Coaches Eddie Wells (left) and Robert Scales toss a baseball just like in “the good old days.” (Photos by Earl Stanback)

Coach Eddie Wells and Asst. Coach Robert Scales touched hundreds in the Longview community through their WDIA Rangers summer baseball team.

On Labor Day weekend, Aug. 30 and Aug. 31, former Rangers will host a reunion and appreciation for men who taught them much more than baseball.”

“Not only did we learn to play baseball,  Coach Wells and Coach Scales also taught us discipline and determination,” said Michael Scales, son of Coach Scales.

“During those hot, summer days, we were under the watchful eyes of these two men. And we want them to know how much their dedication and teaching impacted our lives. They were fathers to those who did not have one.”

Scales, a major organizer of the reunion weekend, said a picnic and softball game is planned on Saturday, and later, the honorees and former Rangers will attend the last home game of the Memphis Redbirds at 6 p.m. On Sunday, a 4 p.m. banquet will culminate the celebration at the Memphis Marriott Hotel, 2625 Thousand Oaks Blvd.

“Coach Wells lost his wife in February of this year. But she left this in my lap,” said Scales. “She kept saying, ‘We need to get that appreciation together while we still have them.’ The good Lord took her first, though. We want to go ahead and make it happen this year. It’s long overdue.”

The WDIA Rangers summer baseball team was started in 1969. For two decades, boys in the Longview community were kept busy with the summer baseball league. If they weren’t playing a game, they were practicing with their coaches.

“Coach Wells was already there as coach when I decided I wanted to play,” said Scales. “I was about 12-years-old, and after practice, Coach Wells told us to go home and ask our father to come and help out with the team. I ran home and told my dad. He came the very next day and never left. I played that one year and didn’t come back. I guess I didn’t like sharing my father with all those other guys.”

The Rangers officially called it quits in 1991.

Wells had five sons to come through the summer baseball league. He is “humbled” by what former Rangers are planning.

Coach Eddie Wells, Wilbert Scales, Coach Robert Scales, and Michael Scales are calling all WDIA Longview Rangers back together for an appreciation and tribute on Sunday, Aug. 31.

“I think it’s just absolutely marvelous what they’re doing,” said Wells. “I guess I looked forward to the summer baseball season just as much as the players did. Coaching them was such an important part of my life. It was something Coach Scales and I felt had to be done. We loved the game, and we loved those boys.”

WDIA was a major sponsor for most of the two decades, said Wells. But in the final years, other business sponsors in the community, such as Morris Tires and Longview Grocery Store, helped the team continue playing through their financial support.  

Highlight of the banquet event will be a presentation of framed commemorative jerseys for the coaches: Coach Wells will receive a number “1” as Rangers head coach, and Coach Scales, number “2.”

“We want these festivities to be worthy of these two men who meant so much to us back then and still mean so much today,” said Scales. “They are largely responsible for many of us being so successful in life. It wasn’t just in the summer. We could count on them all year round for that ‘father love.’ But now, affection and discipline always went hand-in-hand. Make no mistake about that.”

According to Scales, former Rangers will be coming from Texas, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Georgia for the reunion and appreciation event. Others from the Longview community and current residents who would like to participate are invited to also attend.

For additional information and registration, call Wilbert Wells, (901) 488-4240; Michael Scales,  (901) 794-6608; or Kater Jones,  (901) 859-3275.