The History of Coles Little League

The Coles Baseball League got its start playing baseball on two sixty foot fields located behind Coles Elementary School in the mid '70's. The league was built back then by folks like Cora Plaster, who enjoyed telling the story of how she spent Mother's Day, 1979 at the landfill building the dugouts on what was the first Coles field at the Landfill. Coaches and administrators such as Carl Gatlin, Bob Penn, Bob Clearwater, Paul Nicely, Bill Hair, Harold Meade, Janice Smith, Brenda Hutchinson, Cathy Deane, and John O'Neal gave of their time and ability to build a worthwhile youth baseball program in mid-county.

In 1980, then District 10 Administrator, Warren Richards, negotiated a deal where the well and septic subdivisions that had grown along the Route 234 corridor in mid Price William County would join with basically barren territory ceded by the Dale City Little League and the Dumfries-Triangle-Quantico Little League to become Coles Little League, under the management of the folks who ran the independent Coles Baseball League. In 1981, the Coles Little League played its first full season as a chartered Little League program. At that time, the league was still relatively independent and "hands-on", playing on three fields provided, not by the Park Authority, but by the folks at the landfill. With the help of contributions from the landfill "tipping fund", the league was eventually able to create a four field complex on the reclaimed landfill grounds at the eventually named Independent Hill Community Park.

Bob Foubare was the first President of the Coles Little League, overseeing the program that then had eight Major (9-12) and six Senior (13-15) teams. The registration fee back then was less than the Little League mandated twenty dollars per player. Registration continued to grow through 1985, but soon began to falter with the rise of alternate spring sports. With this decline came the loss of dollars to fund the league, and it wasn't until the late 80's, when Jaime Salgado took over as president, that the league began to get out of its financial doldrums. Jaime got more folks involved in the management of the league, as before then, most jobs to run the league were being handled only by a handful of folks. These new recruits joined with the league veterans and were charged to advertise the Coles program in their communities and get more involvement through the schools. With the tighter budgetary controls Jaime put in place, the league soon found itself on a strong financial and ethical footing.

One also cannot say too much about the multiple contributions of Mike Holupka. In addition to coaching, in the spring of 1984, he brought in the heavy equipment and funded the project to build a drainage system for the then three fields at Independent Hill Community Park, so that a light rain wouldn't wash out three days worth of games. Later, in 1999, Mike also helped foot the bill to rebuild the fourth field, then known as Rusciolleli, so that it would meet Little League specs and allow the Coles Little League to host the 2000 9/10 State Baseball Tournament. Additionally, Mike provided a construction trailer to act as a hospitality/cooldown room during the Y2K tournament. On April 21, 2001, Mike was honored on Opening Day with the fields being named as the "Michael E. Holupka Little League Complex at Independent Hill Community Park."

In 1996, Coles needed to resolve a boundary issue with the Dumfries-Quantico-Triangle Little League (DTQLL). When the Coles Little League was initially created, the territory in the triangle bounded by Spriggs Road, Minnieville Road, and Dumfries Road was undeveloped and was ceded to Coles by DTQLL. However, the DTQLL folks never officially updated their bounday map, and both Coles and DTQLL began registering players from that area when the Ashland and Winding Creek subdivisions were built. On a snowy day in February of 1997, then Coles' President, Miles Friedman met with Lowell Easterly, the District 9 Administrator, Preston Pierce, the District 10 Administrator, members of Preston's District 10 staff, Kevin Cheezum, the President of Dumfries Triangle Quantico Little League, and members of Lowell's District 9 staff to work out a solution. With the help of Lowell and Preston, Miles and Kevin signed an agreement in principle to split the triangle, using Powells Creek as the dividing line. Per the agreement, DTQ gave up any claim to the area south of Powells Creek, such that Coles got exclusive marketing rights in the Eclipse Drive area and the new Ashland subdivision; while DTQLL got exclusive rights to the area north of Powells Creek, which now houses the Winding Creek subdivision. Also in 1997, Miles approached the District 10 District Administrator to get Coles the booking to host the 2000 9/10 Year Old Virginia State Baseball Tournament.

In 1992, the Coles Senior Baseball Tournament Team won the league's first non-Big League District 10 Championship.

In 1998, the Coles Big League team won the District 10 Championship. Then, nine of the players from this Big League squad combined with players from Manassas Park to win the Virginia Big League State Championship the Southern Regional Division IV Championship (sectional), and get within one game of making it to the Big League World Series, losing in the Southern Region final.

A number of other District 10 championships followed, as the 1999 Juniors, 2000 Big League Baseball, 2003 Big League Baseball, 2003 Little League Major Softball, 2004 Little League Major Baseball, 2008 9/10 Softball, and 2008 Junior Baseball squads all brought flags back to hang at Coles.

The 2000 9/10 Year Old Virginia State Baseball Tournament itself was chaired by Jim Turley and Debbie Nicely, longtime Coles supporters. The event brought out more than a hundred young/older volunteers. In addition to returning president, Jaime Salgado, the adult staffers were led by Marianne Klinefelter, Joanne Byer, Suzanne Walley, Linda Kincheloe, Jamie Dombrowsky, Colleen Cornwell, John Glufling, Joanne Glufling, Dan Howe, Mike High, Ken Meranta, Rick Mindock and many, many more. This was one time where the statement "A good time was had by all" was true. The league volunteers dressed the fields, mowed the grass, emptied the trash cans, sold the souvenirs, ran the Snack Bar, staffed the official's tables, team parented the teams coming from all parts of the Commonwealth; and even though there was talk, never did the league host a media day or do anything to impair the privacy of Howie Long, whose son played for the District 5 9/10 champions, Atlee Little League. That year, Coles Little League became the first District 10 league to turn a profit from hosting a state tournament. Proper ordering, sponsor lobbying, and responsible budgeting helped provide dollars for future generations of Coles Little Leaguers.

John Glufling was a Coles umpire and board member throughout the 90's. In 2002, Coles saw John as the only Coles umpire ever to make it to a World Series, when he worked the Junior Baseball World Series in Taylor, Michigan.

Robyn Horstkamp took over the presidency in the mid 2000's and continued to make sure that the mid-county youngsters had the best place to play. The Park Authority took over maintenance of the Independent Hill Community Park (landfill) fields in the early 90's, and because of the nature of the shifting uncapped landfill, each of the fields there needed to be rebuilt every 3-5 years. The Board of Public Works got involved and wanted to rebuild the entire original Landfill complex. If that occurred, Coles Little League would be out on the curb of the newly built industrial highway, Dumfries Road, Route 234. The construction of that new industrial highway had already removed the tree buffers that kept the park in its own little niche, and there was pressure to find another location in mid-county for the Coles program. A plan to relocate the Coles Complex to the landfill buffer area and rebuild the fields using "Landfill recreation set-aside" dollars was rejected by the Landfill Oversight Committee. A proposal to build new fields at Shenandoah Park was rejected because the site was too small. Robyn and Chris Thom worked with the Park Authority and Supervisor Nohe to get a bond referendum put on the ballot to build a new baseball complex at George Hellwig Park on Bristow Road. The league lobbied the county residents to get out and vote, got the 2006 bond approved; and the "State Tournament Ready" complex was opened for play in the Fall of 2010.

Ed Boak took over the presidency in 2009 and along with Vice President Chris Thom oversaw the closing of Independent Hill Community Park (last game July 7, 2010) and the Opening of the new Complex at George Hellwig Park. The first game at George Hellwig Park was played September 7, 2010. The Spring of 2012 brought a Special Games Title to Coles for the 8/9 year olds and the first title for Coles at the new complex.

2010 brought the expansion of Coles Little League to parts of the Rural Crescent. The board requested and received approval from Little League to add the open area of Prince William County South of Aden Road and over to Route 28.

In the Spring of 2012, the board approached the Prince William Park Authority about renaming two of the fields for longtime Coles volunteers. With the help of Jane Beyer, Dianne Cabot, Jay Ellington & RB Thomas, the fields were officially renamed for long time Coles volunteers: Horstkamp Field (Field 3) in honor of Ed & Robyn Horstkamp and their family and Richard Mindock Field (Field 4) for Rick Mindock, a long time volunteer for which Coles Little League owes a great deal of gratitude. Rick has been a part of Coles Little League since its inception. He has held many positions including President, Chief Umpire, Player Agent, etc. Rick still volunteers in the league as an umpire to this day.

The Spring of 2014 brought a Little League Baseball Southeast Regional All Star Assignment for Rick Mindock at the Warner Robbins Complex in Georgia. Rick Mindock was again honored with a 2017 Southeast Regional All Star Assignment for the Intermediate Division (50/70) in Kernersville, NC.

In April 2015, Coles was awarded the Virginia 9/10 State Tournament for the summer of 2016. Chris Thom came out of a very short retirement to chair a very successful and exciting tournament that was held from July 15-19, 2016. Tuckahoe Little League captured the championship. Bill & Susan Stynes provided incredible support to Chris both before and during the tournament. Additional strong volunteer support came from new President Rhett Pfitzner, Emma and Don Caughlin, Rick Murphy, Beth Williams, John Lang, Ed & Dori Boak, District 10 Administrator Bob Sottile and many, many more.

The Spring of 2017 brought a District Title back to Coles for the first time since 2008. This started a run of District titles on the 90’ field with district championships in Juniors in 2017 & 2018 and Senior Championships in 2018, 2019 & 2021.

Another Coles fact that normally doesn't get much play is that Julie Croteau, who is recognized as the first woman to play men’s NCAA baseball (St. Mary's College of Maryland), as well as the first woman to coach in a men’s NCAA Division I baseball program, started her baseball career with the Coles Little League in the mid 80's. Julie is one of two women to ever play in a Major League Baseball-sanctioned winter league. She worked as a stunt double in the movie "A League of Their Own", and her baseball glove and photo are on permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Championships

• 1992 SENBB District 10
• 1996 Big League District 10
• 1998 Big League District 10
• 1998 Big League Virginia State
• 1998 Big League Southern Region Division IV
• 1999 JUNBB District 10
• 2000 Big League InterDistrict 9, 10, 14
• 2003 Little League Softball District 10
• 2003 Big League District 10
• 2004 LLBB District 10 Manager: Tim White
• 2008 9/10 Softball District 10
• 2008 JUNBB District 10
• 2012 8/9 District 10 Special Games
• 2017 JUNBB District 10
• 2018 SENBB District 10
• 2018 JUNBB District 10
• 2019 SENBB District 10
• 2021 SENBB District 10

Presidents

• Carl Gatlin (Pre CLL)
• Robert Foubare
• Andy Anderson
• Rick Mindock
• Bill Oravec
• Bill Hair
• Ray Croteau
• Bill Hayes
• Connie Hansen
• Jaime Salgado
• Miles Friedman
• Jaime Salgado
• Robyn Horstkamp
• Ed Boak 2009-2015
• Rhett Pfitzner 2015-2020
• Emma Caughlin 2020-Present