LABRAE ATHLETIC CLUB

P.O. BOX 306

LEAVITTSBURG , OHIO 44430

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The original club was formally registered in 1959. It was Leavittsburg AC, but changed name when schools merged. The club actually started in 1956 by a group of boosters from Leavittsburg who volunteered to help out the school in whatever manner they could. It also used to have a Women's auxiliary that had their own fundraisers, but in the late 70's it dissolved and the women just were merged into one club. The club used to have many fundraisers such as candy sales, bingo, tag day, raffles, homecoming, Octoberfest, Vegas nites, haunted hay rides, Superbowl party and dances . All money raised was donated to the school for a variety of athletic and academic purposes. The club used to meet at the Fish & Game building on Eagle creek and when the Fish & Game got new officers, they would not lease to Athletic Club anymore and the club moved to Community Center for meetings. The rent at the community center got too high and the club could not get enough volunteer workers and started to lose money, so bingo was stopped and the American Legion let us use their hall for meetings. Many of the fundraisers were stopped because of lack of support or a chairman.

Baseball was played at Sandy's field-owned by Lawrence Sanderson (where Gary Sanderson's house is now), Mitchell's field , owned by the Paul Mitchell family, Travers's field owned by Ray Travers' (by old Fish & Game) and when Community Center was built, the club moved there until our leagues got too big and we put in 3 fields at Leavitt School. The club stopped using the community center in 1990 after they stopped maintaining fields and would not let us do so because of insurance purposes, so we tried to move all we could to the current complex.

We bought our property in 1987 (with most of earnings from Hayride) under land contract from GV Banks for $31,000 (77 acres) and paid off in 1989. 5 individuals loaned the club $1,000 each to help pay off debts and pay off land and gas well bond the state said the club needed to have. Each individual received a note payable for 5 years with interest. Most were paid off and some donated interest back to club, otherwise the club would have went broke. The club supported all sports and activities for the high school. We have donated to the Beta Club, bought band equipment and uniforms, choir robes, All the football stadium (bleachers for fans & paid 1/3 for the band seats, lights) Boys & Girls state, Boy Scouts, boys & girls basketball uniforms, insurance for school sports in the 60's during the budget crunch, glass backboards & clock, flag for the gym, sponsored car in soap box derby, donated for all school levies, police levy in 1968, needy families , had Easter Egg hunt for little kids every year, Little League banquet (which was ages 6-12), built dugouts and all fences at community center in 1964 and redid dugouts in 1990, bought tables for bingo (at community center), donated and helped start 5&6 th grade basketball program back in late 60's (even bought basketballs) , donated to golf team, donated to kids for special awards such as making Olympic team or some national team (baseball & softball) to help pay for trip (usually around $100.00, and club currently gives out $100/ 1 yr. scholarships each year (most was for 8 students in 2004). Paid for all team tournaments until 1990 and then just paid reimbursed teams that played and coach would get his money back. Club stopped paying for all star teams in 1987 when bought Banks property. Club did not have money to spend and could not get credit for equipment and had to pay cash for uniforms & equipment so we had to cut out all expenses we could. Bought Ford tractor and made payments on it through loan that Tony Martin co-signed for. He also made a few payments on his own when club was short.

 

Formed the Labrae Athletic Club Realty Corp. in 1998, which named 5 trustees to manage the property. This was to prevent any new group of people coming in and selling the property and taking the cash for purposes other that stated in the LAC bylaws. If the club falters or goes bust, the land is to be donated to the school system. We pay for our own taxes, property & equipment insurance, mower and tractor and repairs, gas, equipment, fencing, slag and anything else it takes to maintain the fields. All our work is voluntary by club members. The original land was plowed and leveled by Dick Stoneman in exchange for letting him plant on the land not be used for ball playing. Denman Tire donated money for the grass seed for the original fields and Mr. Stoneman spread it. A lot of the top gravel was donated, but we had to pay for the trucking. We bought the sand that was put on the first fields and 5 or 6 members brought their tractors over to spread it and till into the fields. We have had some people donate time & money to put up dugouts (such as the Davis family for the big field and Coke paid for one field's fence by us signing a 10 year deal to sell coke products), we had the Air Force reserve unit out to level some of the land and we only had to pay for their fuel. We also traded Garland & Sons for hauling some of the base gravel in exchange for the topsoil when the parking lot was put in. We do all the scheduling of umpires for the coaches along with making out their rosters.

The club has never hesitated to donate to a worthy cause when it has the money. We use the money we get from sponsorship, signup fees and fundraisers to run our programs.

We also sell pants and helmets at a loss or as close to breakeven as possible. We only buy what we need and have to have whenever possible. We are the ones that have to pay for anything we do and you can't always count on a donation to pay for it. To stay afloat we need to get as much done by volunteers as possible. Our community as a whole can't afford just to raise the entry fee and pay for all work. We do now and always have offered hardship cases to play in exchange for something (usually work in stand, ground work, extra candy, etc) All they have to do is state their case to the baseball commissioner or executive committee.

 

We rented the fields for the high school teams because they needed a place for the girls and boys JV & Varsity teams. They have their own person to lime fields and cut grass, but we let them use our equipment. The LAC used to be the only booster club the school had until football started. There were club members who wanted to spend more on football than other sports and broke off from the Lac and started the football boosters, the same happened with basketball boosters and we had a lot of members over the years who belonged to all clubs. It depended on where your focus was. The LAC's original focus was the school programs (mostly basketball & baseball) and then the summer baseball program because there wasn't any in Leavittsburg. It still supported the school sports and activities, but that was where the most participation was at the time and it grew from there. It was really started by a group of people who always went to games and school activities and then decided to do it as an organization instead of just a group of friends who supported the school and liked sports. Back then if the school needed something the board or superintendent just called some of the locals and said what he needed and they called their friends and it just got done.

 

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