By Brian Vanochten
The Grand Rapids Press
A small group of well wishers gathered in the press box at Fifth Third Ballpark last Friday night during the fifth inning and surprised longtime official scorer Don Thomas with a special cake and then sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
D.T., as he is affectionately called by everyone, had turned 70 just a day earlier.
He remains an ageless wonder, though, when it comes to the sports landscape in West Michigan. He has spent a lifetime either participating in local sports or helping others achieve success on the playing fields, including 11 years of service as one of the primary official scorers for the West Michigan Whitecaps.
He has umpired local baseball and softball games for more than three decades.
He was the indefatigable sports information director at Grand Valley State from 1976-96, helping usher the Lakers from nondescript NAIA status into the spotlight of NCAA Division II athletic prominence.
He served as an Army corporal in Korea, began his journalism career by submitting articles to the U.S. military publication "Stars and Stripes" and had two stints as a sportswriter at The Grand Rapids Press. He handled the announcing duties and public relations for the Grand Rapids Tackers professional basketball franchise, the Grand Rapids Blazers semi-pro football team and United Baseball League games at Valley Field -- and somehow still found enough time to be a guiding light in the lives and athletic pursuits of three sons.
And those are just the highlights.
"All that he's done," said Rabbit Thomas, 38, his youngest son, "he's very humble about it. He's just an amazing man. It amazes me every day -- his knowledge of sports. He's a wealth of information about sports. I can't say enough about him, I'm so proud of him.
"He's taught me so much."
D.T. is now teaching Rabbit Thomas the finer points of being an official scorer.
He is preparing for the time when he'll pass the torch -- or the scoring pencil, in this case -- to his son, although it doesn't appear that'll happen anytime soon since D.T. still has a passion for coming to the ballpark. Even at his age, he is very much a Little Leaguer at heart, remaining active as a local umpire and an avid softball player.
"I just like being around sports. You meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends you otherwise might've never met," D.T. said. "It's being around all the people -- the umpires, the players, the managers, the scouts, the fans, the sportswriters in the press box. I just love being at the ballpark. It keeps me young."
He is training Rabbit Thomas to carry on that legacy in the future.
Father and son team up to score games whenever their busy schedules coincide.
D.T. and Press agate clerk Mike Dean have shared the official scoring duties for the Whitecaps since the team's inception in 1994. Each is responsible for determining whether some plays are ruled hits or errors and keeping a statistical boxscore for every game.
D.T. will score approximately 40 games again this season.
He isn't planning to give up the pleasure of attending ballgames and getting paid to be the final arbiter of the boxscore, but he has a long-term plan of teaching Rabbit Thomas to take over for him at some point in the future.
"I need to break somebody in and he's very personable," D.T. said of Rabbit. "He helped me this past year on the Select Bank Tournament (a local college basketball tournament on Thanksgiving weekend at Van Andel Arena). I think it's great. Anytime your kids can replace you in something, that's wonderful."
His son is proud and thrilled to continue the legacy.
"He's training me right now," Rabbit Thomas said. "I've always wanted to follow in his footsteps."
Admittedly, those are pretty big shoes to fill.
D.T. is a thoughtful and caring friend to practically everyone he meets.
It is his nature to nurture others to help them see all the possibilities and friendships that can be created by getting involved in athletics, whether as a participant on the field or one of the numerous behind-the-scenes characters, like himself, whose only purpose is to enhance the experience for everyone involved.
"I'm a private person. It's the games and the players that are important," D.T. said. "It's not me that's important. It's watching guys like (former Grand Valley football standouts) Eric Lynch, Jeff Chadwick, Rob Rubick, Frank Miotke, Curt Anes and David Kircus and (local ballplayers) Mark Dewey, Curtis Morgan, Jim Command and others ... that's my reward.
"I've got a lot of different jobs, but this helps keep me going," he said after Sunday afternoon's game at Fifth Third Ballpark.
The selfless approach of Don Thomas is something to be admired.
He is most comfortable standing on the sidelines while the spotlight shines brightest on others.
"His strong religious faith keeps him going," Rabbit Thomas said. "And he's always been humble."