Highland County Ball Field to Be Dedicated to Ed Crigler – Part 2
This is the second half of our story on the Ed Crigler Ball Field Dedication Ceremony coming up on Monday, June 5th. The dedication will honor Mr. Crigler for his efforts in the creation of the ball field and impact on the community. Mr. Crigler’s friend, Carlton Hull, has more stories to share.
Mr. Hull says, “Nobody took these small kids, and Ed, if everybody remembers, he took the small kids and they called ‘em the Whiz Kids. And Ed took that team and coached them, and, of course, we all, all the teams in the county beat ‘em for, I’d say, three years, but, boy, when they got after three years nobody wanted to play ‘em because they turned around and beat us! And Ed was out there playing paper ball with them, and I know he could have been out working and making money, but he spent his time with the kids in this county. The Whiz Kids, right now, if they met, they would be hugging each other, and they would hug Ed, too, if he’s here.
“He is not only a friend of mine, but I never saw Ed Crigler mad. I never saw him say a bad word that I know of in my life, but if somebody come and wanted a roof painted, Ed said, ‘I’ll be there.’ And if somebody wanted their house insulated: ‘I’ll be there.’ If somebody wanted some yard work done, Ed said, ‘I’ll be there.’ And, of course, they wanted some trees trimmed, Ed said, ‘Carlton and I’ll be there because we ‘bout two like monkeys then. We’d just climb the tree and cut ‘em off, and we didn’t do it like they done today. We didn’t have a bucket truck. We had to get up in the top and cut ‘er from top down. But Ed, he would do anything to help anybody in the county.
“And one time, I, something that I’ve got to tell on him. We, we had a lot of fun together. We might be out working on a job or something, and I work with Ed four or five years, I guess, as electricians, but we painted roofs and done a little bit of everything. And one time, we was down at Ms. Devericks’ painting the roof and had the ladder set up beside the house, and Ed decided he’d step off the ladder over on the roof, and the ladder slipped, and Ed beat the paint down, and it was that silver paint. And it hit right on top of his head. And I didn’t see nothing but his little eyeballs sticking out there. And, and I was busting inside and wanting to laugh, and I couldn’t laugh. And I got rags and tried to clean him off, and he looked like the tin man that you see on, I think, it was the Wizard of Oz. *laughter* And I finally had to turn around and go around the house to laugh ‘cause I didn’t want to laugh in his face, but Ed and I had a lot of fun together, and we was great friends. He’s not only my friend, but he was a friend to the county and to the people that come to watch the ball games at night and everything else, and if we dedicate this ball field to Ed Crigler, it couldn’t go to anybody more deserving than Ed Crigler.”
In closing, Highland County Recreation Commission representative, Ellen Ratcliffe, has this to say, “Lisa, his daughter said one time, ‘If you ever needed to find Dad, just go to the ball field.’ “
And Ed Crigler does indeed plan to be found at the ball field for his dedication ceremony, where many more stories may be made and told. The event is open to the public and starts at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, June 5th at the Highland High School Ball Field in Monterey. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held in the high school gym. A Meet and Greet at Hull’s Hideaway Restaurant will follow at 5:00 p.m.
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