Just about every youth ballpark has a "Mister Shorty." Duluth, Ga., had THE "Mister Shorty."
Here's how it went: J.T. "Shorty" Howell was born in 1920 and served in WWII, and retired from General Motors in Atlanta after 30 years. He was one at a parents meeting of the Dixie Youth league in Duluth; the league had only one team, but had enough kids to field two teams. They only had one coach, and were trying to find someone to coach the second team. Mister Shorty raised his hand to ask what the qualifications were and was told that just raising that hand was it.
So, Mister Shorty started coaching in 1955.
Since he was involved, he also starting taking care of the ball fields in his spare time. His kids went through the program and left as they reached the maximum age. Mr. Shorty kept coaching until 1978.
In 1978, the Gwinnett County Commissioners built a new ballpark in Duluth. Naturally, the town named it Shorty Howell Park. Mister Shorty began caring for the eight ball fields there as well, and since he was retired from GM, he devoted most of his time making the park nice.
He would be at the park at 7 in the morning to begin grooming the fields, cutting the grass, cleaning up, and lining the fields. With his little tractor, he manicured the eight fields and cut them every other day. He lined the fields every day. Baselines, coaches boxes, catchers boxes, on-deck circles, everything. Eight a day. Every day. He would go home around 5 p.m. and fix dinner for his disabled wife, and then return to the ballpark at 6 p.m. He would watch the games, all the while picking up trash and doing small chores during the games. Around 10:30 at night, he would cut off the lights and head home.
Mister Shorty did this everyday until his death in 1999. He loved the game and he loved seeing the kids play the game. Duluth's program grew from 2 teams to over a hundred at the time of his death. Thousands went through the program. He knew most by name. At his funeral in 1999, the procession from the church to the cemetery took seven police officers to assist with the vehicle procession. The line of cars was nearly 3 miles long. The procession went through the ballpark on the way to the cemetery and thousands were there in ball uniforms, too. Traffic in Gwinnett County traffic was at a standstill for nearly two hours as the line of cars snaked through town.
Mister Shorty received recognition along his 55 year "career" in youth baseball. The Governor of Georgia proclaimed April 15 as Shorty Howell Day. President George Bush Sr. recognized Mister Shorty for his volunteer work. But, it was the kids that had fun playing ball that gave Mister Shorty the recognition he really liked.
Bob Payne