Whitey Reath was truly a lifetime hero.
The Alamo native, and favorite son, became a sports hero in the late 50’s at that small school. His 1,030 points were the most scored in a career there. He led the county in scoring two seasons. Helped his team win a county title, and they were an overtime loss in the sectional from what might have been a magical season. He was also a great baseball player.
But all that is documented in many other places. Bill Boone has done incredible research and work on the history of Montgomery County basketball, and I encourage you to go read his work on not just Whitey, but the many great players of that era.
Heck, Whitey was the leading scorer for the Warriors, but certainly wasn’t the only good player on that team.
But that is what made Whitey a lifetime hero.
There might not be a harder job than to be the guy that everyone talks about and comes to watch when you are a teenager in high school, and then stay in the area for the rest of your life.
What do you do for an encore?
Whitey did just that, and for his encore, he raised a family, coached countless kids in youth sports, helped build baseball fields, and supported everyone by attending countless games.
Oh sure, there were the grandkids, and eventually the great-grandkids, who got first billing, but from his decision to stay and not go to Utah on a college scholarship, Whitey was the guy that so many looked up to.
“He was a hero, first in sports, and then in life,” his son Michael said. “He was a hero to many, but he was my hero forever.”
Always ready to talk about his beloved Cubs or Boilermakers, Whitey was not the guy who lived the rest of his life based on 1,030 points scored.
Fred Johnson played against Reath in both basketball and baseball, as Johnson was a year behind Reath, playing for Linden, and there were some tough battles.
“The thing I always remember about Whitey and so many of our local guys is that we would go at each other for the game, but then it was shake hands and get along. Whitey dated (and eventually married) a gal from my class at Linden, so we saw him regularly when he came to see Linda, and that is how I remember him for the next 65 years or so. He was always cordial, always friendly.”
Johnson did have one story he loved to remind Reath of.
“It was a baseball game,” Johnson said. “I was pitching and he hit one way up and into one of the trees out over left field. Well, the ball bounced off a couple branches, fell back into play and our left fielder caught it. Whitey got call out and I never let him forget that at any Cubs game.”
Johnson, as many others did, traveled with Whitey to lots of Cubs games. He also went along to Nashville to meet his lookalike. “He and I both did double-takes,” Johnson said. “Whitey and Linda just kept after me to go along.”
The Reaths were also huge fans of Rhonda Vincent, and many of those Nashville trips were to see her, although Vincent did bring her tour bus to Crawfordsville one summer when she performed at the Strawberry Festival.
Reath went to work in Crawfordsville, but most of his free time was spent helping some group of kids.
“He touched the lives of so many kids in our community through the years,” Michael noted. “He coached basketball, or baseball, or both sometimes. I know he ended up coaching sixth grade girls basketball for a few years at Hose School because a parent saw my mom at Kroger (where she worked) and asked. He never sat still, and when he finished following me play, he got into reffing, and that’s how I got interested.” We officiated a lot of fifth and sixth grade games with him.”
Whitey was also builder.
“There wasn’t a baseball field in Alamo when I was getting ready to start Little League,” Michael said, “so Dad went to work. He got some donors and some other dads to help build us a field. Then, after we moved to Waveland a year or two later, he did the same thing because there wasn’t a field there. Pretty soon, he was getting calls from around. He helped them build a field at Browns Valley and he went over to help New Market when they were doing a re-build.”
Whitey and Linda built their family through a 65-year marriage, that saw it’s share of sadness to go with the successes.
Their wedding was delayed due to a death in the family, and their first-born child, a son (Allen), died two months after he was born due to cystic fibrosis.
“A tough way to start a marriage,” Michael said.
But the guy that the community looked up to shouldered it, and went out of his way to help more kids.
“He did all the other stuff too,” Michael continued. “He played on a donkey ball team; he played a softball game against The King and His Court. He played against a traveling women’s basketball team back in the 60’s. He loved his community, and his community loved him,” he said.
Even with all the community activity, the coaching, the fund raisers, the games, family always came first.
“We took a vacation nearly every summer,” Michael said. “We didn’t always know where the money came from, but it was family first. He followed me through all my high school and college sports, and then it was follow the grandkids and the great-grandkids. I was so happy for him and (great-grandson) Brennyn that he was able to get to one of Brennyn’s games this past spring. Brennyn was happy to have him there, too, because he scored 19 points for Avon against Brownsburg. It was the last sporting event he saw.”
Johnson, who played some independent basketball with Reath in the mid to late 60’s saw that community side of the Alamo hero through five decades of friendship.
“Everyone loved Whitey, and Whitey loved everyone,” Johnson said.
Michael echoed that thought.
“His motto was ‘Do Things Right,’ and that’s what he did. He did things the right way, all the time.”
So here we are to sum up Whitey Reath.
The high school legend, the community guy, the husband and father, the coach who tried to get successes for even the not-so-good players, the guy who built baseball fields, was a referee and perpetual supporter of kids.
Kind of sounds like a hero.
