“I don’t believe in quantum physics when it comes to matters of the heart.” Crash Davis to Annie Savoy in “Bull Durham”
The romance of baseball and the heart didn’t play out exactly the same for Matt Klimas as it did for Kevin Costner’s indelible character in the movie Bull Durham. Klimas did, however, find love with his now-wife of nine years, Mary, following a minor league baseball game in Augusta, Ga.
Through a mutual friend, Klimas and teammate Charlie Culberson (currently a utility infielder with the Atlanta Braves) arranged to meet a couple of girls after the game.
As the two men left the ball park and saw their potential dates near the parking lot, the players’ quick dialog plays out as lines from a baseball movie.
Culberson: I like the blonde.
Klimas: Good. I’ll take the brunette.
That scene was from 2009. Eleven years later, the couple now have three boys: Knox, 7; Jack, 5; and 8-month-old William. The family still lives in Augusta, Mary’s hometown. And, for the record, Culberson and the blonde in the story are married, as well.
“I was staring at her the whole time,” Klimas said of that first meeting with his future bride. “It took me months to convince her to go on a date with me. Her brother was a football player at Auburn and he told her never to trust baseball guys.”
Klimas spent five years in the San Francisco Giants organization. No longer a professional baseball player, Klimas is still a “baseball guy’ and part of a team – a cyber security sales team for an IT management support company in August, Ga.
“I always wanted to be in sales,” said the man who was a 2005 all-state baseball player for BA. “Other people will tell you that I have a large personality. I’ve always been able to talk to a brick wall.
“I had to sell myself to college coaches and pro scouts about the intangibles that I could offer. I’ve always liked the game. I feel sales is that (a game) – on a day-to-day basis. If you don’t sell you don’t eat. I like the competitive nature of it.”
While love and baseball can be classified as games that soften the soul, sales and baseball are games that are strengthened by failures.
If you get just one extra flare a week, just one, a gork, a ground ball — a ground ball with eyes! — you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week and you’re in Yankee Stadium. Crash Davis to “Nuke” LaLoosh in "Bull Durham"
Klimas was a .276 hitter during his minor league career. Costner’s character referenced one extra hit a week would turn a .250 hitter into a .300 hitter. To make a living at either baseball and sales, the success/fail rate is similar.
“I get hung up on all the time. Every day,” Klimas explained. “We’re responsible for 100 calls a week just to meet our bare minimum. Of those 100 calls you may get three responses. Of that, three, you may get one appointment. You have to reach out to more than just the bare minimum.”
Klimas didn’t jump immediately into sales after baseball. Kansas City drafted Klimas out of high school in the 36th round of the Major League Draft. Instead of signing with the Royals, Klimas chose to play baseball at Texarkana Community College, where he earned all-conference and all-region honors as a freshman. In 2006, Klimas signed with the Giants, who drafted him in the sixth round.
Following his minor league days, Klimas enrolled in the Georgia Military Academy. He then went on to Brenau University, where he was a Dean’s List student and graduated in 2015.
“I had to finish my college degree before I could get a career in sales,” Klimas said. “Obviously, my resume wasn’t very strong, because I had just played professional baseball and that was my life’s work. I was selfishly thinking, ‘who’s not going to want to hire someone who played professional baseball.’ It doesn’t work that way. So, I knew that in order to get my foot in the door for a career in sales, I had to finish my college degree.”
He made the decision to return to school two weeks before he and Mary were married.
“My wife was like ‘absolutely. I was hoping you would make that decision on your own. I didn’t want to be the one to tell you to do that,’” Klimas recalled Mary’s reaction to his revelation.
At 24, married and eventually a father, Klimas admitted that being in class with 18 and 19-year-olds was “a little awkward.” But, school was a better fit for him in his mid-20s then it was as a teenager.
“I didn’t pay attention a lot in high school or my first year in junior college when I was that age,” he said. “I was more of the class clown. College was a little bit easier for me when I was a little older and my priorities changed.”
Though he has been in sales for five years, Klimas never totally left baseball. He still gives private lessons and in 2016 he coached Thomas Jefferson Academy to the Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association state championship.
“Pro ball is interesting on a resume, but people don’t what you go through. You get paid very little to do it. It’s just the life lessons that you live. You have to deal with failure on a day-to-day basis. You’ re going to fail more than you succeed. It’s the mental capacity of what you can take as far as playing on road, being away from your family, learning how to be a professional, sticking to your day-to-day schedule, how to take care of your body, provide for your team and just be an all-around good teammate.” Matt Klimas, discussing his minor league baseball career. Real life. Not a movie.
The BA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled for halftime of the Sept. 4 Tiger football home-opener against the Union Redskins.
While the Corona Virus brought turmoil and upheaval in the spring of 2020, McKenzie (Adams) Mills’ memories of this year will be pleasant and celebratory.
The Mills’ – McKenzie and husband Zach – lives changed forever as their first child, Keylo Mabri, was born on May 9.
“It’s everything that I wanted it to be,” McKenzie said of being a new mother. “She’s the easiest baby. I got super lucky there. I love it.”
Around that same time, she received a phone call from her former Broken Arrow softball coach, Randall King.
“I love when Coach King calls,” Mills broke from that thought and reflected on the purpose of the call.
“I think my jaw about hit the floor,” as she explained her reaction when she learned she was selected for induction into the Broken Arrow Athletic Hall of Fame. “You never think about the opportunity to be in the Hall of Fame until you get the call.
“In softball and track, especially in the roles that I played, it’s harder to stick out sometimes. I wasn’t a huge home run hitter. When I got the call. I was ecstatic and honored. I was super excited. Coach King was the best coach. Hearing it from him was such an honor.”
Mills is the second member of the family to get such a call. Zach, a 2012 BA graduate, was inducted in 2018.
“My husband, being in the hall of fame, has kind of held that one over my head,” she said with a good-natured laugh. “So, it’s kind of fun now letting him know that ‘ha, ha I’m right there with you.’”
Like Zach, McKenzie was a two-sport athlete. She excelled at softball, earning all-state honors and going on to play outfield at Wichita State University. Mills was a member of the BA Girls Track Team state-placing 800-meter relay team in 2014, her senior year.
“I knew I wanted to play college softball, so I knew I had to show up,” she said. “With track, there wasn’t the pressure of I had to be good at it. I knew I wouldn’t go to college for track, even though I loved it. It also helped translate into softball. Getting my sprints down improved my home to first time and improved my outfield speed. It wasn’t just an offseason thing though, because I loved it.”
For the focused McKenzie Mills there was never an “off season thing.”
Athletically, she was the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award representative as a freshman. At the college-level, she was first team all-conference in 2017 and finished her career with a .342 batting average and .378 on base percentage.
Academically, the self-proclaimed overachiever, graduated high school with a GPA above 4.0. Collegiately, she earned her accounting degree from WSU in three years. She was academic all-conference three years in softball.
“My parents never had to get on me about grades or anything like that,” Mills said. “I know, the more I learn the more I can bring something to the table at work. It was the same with softball. The more I could bring to the field, the more I could be a leader. I think it’s huge to have knowledge. Just to add value in whatever you are doing.”
Along with being a wife and mother, Mills has found value in her career as an Investment Performance Analyst with Calvanal Hill Investment.
“I like the challenge,” Mills said. “I knew there were examinations that I had to pass to get designations for the job. Being the study nerd that I enjoy being, I went ahead and interviewed for the job. I told them I liked the challenge. They had faith in me that I could get it done.
“It’s not straight accounting, but it has accounting to it. It’s getting to mix in finance and accounting all in one, so it’s something I really, really like. Accounting can be more repetitive, whereas the global performance standards are changing and calculations change, so it’s pretty cool to learn every day at work.”
The Hall of Famer is now calculating the changes of her home décor. A wall in the Mills’ game room will have new adornment. Following the Sept. 4 induction ceremony, McKenzie’s Hall of Fame plaque will take its place next to her framed high school softball jersey, which hangs near Zach’s high school baseball jersey and plaque.
“I kind of expected Zach to be in the hall of fame,” McKenzie said. “But, I can’t put it into words how much it means to be a part of Broken Arrow and to be in the Hall of Fame.”
The BA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled for halftime of the Sept. 4 Tiger football home-opener against the Union Redskins.
Tiger football fans, it’s time to renew your reserved season tickets for the 2020 season.
Season ticket renewals may be made July 27 through August 6, Monday through Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are available for purchase in the Broken Arrow Athletic offices on the second floor of the Varsity Training Center (directly south of Memorial Stadium on County Line Road).
Broken Arrow Public Schools is adjusting its season ticket procedure for the 2020 Broken Arrow Tiger football season.
Reserved season tickets will be limited to every other row in sections C, D and E of Broken Arrow Memorial Stadium due to the possible policy restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This plan will assure that our long-time dedicated fans, who renew their season tickets, will be guaranteed chair back seats at all home games the entire season,” said Executive Athletic Director Steve Dunn. “We outlined a plan, that in hindsight, may have created more issues than solutions. So, just prior to the renewal process we concluded that selling every other row would be the best option for our season ticket holders.”
Season ticket renewals for the 2021 season will be based off seats reserved during the 2019 season.
The 2020 Tigers home season is scheduled to open Sept. 4 against Union. The following Friday, Sept. 11, BA will host Owasso in the Folds of Honor Patriot Bowl Driven by Jim Glover Auto Group. The home season continues on Sept. 25 against Westmore, Oct. 9 against Edmond Memorial and Oct. 30 against Norman.
“We anxiously anticipate the beginning of our fall sports activities; including the 2020 Tiger football season,” Dunn said. "While there is a chance it could look a little different this school year, we are as excited as ever for our Broken Arrow student-athletes to participate in education-based athletics.”
Current season ticket holders who renew their reserved seat tickets may upgrade or add additional seats on a first-come, first-served basis beginning Aug. 10. New season tickets will go on sale Aug. 17. Tickets may be purchased using cash, check, or credit card (Discover, MasterCard, or Visa). Please note that all credit card purchases will have a three percent convenience fee per transaction.
The five-home game season ticket packet is $50. Season tickets plus and adult All-Sport Pass may be purchased for just $100. Purchase of only the adult All-Sport Pass, which features general admission seating to all 2020-2021 school year athletic events, is $90.
Stadium lot parking passes also will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis for $100.
Shawn Jones was in his seventh year as the head wrestling coach at Sapulpa High School in the spring of 2005. That year, the Chieftains qualified a school-record nine wrestlers for the state tournament.
Then, came a phone call.
“I can’t up and leave these kids,” Jones recalled telling then-Broken Arrow assistant wrestling coach Mike Jones (no relation), who was tasked with asking the Sapulpa coach to consider interviewing for the vacant Broken Arrow head wrestling job.
Shawn Jones spoke with Bill Harlow, a Sapulpa assistant coach and eventual National Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee, about the invitation to interview.
“When you doing it?” questioned Harlow, who spent 16 years in Broken Arrow as a teacher and administrator before moving to Alaska. When he returned to Oklahoma, Harlow coached at Sapulpa.
“I told him, ‘I’m not going to.’” Jones said. “Then he gave me great advice. ‘You should never, ever turn down an interview.’”
A few weeks later, Jones took the slow elevator ride up to the BA Memorial Stadium press box where he was greeted by a committee of “32 people waiting to interview me.” Jones exaggerated. The number was a fourth that.
“How many people do you need in an interview?” Jones asked rhetorically. “But it was good. It worked out.”
Indeed, it did.
After 14-seasons as the Tigers head wrestling coach Jones stepped down to accept a job in the surgical supply industry. His 148-30 record made him the winningest dual match coach in BA history. Nine of Broken Arrow’s 20 state wrestling titles (five state tournament, four dual state) were won by Jones-coached teams. He produced 37 individual state championships among 24 different athletes. Eight of his teams ended the season ranked (Intermat Wrestle) in the top 50 nationally.
“I was already at a place that I loved and then I told them ‘we’re going to come here and try to turn this thing back into the monster it was,’” Jones words were prophetic. “We knew this place had the potential to become what it has become now. It’s a lot of fun to win.”
Jones’ first title was Dual State in 2008. That also was the year of his greatest learning experience as a coach.
He tells it this way.
“That 2008 season almost chokes me up. We won Dual State and we were a shoe-in to win the State Championship. Saturday afternoon of regionals we had the qualifiers that we thought we could take to the state tournament and win. I brought the kids into the old wrestling room. I took a breath. Those kids saw us take that breath. The release of ‘oh, we’ve accomplished something.’ We went three for 11 in finals. The next week we went to the state tournament, and it continued. Probably, in the history of my 14 years here, we had the worst tournament you could have and we still finished one point out from winning state championship.
“It was ‘a never been there and done that.’ We didn’t know how to finish it. We didn’t make the mistake again.
“We just blew it and it was my fault. From that point forward, we were always hunting.”
Jones won his first Team State Tournament title in 2010. The Tigers won both the dual and team crowns in 2011. They repeated that feat in 2019 – Jones’ final year as the BA head coach.
“Me, knowing that I was leaving, those last two were nice,” he said. “Nice in the fact that there was the burden of everyone knowing we are supposed to win those.”
Not only did they win the team tournament in ’19, they did the unprecedented in the state’s largest class. The Tigers went into Saturday’s matches with the team-title mathematically secure. The final margin was 62 points, a 158-96 victory over Mustang. In 2010, the Tigers battled back from an 8-point deficit on the final day to win Jones’ first team tournament championship, 103-94, over second-place Union.
“Ten was a battle. You can look back. and they’re all nice, but those (2010 & 2019) are kind of the special ones.”
It wasn’t until nearly a year after he announced his resignation, that Jones began to miss his old profession. He admitted to actually missing the classroom and “forming bonds with those kids” more than he missed the wrestling room.
Until February.
“My wife asked me a couple of times if I was depressed,” Jones said. “I wasn’t depressed. It was just weird. The month of February has been so important to my family going back to my dad (a longtime Oklahoma high school wrestling coach). That is where our sense of value came from. I got over it pretty quickly. Especially after we won it.”
It was Jones’ youngest brother, Rod, who coached the Tigers to the dual and team state titles in 2020 as a first-year head coach. Rod has been part of the BA wrestling staff since Shawn became the head coach. Biff, the middle brother, is the BA head junior high coach, and joined the Tigers a few years after Shawn took over the Tiger program.
Wrestling’s firm grip still has the brothers tightly bound. Shawn Jones new career, however, as allowed him more time to spend with his family of four girls, wife Lori and soccer-playing daughters; Sophie, Ella and Livi.
“Another part of the decision (to resign) was I’m not going to miss anything else,” Jones said. “You’re like, ‘where does time go?’ Whether they want me there or not, I’m going to be very present in their little lives.”
Even more than he was for so many Tiger wrestlers during his 14-year run that led to a BA Athletic Hall of Fame induction.
The BA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled for halftime of the Sept. 4 Tiger football home-opener against the Union Redskins.
Two 1950 Broken Arrow High School diplomas – Virginia Lee Fulps and Bob Perry – rest on a mahogany-colored credenza in Chuck Perry’s office. Inches away, is a typewritten letter from then-BAHS principal H.K. Ragsdale to Perry’s brother, Bob, wishing him success after his final game as a Tiger football player.
Adorning the opposite wall is a silver, narrow-block letter sign Perry rescued from the façade of Oak Crest Elementary, where his BA education started, before that school’s remodel began seven years ago.
In a book shelf is the 1987 Arrow Life. The name on the cover, “Monica Pingelton” is a misspelling of the first name of the senior coed who would become Monaca Perry just a year later.
For Chuck Perry, reminiscing over Broken Arrow school days are synonymous with family memories. His parents were BAHS graduates. The same can be said of his brother (Bobby, 1970) and sister (Sandy, 1975).
The Perry family lived on First Street, across the street from Oak Crest Elementary.
“My dad and I were probably up there at least two days a week walking and running on the track,” Perry said of his elementary school’s playground. “Throwing and kicking the football. Kicking the soccer ball. I used to kick field goals through the swing set posts.
“That’s what my dad and I’s relationship was…soccer or throwing the football.”
Perry understated the relationship, perhaps to conceal emotions of the day. In fact, one could surmise that Perry, on this day could easily start nearly all of his sentences with those four words… “My dad and I…”
Nearly a month after he shared the Hall-of-Fame news with his father, and hours after he completed his interview for this story, Chuck’s father Bob, the patriarch of the family, succumbed to struggling health on June 11. He was 88. Virginia, Chuck’s mother preceded her husband in death in 2014. Sadly, at the age of 51, Perry is the last surviving member of the Bob and Virginia Perry family, as his siblings also have passed away.
The youngest Perry and his dad bonded over Broken Arrow – the school more than the town. Athletics was the fast-tightening agent to their close connection.
“I grew up hearing BA athletic stories,” Perry said. “I’d hear about Coach Ragsdale when I was a little kid. How he would walk in the gym and everybody would get quiet because of his presence and the respect people had for him.
“I grew up with my dad telling me about all these great athletes that went through BA. It means so much to me just to be included in the athletic department in that connection. It’s not just like getting into any hall of fame. It’s the one I grew up always hearing about.”
Perry’s eyes shined as moisture swelled evenly and gradually from the lower lid toward the upper.
“This was actually very emotional for me,” Perry said, gathering a breath and calming his thoughts as he explained receiving the news that he was voted into the Broken Arrow Athletic Hall of Fame. “My dad had mentioned before he would love to see me as a part of that because he has so much respect for it. I was able to share that with him, so it was emotional to get that news. That was the exciting part to me.”
The two Bobs in the Perry family both played football for the Tigers. Chuck went on to play soccer. In 1977, as a second grader, at the request of a friend in the neighborhood, Chuck signed up to play youth soccer. He never played football. His dad never pushed him to take up the game.
“My dad kind of clicked with it,” Perry said. “He enjoyed it. I just kind of connected with soccer and stayed with it my entire life.
“He’s always been part of my athletic life. Looking back, I probably didn’t realize what a big deal it was.”
The Perry parents attended every BA soccer game – home or away. Perry even mentioned that they also traveled to all University of Tulsa away games where he played on the backline for the Golden Hurricane.
It took nearly a year for the University of Tulsa graduate to get his first full-time, professional job. In 1992, Broken Arrow Athletic Director Ken Ellett offered the Perry his first chance to be a head coach.
“As excited as I was to get that job back when I was 23 years old…they might as well have named me the coach of the U.S. National Team,” Perry said. “That’s the way I felt about being the Broken Arrow Head Soccer Coach. I thought it was the biggest deal in the world. That’s the way I feel about being named to the Hall of Fame right now.
“I can remember vividly going to the first football game that fall, wearing a Broken Arrow shirt and thinking ‘I’m the high school soccer coach.’ I just couldn’t believe it. I was so proud to represent BA and be a part of the athletic department.”
In his second year, Perry coached the 1994 BA boys soccer program to its first-ever state championships appearance where they narrowly lost to Edmond Memorial 1-0 in sudden death overtime. He did the same in 1997 when the Tigers narrowly lost to undefeated Norman 2-1.
“The best memories are definitely coaching,” said Perry, who started as a sophomore for the Tigers the first year (1985) soccer became a sanctioned Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association sport. “The kids, the players, mean a lot more to you looking back. All I wanted to do was bring back a state championship for Broken Arrow High School. I was blessed with incredibly great players and outstanding young men. I will always be grateful that I was able to coach such talented players. I give them all the credit for the success we had.”
Expecting their first child in 1997, Chuck left coaching and education for a job in private business. He returned to the soccer sidelines in 2003 as head coach of the Union Redskins. In his third and final year as a coach, he won a state title. School administration followed. Perry served as a high school assistant principal and athletic director which eventually led to him becoming Broken Arrow’s Associate Superintendent of Student Services.
“For some reason I always wanted to be a coach,” Perry said. “I kind of grew up thinking that is what I wanted to be. In my high school years, I had already started thinking about coaching.”
With nine years of experience, he fulfilled that goal. The first Friday night in September, with emotional reflections of his father basting his every thought, Perry will smile, his eyes will glisten and he will be introduced as member of the Broken Arrow Athletic Hall of Fame. His Hall of Fame plaque will soon be added to his treasured collection of Broken Arrow and family memorabilia that adorn his office.
The BA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony is scheduled for halftime of the Sept. 4 Tiger football home-opener against the Union Redskins.
Broken Arrow Public Schools Athletic Department is hosting ATS HeartCheck, a comprehensive heart assessment for Broken Arrow student-athletes in middle school and high school Saturday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Broken Arrow High School Auxiliary gym, located on the west side of campus just north of Tiger Field House.
Cost for the screening is just $129, a discount of more than $1,300. To schedule an appointment go to ATSHeartCheck.com. If cost is an issue, further discounted pricing is available.
“ATS is providing a tremendous service by providing our student-athletes affordable and convenient testing for undetectable heart conditions,” said Lane Green, Athletic Director of Blue Valley School District in Overland Park, Kan. “Through the heart imaging and other tests, parents can obtain information on their child’s physical condition that can’t be achieved thru the typical pre-participation physical exams.”
Studies have shown that one in 100 youth have some form of heart defect. According to ATS HeartCheck, a student athlete suffers cardiac arrest every three days.
The ATS HeartCheck uses the most effective analytic tools to understand a heart’s condition that includes Blood Pressure, electrocardiogram (EKG), and echocardiogram (heart ultrasound), all delivered by specially trained medical professionals certified in congenital and genetic heart conditions.
Select the following link to read more ATS HeartCheck Testimonials.
Registration for ATSHeartCheck is required.
COVID -19 precautions will be taken during this event.
