitz, his grandson and longtime town team player and manager. "He loved the player's hustle, the camaraderie of the players with their fans, and the drive to win for the sake of doing your best for your home town."

Wilbur was also a friend of Dick Siebert, the great Gopher coach who frequented the state tournament and often times sat next to Wilbur and Dick for a few innings, and for a couple innings, Tom.  "I knew who he was and how much people liked him because every inning someone would come up and say hello.  Tom wanted to play for the Gophers, but ended up starting for four years at Augsburg, where he was co-captain in 1974 along with Dundas Manager and Hall of Famer Bill Nelson.  "We won the MIAC title in '73 and were two wins short of the national tournament."  That year, the Auggies played the Gophers and got pounded by the number one team in America, led by hall-of-famer Dave Winfield.  "I broke up his perfect game in the 6^th inning when he hit my bat with a blazing fastball and it somehow trickled though the infield."  Just as a big a thrill for Tom, Dick and Wilbur was when Tom brought the lineup card out to home plate and shook hands with Coach  Siebert.  Tom played town team ball during his college years for the Savage Pacers and manager Bob Lattery.  "We were very good, but couldn't get past those great Prior Lake teams in our league playoffs.  Prior Lake, loaded with Gophers and ex-Gophers,  won the state tournament in 1975 and 76.

In 1976, Tom moved to Cambridge and played for the Cambridge Redbirds from 1976-1989 and for the Isanti Redbirds in 1990-91.  Three state tournament trips were fun, but the first was memorable, with Wilbur and Dick and the rest of the family in the crowd at St. Cloud.  Tom now manages the Rum River Bandits in Cambridge and still plays once or twice a year. "I like to show our young pitchers how important it is to just throw strikes.", giving up one earned run in 5 innings over the past 2 years.  His three sons, Mike, Tim and Eric play for the Bandits, often times in front of Grandpa Dick and Grandma Dorothy.  "I'd love for my sons to get a chance to play in the tournament sometime".  Oldest boy Mike made it to regions this year as a draftee for the Big Lake White Caps.   The Bandits play in a tough league, the Metro Minny, with half the teams being Class B teams that usually beat up the Bandits pretty good.   The Class C teams are very good also, with St. Francis, Forest Lake, Champlin and Big Lake all very good ball clubs.  Coon Rapids went 24 - 0 this year in the Metro Minny and didn't make it to state.  "Two years ago, I was coaching 3^rd and one of the Coon Rapids players asked me how many of our players played college baseball.  I replied 2 of us, my son Tim, the catcher, and me and I'm 54 years old!  I asked him how many of their players played college ball and he said,' all of us!"  It's a tough road to the regions, let alone the state tournament for the Bandits, who play second fiddle, for now, in their own community to the Isanti Redbirds, who have loaded up with college talent from throughout the area.  The Redbirds finished 4^th in last year's state tournament.  "We'll keep plugging away and when we get enough players who really care about the game and want to play, we'll get there.   The town team experience is so new to the young players - I just hope they catch the fever!"

Dick and Dorothy Koplitz, along with grandsons Mike, Tim and Eric and son Tom

Dick took in two games at Arlington last weekend at his favorite ballpark.  "Wilbur loved the old players, like Bassie Wagner of Fairfax, Shanty Dolan of Albert Lea and Hank Nicklasson of New Ulm, but I think Dick likes the Bandits 3 young grandsons even more."