50 Years Later: Little League Title Dreams Realized Again

The members of the 1974 state champion La Grange Little League All-Stars joined with the 2024 La Grange Intermediate Texas East State Champion all-stars Friday for a send off ceremony before the youngsters began their regional tournament in New Braunfels. Team members from 1974 listed in parenthesis. Front row: Chase Havel, Ethan Keilers, Graham Adams, Candyn Janca, Brayden Johnson, Teague Weinert, Collin Horton. Back row, Manager of the 2024 all-stars Jay Janca, (John Cufr, Greg Trlicek, Tony Michalsky, Jeff Cook, Gary Weyand), Ryder Klesel, (Donnie Bertsch), Luke Behnke, (Don Huelsebusch), Shepherd Gunn, (Clement Trlicek, a coach on the 1974 team), Aiden Harbers, and assistant coaches of the 2024 team Tanner Weinert, Kyle Johnson and Patrick Horton. Not pictured Tanner Finch. Photos by Jeff Wick Members of the 1974 La Grange all-stars, including coach Clement Trlicek, right, chat with the 2024 team during Friday’s event. The members of the 1974 La Grange Little League all-star team, which beat out an estimated 500 teams to win the state title and then marched all the way to the regional title game in Florida before losing 1-0 to Tennessee. Front row: John Cufr, Dennis Cufr, John Lindemann, Michael Kovar, Jeff Cook, Greg Trlicek, Don Huelsebusch. Second row: Coach Clement Trlicek, Clinton Taylor, Mark Sladek, Donald Bertsch, Marvin Marburger, Gary Weyand, Tony Michalsky, Daniel Boehm and Manager Wayne Fowler.

They were separated by a half century in age – but an amazing bond linked the old and young ballplayers who gathered for a special ceremony Friday in La Grange.

They were all championship Little League ballplayers.

In an amazing twist of fate, this year’s run to the East Texas State title and Southwest Regional tournament by the La Grange Intermediate boys all-stars coincides with a similar run made by the 1974 La Grange Little League all-stars. Friday at Texas One Stop during a special ceremony, members of that 1974 team and this 2024 team came together to laugh and swap stories.

“It’s crazy how all this is meshing together 50 years later,” said the manager of this year’s all-stars Jay Janca. “I really appreciate them getting together for this, and I’ve gotten calls and texts from some of the other players from that team who couldn’t be here. It’s an amazing thing.”

And the advice from the old-timers?

“They told me we need to win one more game than they did,” Janca said.

Back in 1974 the La Grange all-stars took the town on a memorable ride.

“We told our boys the very first practice we had that we were going to Williamsport (for the Little League World Series),” said Clement Trlicek, a coach of the 1974 team, who at 82 years-old still looks like he could coach some ball. “We fell one run short.”

The 1974 all-stars rattled off 13 consecutive playoff victories en route to winning the state title and advanced to the Southern Regional title game in Tampa, Florida.

At regionals they beat the host Florida team 3-2 in front of 3,200 fans.

But in the title game they lost to Tennessee 1-0.

“It was single elimination back then, you lose one and you’re out,” Trlicek said. “We didn’t have much of an offensive team, but we had a great defensive team. We only made six errors in 13 games.”

Friday the 1974 players enjoyed chatting with the 2024 players, before they were all applauded by the big crowd that showed up to send the youngsters off to their regional tournament in New Braunfels with lots of well wishes. A tournament title in New Braunfels would vault La Grange to the Word Series in California later this summer.

During Friday’s ceremony, La Grange Print Co. donated new jerseys to each of the players to wear at regionals.

“It’s hard to believe that the kids I coached were this size at one time,” Trlicek said.

“Some of these babies I enrolled at school,” said Mayor Jan Dockery, who spoke during the ceremony.

They might be young, but this 2024 team has proven themselves over and over again in the playoffs.

“They are really, really savvy at 12 and 13 years old,” Janca said of his players. “They know the game.”

And they have fought hard to get into this position. Several players on the team, (which includes kids from La Grange, Fayetteville and Round Top) were on previous all-star squads that never tasted victory, but my how they have improved over the years.

“I’ve seen them cry. I’ve seen the frustrations,” Janca said. “I’ve seen them want to throw their caps down. From a coaching standpoint all you can do is bring them back up. They don’t stop, quit or put the bat down. They continue to get better. Now at this point, from top to bottom, they are really meshed team players. They are going to go out there from an individual standpoint, but know they are doing it for the person in front of them and the person behind them ... It’s really amazing to see what they are capable of.”