Lookout Valley's Lady Jackets add to honor for Conard

Lookout Valley High School will not be fielding a softball team this year for the first time in coach Pat Conard's 31 years at the school.
Lookout Valley High School will not be fielding a softball team this year for the first time in coach Pat Conard's 31 years at the school.
photo Pat Conard

Pat Conard is the matriarch of Lookout Valley softball.

She started the program 34 years ago and had been the only head coach in school history until Monday night, when she watched David Dinger make his high school softball coaching debut in a 7-1 win over Boyd-Buchanan.

She almost cried before the game started -- and for good reason.

During a pregame ceremony, Lookout Valley renamed its home grounds to O'Mary-Conard Field to honor Chuck O'Mary, who played an integral role in building the field in 2000, and the commitment Conard made to the Lady Jackets during her lengthy career.

"I see it as I've just been a lady who has given girls a chance to play softball," Conard said. "We never won state. We were runner-up three straight years. I wish we would have won one."

After Dinger was promoted to head coach, with Conard's blessing, he asked Conard to make one promise -- attend the season opener.

She did.

Conard stood through the intermittent light rain to watch girls she coached last year win their season opener.

"I had no idea this honor was coming," said Conard, while swallowing a few tears. "I told David in May that I knew the kids would be in good hands."

Conard took pictures with more than 30 of her former players who were called by Dinger to attend this one game and honor their former coach.

The former players enjoyed swapping stories from the past and recalled moments when Conard impacted their lives. She had left lasting impressions on everybody who attended the ceremony.

That list includes the first pitcher Conard put in the circle, Kecia Kilgore; the starting shortstop on Monday, Annie Marr; and players who took the field during the years between those generations.

"I wanted to see her off, and I haven't seen her since I graduated in '84," said Kilgore, who played a key role in an April Fool's Day joke many years ago. "Pat was so much more to me than a coach."

Conard acted as another parent to her players. Both Kilgore and Conard remember one funny incident from back in the day. Conard caught Kilgore with a wad of tobacco in her lip.

"I had a dip in my mouth one day and she almost killed me," Kilgore said. "She said she'd kill me if she saw me dipping again."

Conard said Monday that she threatened to forfeit the entire season if Kilgore or any other player used tobacco.

The players on that team flipped the script and played a joke. They all arrived to practice one April 1 with their cheeks protruding as practice started. A father showed Conard a bag of Red Man chew, indicating that all the girls were dipping.

"They were all drooling this brown juice down their mouths," Conard recalled. "Turned out, it was nothing but raisins. They got me."

Monday, Kilgore drove more than three hours from the Tri-Cities area to say "thank you" to Conard and add her signature to a home plate that every former player available also signed.

"Pat was so much more to me than just a coach," Kilgore said. "She made a huge difference in my life. There are many times I thank her for molding me."

Jennifer Southerland Clark attended Monday's game as well. She graduated from Conard's program in 2000 and witnessed the first field dedication to O'Mary some 15 years ago.

Clark's fondest memory of Conard involves a game that she could have spent on the bench because she forgot her cleats for a road trip. But that day, Conard sent an assistant coach and Clark to the closest store and paid for new cleats out of Conard's pocket.

"I learned about hard work, dedication, teamwork and learning from losing," said Clark, who resides in Lookout Valley and played center field through the 2000 season. "Every time you see Coach, it's still the same with a big hug and a big grin, and it makes you reminisce.

"She always made everybody feel equal no matter if you were the star or just filling up center field."

On Monday, before the first pitch, Conard stood on the third-base line, close to home like she's done for decades. This night was different. She didn't deliver the lineup card to the umpires. She listened to the announcement and almost broke down in tears.

But after the announcement, every member of the current team wrapped their arms around her neck. One at a time, every player on the roster said something.

Their specific words may not have been, "Thank you," but their actions expressed that sentiment.

Conard won six district championships and eight region titles and finished runner-up in the state championship three straight years starting in 1990.

"Miss Conard is a special lady," Dinger said. "What she's done here needs to be remembered."

The current Lady Yellow Jackets honored her in the best way possible -- with a convincing victory.

Starting pitcher Brianna Smith allowed one run and three hits and struck out five. Lookout Valley scored four runs in the third inning with Marr delivering a two-run double.

"Coach Conard coached me for four years of volleyball and five years of softball, so I spent a lot of time with her," Marr said. "I'm proud of her. I told her that I miss her. I'm glad she was here tonight to support us."

She was glad to do it -- for 34 years and one more season opener.

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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