Jack Holt, Barbara Traylor Smith and Dave Huerkamp.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — As the Grand Junction Rotary Club readies for its part in the Junior College World Series each year, the preparations don’t begin in full until after the Western District champion is crowned. But Rotary member Dave Huerkamp has been thinking about his contribution since way back in September, during elk hunting season.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Huerkamp asked freshman outfielder Jake Luna on Thursday afternoon after an Apache practice session. “You want some JUCO Jerky, Jake?”
The Grand Junction Rotary Club is one of 10 service clubs in the area that volunteers as a “host” for the 10 teams that make the coveted trip to the World Series each spring. Grand Junction Rotary always hosts the Western District team, providing assistance and amenities to players, coaches and families throughout their stay in western Colorado.
Huerkamp volunteers not only his time, but also his jerky, made from elk hunted with a bow. It’s now a staple, not only out of tradition, but also superstition. He recalled one year in which a Western District team fell behind in a game halfway through the tournament. Their bats just went cold. Someone realized what was missing from the dugout: the JUCO Jerky. Huerkamp made a couple of calls, and soon, the team had its jerky and actually rallied to win the game.
“Everyone involved in JUCO is all about making sure, whether they win or lose, every team has a great time, since this is once-in-a-lifetime for a lot of these guys,” Huerkamp said. “They’re celebrities once they get here.”
The first Junior College World Series was held in Oklahoma, but once it moved to Grand Junction in 1959, a “host” program was put into place. Originally, individual families and businesses served as hosts until service organizations took over, according to Barbara Traylor Smith, the chair of Grand Junction Rotary’s hosting duties. Each service club hosts the same district every year.
“The NJCAA has developed and changed its regions and districts over time, so there may not have been a Western District forever,” Traylor Smith said. “But for as long as there’s been a Western District, we’ve had it. The way they set this stuff up, it just stays.”
About 10 members of Grand Junction Rotary rotate the responsibilities of being at each of the Cochise baseball team’s activities leading up to game day and through the tournament. Besides bringing things like coolers of water and gatorade to practice and making sure the team has directions to destinations around Grand Junction, the Rotary Club organizes a team picnic, arranges tourist excursions for family members and provides dugout necessities.
“We ask the team what kinds of seeds they like,” Traylor Smith said. “These guys want ranch and BBQ seeds, and the coaches want dill pickles, so we’ll make sure they have those.”
Traylor Smith, a retirement planner, takes about 10 days off work each year for the JUCO World Series. Her husband, Donnie Alexander, is the Grand Junction High School baseball coach. They met in 2008, when he was the coach for Central Arizona College and his team won the Western District. Their wedding ceremony this past September was at Suplizio Field, and the reception was above the stadium’s press box in the VIP suites during a Grand Junction Rockies minor league game.
Though not everyone in Grand Junction lives or dies by the game of baseball, the JUCO World Series is the definition of a community-driven event, and locals embrace far-away teams.
“Interacting with the kids, that’s the most fun,” said Jack Holt. “And I enjoy the games, but the players make it fun. Ninety-nine percent of them are real gentlemen.”
By the end of practice on Thursday, after all the Apache players had loaded back onto the bus, Huerkamp’s bag of jerky was more than halfway gone. Rest assured, in all the years he’s provided JUCO Jerky, he’s never run out before the tournament’s end.