Excitement was in the air this weekend as the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team, along with national sports celebrities, visited Fort Riley and Manhattan, Kansas, to play a double-header against local VIPs Sept. 6 at Tointon Family Stadium.
Celebrities toured Fort Riley to interact with 1st Infantry Division Soldiers and to see day-to-day operations around the post. Activities included a Sept. 5 barbecue provided by the All-American Beef Battalion and USO Fort Riley, a demonstration by the Commanding General's Mounted Color Guard and several softball games at Kansas State University the next day.
The sky was clear and the weather warm Sept. 6 at Tointon, where VIPs from the 1st Inf. Div., Fort Riley and local communities and national celebrities came together to recognize wounded warriors and their accomplishments. The WWAST is a charitable organization that tours the country to raise awareness for wounded warriors and inspire people with whom they come in contact.
"We travel the country and we share our message that life without limbs is limitless and we do that by playing competitive sports softball," said Greg Reynolds, a left center from Dighton, Massachusetts, "but at the same time we bring a lot of inspiration and hope to everyone in the community that comes out and watches us play."
The WWAST played the opening game against the Fort Riley team, which included Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley commanding general; Mike Ryan, Junction City mayor; and Wynn Butler, Manhattan mayor. While the team from Fort Riley may have been prepared for the game, they were no match against the WWAST. WWAST won the first game with a final score of 19-7.
The pitcher for WWAST, Mike Dreyer, explained why coming to Fort Riley was exciting for him: "I knew Fort Riley was around and there was a lot of sports going on, a lot of softball fans. It's just good to be part of playing against Fort Riley and all of the fellowship that comes with it."
In between games, local softball players came out onto the field to participate in a home-run derby and children poured on to the grass to get an opportunity to catch a ball hit into the field.
"The younger kid population is another one touched a lot by watching us play," Reynolds said.
The second game paired the WWAST against national celebrities and sports athletes. Once again, the WWAST proved how skilled they were at softball despite their life-changing injuries. Even after setting the celebrities up with 30 extra points toward the end of the game, when the score was already 42-10, the all-celebrity team still lost.
John Riggins, former Washington Redskins player and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, was just one of the celebrities who toured Fort Riley and participated in the celebrity softball game. Others included Will Shields, former Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman; Mark Simoneau, college football hall of famer and former Kansas State Wildcat linebacker; Jeff Bostic, former Washington Redskins player and Super Bowl champ; and Dwier Brown, "Field of Dreams" actor and author.
"Whenever I sang 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' I always thought of the men and the women that were over there (Vietnam) in my place, so to speak, so I have always felt a debt to them," Riggins said.
Although there were many celebrities at the event, the WWAST were the focus of the weekend events.
"I have always wanted to make sure that people understand -- particularly being somebody that had a little bit of celebrity -- people consider sportspeople to be sports heroes, but people need to understand who the real heroes are and that's why you do this," Riggins said.
Riggins, a Centralia, Kansas, native, reminisced about being back so close to home.
"To get an opportunity to actually go to Fort Riley because it's so historical, and to have that in your backyard and I never really ever went and saw it," Riggins said. "Here I had an opportunity to do that and be with the real heroes."
The message was clear to the crowds who attended the events, especially at the pre-game tailgate party where fans were getting T-shirts and other memorabilia signed by the WWAST athletes.
"The only limitations we have are the ones we place upon ourselves and when people say that we can't or I can never do that, automatically they defeat themselves right there," Reynolds said. "So they put themselves in my shoes and they think, 'Oh how is this kid going to play softball, how is he going to catch and throw the ball and how is he going to hit?' But then I go out there and there they have an eye-opening experience for themselves."
Dreyer added with a smile: "After the games, we always have the young kids come out to the field and a lot of them have prosthetics. Just to see the reactions on their faces. It gives them a little bit of hope for what's coming in life."
The WWAST also hosts softball camps for amputee children where they teach them about softball, resiliency and moving forward with their injuries.
"There is definitely something there that you notice with these wounded warriors that we played softball against today," Riggins said. "There were no frowns on anybody's faces. These guys and women are making the most out of their lives. They've had a setback, but you know what, they didn't even blink their eyes. They were right there, going forward as everybody should be."
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