Diamond stewardship characterizes Harters’ legacy

Blessed Sacrament hit a home run with longtime volunteer Pat Harter! Pat has volunteered for the past 50 years, making sure boys and girls spend their summers enjoying America’s favorite pastime. 

As best as can be determined, the sports program originated in the early 1960s. Joan and Bill Grave started the program, which consisted of a few boys’ teams. Charles Robertson ran the program from the mid 60s to 1974. The program, known as the Eastside Parochial League, consisted of teams from Blessed Sacrament, Magdalen, St. Thomas, and All Saints. During this time, a girls’ softball program was added. Ray Letourneau took over the program in 1975. The program then joined the Air Capital Baseball and Softball League for older kids, and the younger kids played on the fields at Blessed Sacrament. 

Pat started volunteering in 1976, assisting Ray and coaching his oldest son’s baseball team. He took over the program in 1978. Summers for the Harter family were spent at the ball fields with all five of Pat and Kathy’s kids and most of their grandchildren playing T-ball, baseball, or softball. In the mid-80s, the field was dedicated as “Harter Field.” In 1997, a boys and girls T-ball program was started.

Over the past 50 years, the program has grown significantly. Each summer, you can find 50+ teams, over 700 players, and countless volunteer coaches, grandparents, family members, and friends hanging out at Harter Field and various fields around Wichita supporting Blessed Sacrament.

As if baseball weren’t enough, when Pat retired from Cessna Aircraft in 2009, he decided being the athletic director of Blessed Sacrament might be fun! For the past 16 years, he has enjoyed coordinating middle school sports, being present in the school, and watching his grandchildren participate in various sports.

Pat is ready to let someone else take on two programs that he holds dear. Kathy is ready to no longer have to schedule vacations around ball season and to have her husband home in the evenings. Who are we kidding? We all know that after retirement, Pat and Kathy will both still be in the bleachers or stands cheering on the Barons, STA Raiders, and the Crusaders, hoping that someday they will be watching their great-grandchildren play on Harter Field!

–Item in a Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church bulletin from last November

It wasn’t Groundhog Day, the arrival of Lent, or the return of birds from winter migration. Before winter temperatures thawed, the signal of spring’s approach to young Jordan Harter was the onset of phone calls that would not relent until late summer. 

“The phone rang constantly at our house,” he said. “From the time signup started in the spring to the final tournament in July, baseball (and softball) consumed our household.”

In an era before e-mails and text messages, the Harter children learned to take and convey the many messages for their father, Pat Harter, who served as a longtime co-director of the Air Capital baseball and softball leagues. 

“My siblings and I became secretaries to all the coaches and parents calling about registrations, schedules, games, cancellations due to weather, and when the games would be rescheduled,” Jordan said. “The chaos back then now makes me realize how much we had to come together as a family to create something meaningful for the community.”

Another one of those children pressed into secretarial duty, Alison Harter-Moore, fondly remembers the time of year in which school was out and the bats were in full swing. 

“Most families take summer vacations,” she said. “Our life was baseball.”

As their father prepares to retire from his director’s role, as well as from his position of athletic director at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School, both Alison and Jordan consider their fond childhood memories with grown up eyes. It’s easy for kids and teens to take it all for granted, the siblings say, because of all the fun that takes place on and around Blessed Sacrament’s Harter Field. However, as adults, Alison and Jordan say they and their brothers – Christopher, Steven, and Eric – realize how much work went into enabling that fun.

“As a kid, I saw baseball,” Jordan said. “As an adult, I see the sacrifice, generosity, and love. My father wasn’t just running a baseball league; he was creating memories for hundreds of kids, including me. I may not remember every game or score, but I will always cherish the memories of summer nights under the lights.”

Lines don’t chalk themselves

For some, stewardship includes routines of bringing communion to shut-ins, singing in the parish choir, or counseling in a crisis pregnancy center. For others, it means dragging an infield, teaching infielders where to receive the cutoff throw, and all sorts of gameday decisions.

“It’s definitely a form of stewardship,” said Pat, who grew up a Blessed Sacrament parishioner. “At our meeting in April, I tell coaches we will be playing games until the middle of July. Even then, we’re not through with getting equipment and uniforms back until the middle of August. It’s a big commitment, and these people are really, really dedicated to doing a good job and working with the kids within a safe environment.”

But the roster of volunteers runs deeper than coaches and groundskeepers, Pat continues, and includes everything from the parents who oversee uniforms and equipment to those who make sure a cold drink awaits hot and thirsty players after the game.

“The program and the league continue to grow, and the number of kids we get always amazes me; this season we have 795 players on 66 teams,” Pat said. “So many parents have helped so much over the years. The league provides the equipment and uniforms so it takes a major effort to get everything ready for opening day.”

Even so, Pat admits he is looking forward to the fast-approaching day in which certain responsibilities are no longer his concern. “Getting the fields ready, marking them, and making sure the umpires show up are things I won’t miss that at all,” he said. 

Even so, Jordan’s most vivid memories center on accompanying his father on the tasks that precede the first pitch. “I can see myself riding beside Dad in an old orange Datsun truck as we drag the infield before games,” he said. “The truck rattled across the dirt while the evening air mixed with the unmistakable smell of chewing tobacco that clung to the cab from all the men’s club volunteers who worked endless hours to keep the parish grounds looking in tip-top shape.”

Alison’s fondest childhood memories also center less on game action and more on the action around the game. 

“I was never very good – some of my former coaches would probably agree – but I loved everything softball represented,” she said. “Softball meant time with friends, coordinating matching shorts and hair scrunchies, and cheering until we were hoarse. Games ended with an ice-cold pop and a night swim with friends in the family pool.

“The season always ended with trophy night and ice cream sandwiches,” Alison added. “We would stand together one last time as a team on the steps outside the old gym while Dad announced the standings through a giant bullhorn – a symbolic closing ceremony to the season.”

Generation to generation

Although the Air Capital League has seen former players advance to baseball’s highest levels, Pat says the atmosphere and culture shy away from the ultracompetitive intensity of some leagues. “We stress skill development, teamwork, and sportsmanship,” he said. “Along with Blessed Sacrament, St. Thomas, and Magdalen, there are teams from Collegiate, the Independent School, Central Christian, and lots of other non-Catholics. Anyone can register, and if they don’t come with a full team, we assign them one.”

And while developing skills, promoting teamwork, teaching kids responsibility, building friendships, and having fun are all worthwhile aspects of the league, Harter admits the subtle but underlying evangelization at work as that community mingles has actually been his deepest motivation. 

“Definitely, that’s the main focus,” he said.

The perspective of decades allows Pat to appreciate the big picture, such as families that contribute new participants with each new generation. “It is neat to see kids in the program grow up and come back to coach their kids,” he said. “I even have grandparents that coach their grandchildren.”

Alison points to the example of her late husband, Todd, who witnessed Pat’s countless hours of behind-the-scenes work and was inspired to coach the teams on which their daughters, Olivia and Avery, played. 

“Todd embraced the stewardship way of life and proudly stepped into the role of coach,” she said. “He coached both girls until the summer before Avery entered high school. His only request – which his father-in-law happily honored – was that the girls represent the league as the New York – I mean the Blessed Sacrament – Yankees.”

Alison is quick to point out that baseball stewardship can also incorporate the sacrifices a spouse makes to keep everything else running during the season, and cites the example of her mother, Kathy. “Behind the scenes, she mended uniforms, washed red dirt stains from baseball pants, loaded coolers with pop, and kept the freezer stocked with ice cream sandwiches,” Alison said. “On top of that, she made sure all five of us had a home-cooked meal and were in uniform, ready to go. 

“I could not have asked for better role models,” Alison concludes. “Pat and Kathy Harter should be included in the definition of stewardship. Their unwavering faith, kindness, and dedication – not only to Blessed Sacrament, but to the entire Wichita community – are truly legendary.”

Editor’s note: Blessed Sacrament will host an open house retirement celebration for Pat Harter from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 28, in the old gymnasium.