Stanley "Chick" Nedzel's favorite position on the baseball field was catcher.

"He always told me he loved to catch. He said the catcher is like being the quarterback in football. You're always in the game," said Tim Nedzel, Chick's son.

Chick Nedzel, who died in 1995, was one of the founding fathers of the Elkridge Youth Organization. Whether it was mowing and raking the fields, coaching a team, or umpiring a game, Nedzel was always at the field, doing whatever he could to help young people enjoy the game of baseball. For his contributions, Nedzel is being posthumously inducted into the Howard County Community Sports Hall of Fame.

"He would help any kid he could possibly help," said Dan March, who was one of the other founders, along with Paul Hill, Phil Owens, Harold Hill, Andy Madera and Jim Hickey.

Sometimes that help meant teaching a kid not to argue a call.

"He was umpiring a game I was playing one time, and he called me out on a third strike, and I just looked at him, like 'No, that wasn't a third strike,' and maybe I threw the bat down," Tim Nedzel said. "We talked that next day and I said, 'You know that wasn't a strike' and he said, 'I told you never look at the third strike.' He taught me a little lesson there. I remember that one pretty good."

"He knew what he thought was right, and he stuck to it. No one ever argued with him when he was an umpire," said March, who was Nedzel's next-door neighbor and his nephew.

Nedzel was born in Baltimore on Jan. 1, 1918. He settled in Elkridge in 1945 after serving as a sergeant in the Army during World War II. He opened a gas station with his brother-in-law.

He loved the Orioles and was a member of the Orioles Advocates. He was also very active with St. Augustine Church and Hall.

When he wasn't at the baseball fields, Nedzel could probably be found at church. He was known for his trademark farewell.

"When he would leave a party or friends of his, he would always say, 'I'll see you in church,' " remembers son Michael Nedzel, who now lives near Chicago.

As a great fan of baseball, and a business owner in Elkridge, Nedzel had the motivation and the means to get a baseball league started for the young people of the community.

In 1956, he helped found the Elkridge Youth Organization with one team for 12- to 13-year-olds that played against teams from other local towns. They played in the town of Relay until a barrel factory donated land on Levering Avenue near the Patapsco River in Elkridge. From there it was up to parents to maintain the fields.

"Chick himself was an excellent welder," March said. "We used his skills on the backstops."

Tim Nedzel remembers in June of 1972, with the EYO All-Star game approaching, his father and other fathers manicuring the field to perfection in anticipation of the big game.

"Dad and the other fathers ... took the bases and painted them red, white and blue. The next day the flood of (Hurricane) Agnes came and that was the last time we saw those bases. They went down the river with the fields. The water was up to the (tops) of the backstops. That closed the fields," said Tim Nedzel.

After the group spent several years playing at Waterloo Middle School, Rockburn Branch Park opened in 1978 and the EYO had a new home.

Over the years, Nedzel and his friends influenced countless young men on their way from childhood to young adulthood through the game of baseball.

We did it "to keep our kids involved. I never knew one kid who played for me that ever got into trouble and I take great satisfaction in that," March said.

As EYO expanded and Nedzel got older, he became more involved in umpiring and training than coaching. He also served as commissioner.

Nedzel would not have been able to invest himself so fully without the support of his wife, Cecilia, who still lives at their home in Elkridge.

"My mom picked up a lot of the slack," Tim Nedzel said. "She was his backbone. Five o'clock, we ate dinner, he took a shower and ran to the ball fields."

A brick monument featuring a bronze plaque now stands in his honor at Rockburn Branch Park by the flagpole. It reads:

Stanley "Chick" Nedzel

January 1, 1918 - August 6, 1995

"He committed his life to God, country, family, and baseball.

An ordinary man who did extraordinary things."

Dedicated to his memory by the citizens of Elkridge.

"That pretty much hits home with him," said Tim Nedzel, who is a park manager with Howard County Recreation and Parks, overseeing Rockburn Branch among other parks.

"God, country, family and baseball. He was an ordinary guy, that's for sure."

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