The cumin-colored dirt of an Arizona baseball infield displays hundreds of footprints by the time a game is completed.
The batter’s box. The baselines. The hole between second and third base.
Impressions left everywhere.
And if you look close enough, the imprints can give an indication of what went on during the contest, but in no way does it tell the whole story.
It’s a lot like the impressions two of Arizona's most respected and impactful baseball men – Tony Valdez and Dave Hilton – had on an era of youth ballplayers before both men died about 15 months apart.
The impression they left on their players and students could easily be seen in real time on the diamond, but the true impact they left on those ballplayers was lot more than anyone realized at the time.
“Tony Valdez still to this day has had the biggest impact on my life,” former Hamilton High star Ryan Casillas said. “He not only taught me the fundamentals of the game of baseball but taught me how to be a man off the field.”
The number of people who turned out at each of these men’s memorials show that Casillas isn’t alone in his sentiment.
Sure, there was talk of baseball at the highly attended services, but by all accounts, most of the conversations focused on lessons learned, standards, expectations, and the wisdom the two men imparted on their pupils.
It just goes to show that those footprints left behind on the infield after the game might be erased when the infield is dragged before the start of the next game, but the impressions Hilton and Valdez made will remain intact long after the games and lessons have ended.
“He absolutely loved working with kids and teaching the game he loved,” Dave Hilton’s daughter, Megan Lamy, said. “He never looked at the time with them as just about baseball, though. Sure, he was great at finding mechanical flaws and correcting them, but he also talked to them about how to carry themselves and respect the game.
“We heard from so many people at the memorial about how much influence he had on them other than actually playing the game. It was very heartwarming.”
That type of influence happens a lot. Teachers, coaches and even parents have such a lasting influence on their pupils, but at 13 or 17 years old you’re too close to it to be able to zoom out and see the big picture.
In the middle of it, you are just mad that you must do an extra run to the center-field fence because no one was ready to practice at the start of the designated start time. You don’t realize that you are being taught the importance of time management or how being late means you are not being accountable to the rest of your teammates and how disrespectful it can be.
In the moment you’re just mad because you must run extra laps. Until years later….
“One of the reasons why you see Hamilton so successful and why many of us go on to play (at the next level) is because Tony taught us to handle our business as men (at 14 years old,)” Hamilton 2011 graduate Parker Osborne said. “He always wanted us to handle our own business, not our parents, and expected us to learn to handle it on our own even though it was difficult.”
While these two men had similar passions for the game and imparting their ways on those who grabbed a bat alongside of them, they had different paths to becoming men of influence on the ballplayers that crossed their path.
Hilton is a former professional ballplayer who had a successful career in Japan after some time in the Majors with the Padres after the organization made him their No. 1 overall pick out of Southwest Texas Junior College in 1971 in the now defunct secondary January draft.
After his playing career, he coached in five major league organizations and even managed in Taiwan. Once his professional coaching days ended, Hilton found his way to Arizona where opened the Arizona School of Baseball.
He helped hundreds of kids improve their game before dying on Sept. 17, 2017 at the age of 67 from what is believed to be a stroke. He was getting ready for a baseball lesson when he collapsed.
“He was on his way to do something that he absolutely loved doing,” Lamy said. “It was sudden and sad, but we know he lived a good life and spent almost every day doing something he loved from playing the game to coaching professionally to working with kids. Family and baseball were his life.”
Matt Hilton, Dave’s son, remembers a time when Hilton had an actual dream about the National Baseball Hall of Fame changing it's inductions rules and he was elected, but that’s not going to happen for someone who hit .213 with six home runs and 33 RBIs in 506 at-bats in 161 games over the course of four seasons (1972-75).
“The odds of making it the major leagues are high and only a small percentage makes it to the Hall of Fame,” Matt said. “He loved the game, but when it was clear that wasn’t going to happen, he shifted his focus on helping others get there. He (coached) at the professional level for awhile but he really found his stride when he started working with the younger kids.
“He figured out that there was a lot of pressure from parents and some coaches and he was able to diffuse that because of his approach. He got them to just enjoy the work it takes to get better.”
One of the benefactors of Hilton’s teachings was longtime and former Horizon coach Eric Kibler and the Huskies who were one of the state’s most consistent high school programs.
“He has helped our programs for many years,” Kibler told the Arizona Republic at the time of Hilton’s death. “He has the best demeanor of any coach or teacher I have ever known. He has coached many club teams, as well as given thousands of lessons to kids in the Valley.
“He is one of the best men I have the fortune to know.”
As Kibler mentioned, one of the things that Hilton, who was honored by the Rip City baseball club with a patch on their jersey after his death, was best known for was demeanor and his calm approach to his teachings.
“He coached all of us, and so many others,” said Lamy, who had three children (Megan, Matt, and Amy) with his with Patty. “What everyone talked about was his demeanor and how he always stayed calm and positive and never did you see him get mad on the field or at a lesson.”
A calm demeanor wasn’t always tied to Valdez’s coaching style; at least not in the early days when he was coaching in the Tucson Little League or Chandler Little League All-Stars. He was hard on his players and his expectations were high.
It all stemmed from his upbringing where he had to earn everything he got.
“He grew up in an underprivileged area and they did whatever it took to play baseball,” his son, Steve Valdez, said. “They’d use a stick and pinecone and he played as long as he could and even played some fastpitch softball as an adult. He was involved one way or another for probably 40 years.”
The last 20 years before his death on Nov. 2, 2018 at the age of 62 due to pancreatic cancer were spent coaching the South Chandler Baseball Club, which served as a feeder program to Hamilton High, one of the state’s top programs from the start back in 1997-98.
“Tony was one of the most important, if not the most important, cogs to our program’s success,” Hamilton coach Mike Woods said. “He was all about accountability and had an old-school way to tell it like it is, but also had a great personality and charisma that made it seem OK that he was telling you what to do or what to expect.”
The 14U SCBC team won 11 state championships and qualified for two Babe Ruth World Series (2007 and 2009), but it is clear the success wasn’t confined to the baseball diamond.
“He was special and a different human being,” his son, TJ, said. “He was successful in business and coaching baseball. He knew how to motivate and get the most out of people.
“He demanded from people and expected them match it. He demanded things from kids that coaches for teams at that age don’t when it comes to accountability and being on time. That right there was a life lesson. His message was baseball heavy, but school always came first. He demanded more from his customers, too. And for whatever reason, people off all ages responded to him.”
Woods said one of the things he could count on at the end of every Hamilton baseball season was the fact that Valdez’s name was always brought up. At the season-ending team banquet, the seniors have to give a speech and to the man they always mentioned Tony Valdez.
“As a college coach and seeing how youth coaches and parents are, we were so lucky to have Tony in our lives,” said Osborne, who was an assistant at University of Texas-Arlington. “I never take that for granted. I think about him all of the time. He was not only a great mentor for me as he became such a great friend and someone I loved dearly. I miss him so much and he is one of the best men I have ever met in my entire life.”
Woods said when it became clear that that Valdez might not have much time left, a bunch of the former Hamilton players got together with Valdez at the Ginger Monkey by Hamilton for lunch.
It’s then that Valdez, who was honored with a plaque at the JV field at Hamilton after his death, started to realize himself that there was more than teaching the game of baseball happening during all those hours on the field.
“He was looking around at all of the former players, and how successful they were and how they were talking about a lot more than baseball,” Woods said. “He leaned over to me and said, ‘There was a lot of stuff other than baseball going on; I guess I was teaching them about life, too.”
And that’s just it.
Coaches and instructors have so much influence on the youthful athletes they come across but it is kind of an unspoken truth.
Yes, there is fun to be had and games to be played, but the vital portion of that relationship has a lot more importance than shortening up the swing with two strikes or hitting the cutoff man.
“As a 13-year-old kid it was a little intimidating at first,” said Casillas, who is custom pool designer at Presidential Pools and Spas, “but now after the fact you understand why he did what he did. He taught me how to continue to push and preserve through any obstacle instead of putting my tail between my legs and quitting.”
It’s all about leaving an imprint or life lesson, as Tony Valdez and Dave Hilton both did, that can’t be easily erased by the time the next game begins.
Jason P. Skoda can be reached at Jason@arizonavarsity.com with story ideas and comments.
