Brothers enjoy baseball, home
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008
It’s a story that’s been told time and again: A father, through little else than his own quiet example, instills his children with a sense of stick-to-itiveness and an uncompromising work ethic.
But in spending 41 years driving from the same house in the rural southeast Arkansas community of Pansy to the same job at Pine Bluff’s International Paper mill, George Richardson taught his two boys something else.
Through their father, Wayne and Tommy Richardson learned there’s something to be said for not always looking for the next best job or the next best lifestyle. Sometimes, “best” can be as simple as coming home from work and knowing that you are indeed home.
By Sunday, both men will have coached in this week’s state baseball championships at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Tommy Richardson’s Woodlawn Bears will face off today against Dierks in the Class 2 A championship, Richardson’s second trip to Baum in as many years as he looks for his first state title.
Wayne Richardson will look for his fifth title in six tries as he leads Watson Chapel against Sylvan Hills in Saturday’s Class 6 A final.
One, both or neither of George Richardson’s sons will win. But once it’s all over, both will head back home to Pansy, where their respective houses essentially sandwich the home where they grew up. Neither lives more than two minutes from the other, or from George and their mother, Mary.
But the lack of wanderlust doesn’t end there. Wayne Richardson, 49, (“ Soon to be 50, by the way, ” his younger brother cackles ) enjoyed a celebrated baseball career at Southern Arkansas, enough that it was natural that Tommy would do the same.
After leaving school, Wayne was soon headed back toward Pansy, eventually taking a job at nearby Watson Chapel in Pine Bluff.
Tommy followed the same plan, landing even closer to home when he was hired at Woodlawn.
A few years short of retirement, Wayne Richardson is now in his 27 th year of coaching baseball at Watson Chapel, while Tommy Richardson is in his 15 th year as head coach at Woodlawn.
Neither has plans on skipping town.
Ask either why they take a pass at moving on, and expect to hear a genuine “Why not ?” “I love Woodlawn,” Tommy Richardson said matter-of-factly. “You’re here because you want to be.” Wayne Richardson long ago decided to stay put, in part because of his ties to the area and in part because of the continued success of the baseball program. Coaching for almost three decades doesn’t mean there still aren’t challenges, Richardson said, pointing to the 2007 baseball season as an example.
Always the agreeable older brother, Wayne usually let Tommy tag along with him during their childhood despite the 10-year age difference. But the roles were reversed after West Memphis bounced Watson Chapel from the 6 A semifinals a year ago, making Wayne the spectator while Tommy tried for his first state title in an eventual loss to Parkers Chapel.
Both brothers began the season with talented, senior-heavy teams, and with Wayne’s career in its final stages, 2008 might be the best shot for both to celebrate a championship.
“This year, we were able to hold up our end of the stick,” Wayne Richardson said.
Their parallel lives do not mean the brothers are clones of one another. Compared to Wayne, Tommy can be equal parts jovial, excitable or even gruff depending on the ups and downs of the game.
Wayne is the same Wayne all the time.
“Nothing ruffles his feathers,” Tommy Richardson said.
But a moment later, Tommy backtracks, because it turns out there are some things that can get a rise out of his older brother. Not surprisingly, it starts with home and ends with family.
It was Wayne who called Tommy on Monday night, hours after Woodlawn made the state final with a victory over Parkers Chapel and moments after Watson Chapel did the same against Jonesboro.
Wayne and Tommy Richardson both were showing emotion then. The two men who went to the same college, live in the same town and have held the same jobs for a combined 42 years finally had a shot at winning state titles in the same season.
“There were a lot of tears,” Tommy Richardson said.
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