Totten gets a thank-you for ‘Thank You, Coach Bates’

  • questel hedshot
  • August 18, 2011
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082211 BatesBookcolumn Promo: Roy Bates Celebration Day one of remembrance for family and friends Totten gets a thank-you for ‘Thank You, Coach Bates’ Use Questel hedshot Kids. Even when they are 22 and not living in the home, they can still wreck havoc. I suppose any parent can say that regardless of age, but my kid was 22 and nearly three hour away in Athens at school. I had August 13 set aside for a number of months at Stan Totten’s request to attend the unveiling of his book, Thank You, Coach Bates. Then came word from our son to set aside a date in August to attend a function at his school. We finally squeezed out of him we needed to be in Athens early on August 13 for his White Coat Ceremony which, when he finally checked the specifics, was then moved back to a 2 p.m. ceremony on the Ohio University campus. That created a dilemma for only a few seconds, for if there were any two reasons that Roy Bates would agree to breaking a date, family and the pursuit of education would rank up there as among the best. So, it was certainly special to see our son, Eric, walk across the stage at Ohio University with 139 other classmates to received his white coat, which signaled his admittance into OU’s medical school. He had taken another step on his life-long goal, one which he himself told Bates when he was in only first or second grade, that he was going to be a doctor just like his grandpa. Heck, with a reminder like that, even Roy might have waivered for a second and considered joining us to watch Eric and skip the big day in Wooster – and then he would have snapped to his senses and conveyed his best wishes to our son. Still, it was difficult not to be with Totten on the OARDC’s campus for both the unveiling of his book and spending a day in remembrance of Bates, Northwestern High School’s Ohio Hall of Fame coach in both baseball and basketball and long-time radio commentator. Several thousand people would have considered him as one of their best friends and mentors, as I certainly did for over two decades before his passing at age 88 in 2004. Totten spent nearly three years putting together the 218-page book, which recounted Bates’ life and stories from some of the thousands of students, athletes and friends whose lives he touched during his life. Just as important, it brought together over 40 of the 128 Bates Foundation scholarship winners, who received a scholarship to further their education thanks to the former teacher. Donations from Totten’s book will go to the Bates Foundation to help fund future scholarships, which are being handled through the Wayne County Community Foundation. Bates and his wife, Velma, funded the start-up and Totten’s book will help further bankroll the annual event and offer an insight to future generations as to who he was as a teacher, coach and friend. In all, over 500 people attended either the luncheon, a dessert to go with the book signing or then an hour-long program at Fisher Auditorium before wrapping up just after 3 p.m. “It was a fun day,” said Totten, who played both basketball and baseball for Bates at Northwestern before graduating in 1954 and moving on to The College of Wooster. “I thought it was well attended, particularly the lunch. They had tables set up for 400 people, and walking around I only saw a couple of empty ones. The lunch was great. “I think by the 2 p.m. program a number of people had gone home. The period after lunch I signed a lot of books and talked to a lot of people, and I think everyone had a good time.” Totten had no idea how many people had purchased books, “but I hope there will be a lot of book sales and it will be part of the fundraising in the future for scholarships. The Scholarships are the important thing, not the book. All I did was write the book and turn it over to the Community Foundation, and I’m done with it.” It was an enjoyable day for Totten, who said, “I spent most of my time signing and visiting, meeting new people and chatting with them, and talking with people I haven’t seen in a long time.” He didn’t learn any new stories he could have – or couldn’t have – put in the book, he said with a laugh. Lunch was fun for him to sit with former Wooster High star Dick Schafrath, who lived in nearby Jefferson on a farm and went to Wooster High School. He later went on to fame at Ohio State and then as an all-pro for the Cleveland Browns. “I talked with Dick,” said Totten. “He sat with me at lunch and he told me some things I hadn’t heard before. He was the only speaker at lunch and it was all impromptu. He graduated a year later – we didn’t know each other in high school, but we knew about each other. He knew about me and I knew about him. “People visited around their lunch table and then a lot afterwards. I spent all my time signing books and I didn’t even get a dessert,” he laughed. And now that this three-year period of his life is over, “he won’t miss this” now that the big day and the book are behind him. “Oh, not really,” said Totten. “I’m ready to move on and do other things. There are always other projects down the line. You complete one and go to the next. I’m living in the present and looking forward to the future and more challenges.” Thanks to the Bates family and buoyed by Totten, future Bates Scholarship winners will have help in looking to their own future and their own challenges.


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