Keeping Score with Chip Ainsworth: Community pays its respect to Tim Kachelmeyer

Published: 09-06-2024 2:55 PM

Good morning!

The role sports has in communities and the kind of cohesiveness it inspires was on display last weekend in Northfield where people came from near and far to pay last respects to Tim Kachelmeyer.

Vehicles were parked from the IGA to the elementary school and paralleled the sidewalk from Parker Avenue to the railroad tracks. Friends and colleagues, teachers and players came to comfort Kachelmeyer’s wife Lani and children Ashley, Mike and Kris at the Kidder Funeral Home. They returned the next morning and filled the pews and stood elbow-to-elbow inside St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. 

Kachelmeyer passed away of cancer on Aug. 21 at age 75. During the funeral mass Ashley rose and stood close to the urn that was inscribed “Coach Kack” and bade her father farewell. “Right from the heart,” said Jerry Burgess. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the church.”

Burgess grew up playing hoops with Kachelmeyer on the Davis Street courts and in the Greenfield summer leagues. As time passed they settled into their respective roles, Jerry reffing and Tim coaching.

“I never heard anybody say a bad word about the Kack,” said Burgess. “When I walked onto the court before a game, fans would be staring me down and there’s Kack at the bench with his big smile and open arms. We all lost someone special.” 

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The Eastern Michigan football team was headed back to the visitors’ locker room after pregame warmups at UMass last Saturday when Eagles tight end Blake Daniels yelled, “I smell blood in the water!”

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“Oh yeah, keep that s*** going!” yelled one of his teammates.

When they came back to the field an assistant coach was carrying a green 51-pound wrench over his shoulder, a gift from a fan back in Ypsilanti who owns a tool company. Eagles coach Chris Creighton said it symbolizes his team’s response to adversity, not that there was a lot of it against UMass.

The Minutemen were flagged for 10 penalties, quarterback Taisun Phommachanh was sacked six times and field goal kicker Jacob Lurie missed two field goals from the same spot he was making them in practice.

The Minutemen were befuddled by EMU’s no-huddle offense. Their inability to get on and off the field or line up in time for the snap was almost comical.

With UMass joining the MAC next year a lot of people don’t care what happens this season, and on Saturday it showed. 

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Friday night’s gridiron game between Mahar and Drury in Orange marked Jeff Tirrell’s 38th season calling high school football — and his 34th with sidekick Shawn Hubert. “I started with my brother and Fred Bourassa at Pollard Field where Kenny Suhl ran rampant for GHS at Mohawk,” Tirrell emailed.

Schoolboy and schoolgirl sports fans in the county can count their blessings for the kind of local coverage they get in the Recorder and over the local airwaves. It’s a labor of love that can’t be taken for granted.

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A reader’s email complimented me on my consistency: “Once a d**k, always a d**k, huh Chip?” He was upset that I had criticized the athletic department for its scheduling times, unwillingness to give fans their due, the irritating hip hop music and golf carts stirring up dust inside McGuirk last week. Indeed, these are recurring themes.

“Why didn’t you personally contact Ryan Bamford and get the full story?” he asked.

I’m not contacting the athletic director every time there’s something either of you won’t like. He can call me, and we can have “a little chat” as the great Vi Goodnow liked to say.

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Western Kentucky, New Mexico and UMass are tied for hauling in this season’s top payouts — $1.9 million each to play Alabama, Auburn and Georgia, respectively, according to The Sporting News.

The Hilltoppers were whupped 63-0 last week and outgained in total yards, 600 to 145. New Mexico plays Auburn next Saturday and the Minutemen are at Georgia on Nov. 23.

Bamford’s defenders say it helps cover the cost of the school’s other sports, but the beatings disregard the players’ health and the school’s reputation.

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ONE THAT GOT AWAY: Rutgers linebacker Dariel Djabome had a team-high 14 tackles in last week’s 44-7 win against Howard. The voice of Rutgers football, Chris Carlin, said Djabome drove from Canada to Amherst to work out for UMass, then to Piscataway where coach Greg Schiano watched him and offered him a scholarship on the spot. This was when Walt Bell was the UMass coach; Don Brown’s off the hook.

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The strange saga of infielder Jose Iglesias continues in New York where he appeared in all three games for the Mets during their sweep of the Red Sox.

Iglesias has been with seven teams in 12 years — the Red Sox, Tigers, Orioles, Angels, Red Sox again and Rockies according to baseball-reference. In Pawtucket he was benched for having a “bad attitude” and traded to Detroit where he got into a fistfight with teammate James McCann in the Tigers dugout.

The Mets signed him in December and at this writing he was batting .310 with three errors in 199 chances according to baseball-reference. The Mets are probably waiting for the other cleat to drop because as Tigers beat writer wrote in 2018: “He’s gifted but doesn’t respect the gift.”

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SQUIBBERS: TFHS volleyball and softball standout Madi Liimatainen is zeroing in on St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont, to be the school of her choice after she graduates next year. … On the farm in Worcester, first rounder Nick Yorke is batting .310 and Roman Anthony is slugging .553, but catcher Kyle Teel is batting .175 with 21 Ks in 63 ABs. … Washington Commanders vice president Rael Enteen went out with a woman he met on a dating app who taped their conversations and posted them on a sleazy website. CBS Sports talk show host Maggie Gray said Enteen got “oopsy-dooped.” ….  Eastern Michigan chartered into Barnes Airport in Westfield and stayed the night at the Marriott in Windsor, Connecticut …Ross Tucker ranks the Patriots last in the NFL. “Pretty clearly the worst. Trading Matthew Judon told you what they thought of their team.” … Biggest surprise about the Red Sox this year is their 31-38 record at Fenway Park. … Podcaster Mike Francesca clamored for Luis Gil to be the Yanks closer after Wyatt Langford’s grand slam off Clay Holmes on Tuesday. “This was as devastating as it gets,” said Francesca, a true Yankees fan. “They can’t wait for the postseason. If we’re going to try this it has to be now.” … Baseball broadcasting is storytelling, and during the Red Sox series at Citi Field, Mets broadcaster Keith Raad told of the time Joe Torre hit into four double plays in the same game. Afterward, said Raad, “Joe blamed Felix Millan for getting on in front of him all four times.”

Chip Ainsworth is an award-winning columnist who has penned his observations about sports for decades in the Pioneer Valley. He can be reached at chipjet715@icloud.com