Recently I noticed the Von Braun Center (VBC) was celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. (1975-2025) I immediately thought of all the chicken lunches/dinners I had eaten there, all the fun I had there (dances, proms, concerts, sporting events…) and all the lessons I had learned from speakers at Rotary and other community events.
My most memorable event at the Von Braun Center however was one that I didn’t attend. The story goes like this:
In the spring of 1975, I was 11 years old and on the Jones Valley Tigers little league team. The year before we were a very good team and had a serious task master of a coach Frank Poslajko that enjoyed practicing every day and twice on Saturday. I loved playing, and I loved him although it was a grind. However, this year 1975, we didn’t have a dad willing to be the coach so after the draft (the other coaches in the league drafted for my Tigers & you can imagine how that went), Peter Lowe was coerced into being our coach and his son Carl was new to our team. Coach Lowe was the coolest coach with a beautiful, classy wife and three great children. The All-American family.
The season progressed and our team was not very good but thanks to Coach Lowe’s encouragement and belief in each of us, we showed consistent improvement. Coach Lowe was not really a baseball guy so often he had me fill out the lineup card and help get everyone in the proper position. One of our many struggles that year was two brothers that grew up in the housing authority neighborhood and had trouble getting rides to practice/games. It took a village to deal with our teammates and I thought the world of Coach Lowe for going to pick them up before games and take them home. One day the two boys showed up at a game in new shoes. The older brother had on Green Converse Chuck Taylors to match our baseball uniforms, and the younger brother had on new Buster Brown dress shoes. Mr. Lowe told me he had taken them to a shoe store, meaning to buy them baseball cleats but instead let them pick out one pair of shoes they wanted. Chucks and Buster Browns were what they chose. It was a great lesson in not only generosity for me and the rest of the guys, but a lesson in what’s important… and for those teammates, the Chucks and Buster Brown’s were what’s important. Coach Lowe didn’t talk the talk about helping kids in Huntsville, he walked the walk to do what was needed.
Now for the most important lessons from the Von Braun Center.
At the end of May of 1975, Elvis was scheduled to play at the VBC for 3 concerts. It meant absolutely nothing to me, but it was a big deal for Huntsville. After a baseball practice, Coach Lowe and I were talking and he said “Mark, we are not going to practice this Friday” and I replied with “Yes sir, but why?”. He said, “I have to take Betsy to see Elvis, it is important to her”. Now 50 years later, I think what a good decision he made and how that shaped their marriage and served as a very good lesson to me.
Also my birthday is May 29th so I turned 12 in 1975. My gift from my parents were two tickets to the Captain & Tenille/Mac Davis Concert on June 11. I had never been to a concert; my parents weren’t the type to buy tickets, so I was very surprised and excited. Captain & Tenille had the number 1 song in the country “Love will keep us together”. It was going to be the best night of my short life.
At our next practice, Coach Lowe told the team we now had a makeup game scheduled for June 11 and to be ready for it. I meekly approached him and explained my situation. He took the time to explain to me the importance of teamwork… and that the sum of the parts was greater than the individual. He explained he was counting on me to pitch, but more importantly explained the team was counting on me as well.
I struggled, but decided my Coach and my teammates were more important than my desire to be at a concert. Coach Lowe had long since instilled in me the brotherhood that comes with real teamwork, and knew my duty was to team, not self. Due to circumstances beyond either of our control, we didn’t play the game due to not having enough players… but I’ve always known I made the right decision, and I’d make it again.
In fact, I’ve followed that guidance all my life, and it’s served me well.
I never got to see a Captain & Tennille concert. I did somehow convince my parents to let me go to a KISS concert at the VBC a few years later as long as I was at the pickup point on Monroe Street at 10 PM.