How Does Niwot Work? – Part 16

It's not easy being a high school coach, and baseball and softball coaches have extra duty to keep their programs running. While many sports run off-season programs, only baseball and softball coaches also must maintain their fields of play, as well as installing and maintaining improvements such as windscreens, bullpens, batting cages and warning tracks. School districts mow the grass, supply some watering and provide baseballs.

But baseball coaches often can be found before and after games and practices, placing and removing tarps on the infield, moving portable screens and cages, dragging infields and raking mounds.

While some work days include parent volunteers, most of the monetary support comes from a non-profit organization. At Niwot High School, that organization is Niwot Baseball, Inc., which is the longest-running support group at the school.

The non-profit corporation was formed in April 1981, by then Niwot High head coach Bob Bote, along with Tom Hoog and Biff Warren. Hoog and Warren coached the two Pony League teams from GLVRA, now Niwot Youth Sports, that served as stepping stones to the high school baseball program.

At the time, the American Legion Post in Longmont ran the summer baseball programs for players from Longmont High, Niwot High and the newly opened (1978) Skyline High School. While the Legion generally worked with the high school coaches, the coaches had little control over funding and overall program direction.

Bote, who had begun coaching at NHS in 1978, decided to explore forming his own summer baseball organization, and Niwot Baseball, Inc., was incorporated. For many years, Legion D, C, B, A and Connie Mack teams were sponsored, with coaches recruited by Bote, often from his graduating seniors for the lower levels.

As summer baseball continued to evolve, the cost of hiring coaches continued to increase, and Bote could no longer coach the upper-level teams as a volunteer. He stepped down from the board of directors in 1995 and the new board, consisting of Warren, NHS assistant coach Milt Etter and Ron Thomas, hired Bote as executive director to run the program and as a coach. By 1997, Rick Jacobs, an assistant coach during the high school season, had replaced Thomas on the board.

Up to that point, fundraising activities had been minimal, but it became apparent that more funds were needed, and the organization worked with baseball parents, youth-league coach and CPA Don Perry to obtain recognition in 1999 from the IRS as a charitable organization, capable of receiving tax-deductible donations.

Bote moved on from the NHS baseball program and Niwot Baseball, Inc., following the 2007 summer season, but the organization has carried on, conducting fundraisers, running winter off-season workout programs and generally supporting the NHS program. Bote's successors as head coach included Jason Lathrop, Craig McBride and Adam Strah. Each has been hired as executive director of the program during their coaching tenure.

Niwot Baseball, Inc., has raised most of the funds needed to carry on the high school baseball program at Niwot, as well as a summer baseball program for high school players. In recent years, with the advent of showcases and summer club baseball teams recruiting players from all over the area, the number of summer teams sponsored by Niwot Baseball, Inc., and other similar organizations have declined significantly.

George Sypher, a parent and former assistant coach, along with former players and assistant coaches Mike Moat and Cam Kopplinger, former player Tanner Kirkpatrick, and Warren, a current assistant coach, currently serve on the board of directors.

With the advent of COVID cancellation of the entire 2020 season, and the extension of the 2021 high school season well into June, Niwot Baseball, Inc., will not field a summer team for the first time since it was formed. But the organization remains the critical supporting organization for the Niwot High School baseball program.

Donations are tax deductible to the 501 c3 organization, and may be sent to P.O. Box 610, Niwot, CO 80544.