Mexican American Oral Histories

Melissa Berry: So, this is Melissa Berry interviewing Billy Powe. Billy, could you please state your name and spell it for us?

Billy Powe: My name is Billy Powe, B, I, L, L, Y, P, O, W, E.

MB: Thank you. So, what is fastpitch softball?

BP: For me, it was my life, for 30 years. I started playing when I was 17, retired in '08, 2008, retired in Prescott. I was the coach slash manager, um, player... but, it meant...fastpitch was, was everything to me. It was my life. I made a lot of friends, my family, everybody I grew up with, [we went] camping...shoot. I can't even explain it, what they meant to me, the Hawks.

MB: Can you give us a little bit of an overview of the Hawks?

BP: Hawks was started in 1958 by my grandfather, Alex Romero. He did it to get the, get all the kids off the street. My dad started playing when he was 17-- 16 or 17. My dad started playing in '58; he retired after 30 years. He decided time was, time was enough. My grandfather started it. My uncle coached it. My aunt, Anita was, she was the manager/ owner.

We used to call her little Steinbrenner. If you don't know, if you don't know who George Steinbrenner was, he was very strict. He's the owner, was the owner of the New York Yankees, but he was very, very strict. So we used to call her little Steinbrenner. But that was my aunt. We butted heads many, many times. But, um, the Hawks were started... my grandfather passed away in '86, and he just wanted the Hawks to continue. That was his, his wish. My aunt continued it. You know, things happen. People pass away, generations. We started another team with the younger kids called Hawks 2. So there was an old team with all the with the all the fathers, and a younger team with the younger ones. I actually stayed with the older ones for a few years before I went down to the the younger ones. When they retired, we became the Hawks. There was no more Hawks 1, Hawks 2.

I, I promised my aunt that I would get us to 50 years, so, and I made that promise, maybe at 40 years, I think I promised her that I would get her to, to 50 and I had to self, self taught-- I was pitcher. I had to teach myself how to pitch, which was very challenging. I practiced. A lot of times back here in the backyard, I learned how to pitch in the backyard, but I did. We did get to 50, and we retired. A lot of pain, lot of pain in learning how to pitch and a lot of soreness.

MB: Elaborate on that a little bit.

BP: I mean, just learning how to pitch. I mean, I'm not a small guy. I'm a pretty big guy.Back then, it was illegal to jump off the mound, to hop off the mound, but everybody was doing it. So I said, well, I got to do it. You get a little bit of an advantage. So I used to hop off the mountain about this far, but hopping and all that weight landing on one leg for so many pitches, for every time, yeah, got rough on the knees, got rough on the back. But, yeah, I mean, I wouldn't change any, any part of it.

MB: How old were you when the team retired in 2008?

BP: It was, I was born in '71 so 30...37, 38 years old.

MB: And you played practically your whole life?

BP: I played, yeah, I played for... man. We traveled so much. We played in New Mexico,El Paso... let me see. El Paso, Las Cruces, Socorro, Albuquerque, Hastings, we went to Hastings, Nebraska, twice, Aurora, Denver, Colorado, LA and then all of Arizona, with Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, Show Low, I mean--

Josie Powe: Desert Blaze.

BP: Yeah, my dad played in Desert Blaze. It was a really a desert and there was nothing. Still, I think there's houses there now, I don't even know what's over there now, but actually, there's some videos. We have some videos of that, but-- of Desert Blaze, but--

JP: Desert Blaze was, uh--

BP: There's just a lot.

JP: It was an empty, dusty lot.

Connie Seras: The dust, dirt was this deep. [laughs]

BP: They used to have horse races there. That's all, that's what I remember. Desert Blaze. [background chatter] I don't, I was too young for softball, but I remember the match races, they used to have match races at Desert Blaze.

JP: There was like a market place right next to it, everything like that. And that's how he [Billy Sr.] also said, come on down. Kids, the boys, you know, there's room over here, you can play over here.

MB: Did you have to, um, do competitions to place in anything to go on these, all these different tournaments, and...?

BP: Yeah, I mean, they were, they were tournaments, so most of them were just entry fee to go play, but you didn't want to go all that way just to play two games. So you didn't go with the, you didn't want to be a bad team, because most of them were double elimination. You lose two, you're out. So you didn't want to have to travel and then only play two games. So you had to be, like-- everyone was invited, except for nationals, and then, nationals, you had to earn your way. But like these other tournaments, it was like, you just pay your entry fee and you could go play. But like I said, we started traveling. We became one of the better teams, and we would travel and go compete, and like I said, we've won-- the Hawks, in general, won over 100 trophies. I don't know--

John Moreno: I've seen them, yeah.

JP: Oh, did you see them?

JM: Yeah, I've seen them.

BP: Yeah, we have over 100 trophies, but that's in... baseball, they started in baseball, there's baseball trophies. There's football trophies, flag football, flag football, baseball, softball, slowpitch softball, basketball. And actually, a few years ago, or not a few years ago, we won a volleyball tournament. So we were called the Hawks. We were co-ed volleyball. We signed up and we won a co-ed volleyball. So we have a co-ed volleyball [trophy]. So. I don't think there's any soccer, no soccer,no tennis, no soccer, but yeah, at least there was six sports that they've won trophies, that the name the Hawks won trophies.

JP: Have you been to Anita's house?

JM: Yes.

JP: To see all the trophies.

JM: I've seen them. I've taken photos of them. There's, like, over 300 trophies there of the Hawks.

BP: And she, my aunt, Anita, used to say she, she changed her mind recently, but she had picked out, like, four trophies that she wanted to be buried with.

JM: Really?

BP: Yeah.

MB: Which ones did she choose?

BP: I do not know, but she did choose four. But she changed her mind as far as she's gonna be cremated now, but, yeah, but she had she-- I said, well, we could still burn the trophies.

MB: [laughs]

BP: You haven't seen the trophies?

MB: No, not yet.

JP: And she was the statistician of the team, you know.

BP: No, yeah, she kept all her stats.

JP: You know, the home runs--

BP: Scorekeeper stats.

JP: How many, you know, you hit this season and all of that. She just did all of that.

BP: We had a, I was just telling them, there was an initiate-- initiation to become a Hawk.

JM: Really?

BP: And... this is the way they thought-- my dad and them. To become a Hawk, they would give you a speech. You know, this is what it meant to be a Hawk, you know, family, friends and, you know. Anita used to have a swimming pool in the backyard. So the first thing they would do is the guy that was being initiated, they would ask him to come and sit, and he had to kneel in front of my, my grandfather. Now, it's a big party. Everyone's drinking, having a good time, so they had to, they had to kneel. And they gave the whole speech of what it meant to be a Hawk and everything. He had a big ring. So what he would do is you had to kiss the ring. He would blind-- they, they'd blindfold them. He'd be blindfolded after-- he had to kiss the ring. So when the guy's kissing the ring, my grandfather had very hairy knuckles,

JP: [laughs]

JM: [laughs]

BP: So, intention-- and I know this because my dad, when my grandfather passed away, my dad became the one that you had to kiss it from. So he used to tell me he would purposely let you feel the hair and stuff. So when they were telling them, and they were saying, okay, now, you're you're a Hawk and this and that. So what they would do after, you know, they would kiss the ring, they would be giving the final, okay, now you are a Hawk, a Hawk, they'll do is they would take off their shoe and put the ring on their big toe. They'd be like this, right, right in front of us, and be looking like, looking like they kiss the ring off the big toe.

So then they would-- like that, so that they would baptize them, and they would pick them up and throw them into the swimming pool with-- all, all full of clothes and everything. So that's what they, that's what they would do to the males. So if they had a wife/ girlfriend, what they would do is that she'd have to put on a skirt. And it was, it wasn't like a short skirt, but it was a skirt. And they would lay an ironing board down, and what she had to do, she's blindfolded, they would put water bottles or beer, I think it was beer back then-- we'll say water bottles--

JP: [laughs]

JM: [laughs]

BP: Water, water glasses. And she had to-- straddling the ironing board without, without knocking any the water so, you know, she'd go across like that. And when she would get to the end, they start telling her, you too have, you know, you're a Hawkette and stuff. But what they would do is, my dad, or my, my godfather would lay down on the board after she would pass--

JP: Oh, yeah!

BP: So it looked like they walked--

MB: [laughs]

BP: --right, like they strattled, like they straddled him with the skirt on. That, that's how they initiated her, and that's how they became a Hawkette.

JM: [laughs]

BP: [laughs]

And they just did a lot of things like that, a lot of pranks, you know, like I said, the Hawks were family. They were a softball team, but, I mean, they were a team, I shouldn't say softball, because they played so many sports, but they were a family.

Frank Borquez, he's our-- his dad played on a different team. His mom was my cousin, Margot, but his dad played on another team called Vida, and when we would play him, he would come and sit in our dugout, and he used to tell us, I'm going to be a Hawk. Your dad plays on the other team! I don't care, I'm going to be a Hawk. And he was, he used to be our bat boy.

MB: Were these other families, or family friends [that you usually played]?

BP: His, his mom was my cousin.

MB: Oh, okay, and sometimes you guys played each other.

BP: Yeah, yeah. We had so many, like I said, we knew everybody. We know all the teams and players would break off from us, you know, go, start their own team. We had- our, one of our biggest rivals became, you know, because a couple of our players left and they started their own team. So they became our rivals. They're our rivals. They were called the Hurricanes. And actually, well, my best friend, he's the one that started the other team.

JM: Billy, do you have any stories of the Hawks when you were playing at Santa Rita Park that stands out in your mind? [Maybe] just the crowds or the families that come [to mind]?

BP: Yeah, oh, yeah. So my, like, I said they were, they were known. The Hawks were known. And my, my godfather, was, you know, one of the main Hawks. He was a pitcher, just to let you know. So they, I was a kid, and he used to tell me, go find me a bottle cap. I'm like, a bottle cap? Okay. Let's go find one-- because he used to scuff the ball. He was a pitcher-- which is illegal, but anyways, that's how it started. So that's-- get any, every advantage you can get. But anyways, he got-- one of the umpires, he didn't like the ball. He hated the ball that they were using. Yeah, so he wanted another ball, and the umpire wouldn't give it to him because he said, there's nothing wrong with that ball. And he was like, I want another ball. And the umpire wouldn't do it. So he turned around and threw it into Third Avenue from the pitchers-- but he threw it over the fence. He goes, now I need another ball. Well, obviously, we got thrown out of the game.

If if you didn't like the Hawks, you at least respected them, especially the older ones, because they used to go... with... not the umpires, I don't know if [they] liked them or not, or what, but yeah, if you didn't, you didn't have to like them, but at least you respected them because of what they, they stood for what they meant.

JM: They sound, they sound very passionate.

JP: Oh, yeah.

BP: They're all very competitive, like I said, even to the poker games later on in life, man, they would make-- making fun of everybody, beating them in poker, and stuff like that.

I mean, I as far as, I mean, I there's just, I don't know if there's a lot of stories. I mean, the ones that stand out, there's one that I tell everybody, but I don't know if I can-- can't tell you guys what really happened. But I was a, uh--

MB: A redacted version.

BP: Yeah, PG version. We had a guy named, actually, Paul Rosthenhausler, my best friend, his, his dad, played, and I was just starting, so I was like 17, 18, and we were at, we were at Santa Rita, and it was a close game or something, and he was very vocal. [He] didn't use proper language, but he would be cussing at the umpires. I was, I was the next batter coming up, and it was a close game. There was a play at the plate. I think he called him out, but he started arguing. I was the next batter and I was coming up, and they're arguing, arguing. I'm standing up there, like I said, I'm a kid, I'm 17. Well, not a kid, but I'm 17. And the umpire tells him, one more word out of you, and this game is over. You guys forfeit. Well, I won't tell you what he said, but-- pretty bad. I just remember him saying that. I just turned around and said, well, we lost.

MB: [laughs]

BP: [laughs]

I tell everybody that story a lot, but I actually broke my wrist at Santa Rita.

JM: Really?

BP: Oh, yeah. So, I had pins, sliding at home. I was, I was sliding at home. And you know what-- the batters, when they dig in, I hit one of the holes.

JM: Oh.

BP: Broke my--

MB: Ugh.

BP: Hit one of the triangles. I didn't get a cast. I had two pins. I had four pins, two up here, two down here. Not a bar like that, because what they had to do was-- it [was] considered shattered, but it was three pieces, and they had to tighten it with an Allen wrench to squeeze, squeeze it together, but.

MB: Did you feel it immediately?

BP: She said I was in shock, but, um. She was a nurse. She's a nurse, or was a-- a retired nurse. So when I broke it, my dad was actually sitting right there. She was in the, in the snack bar.

JP: [laughs]

BP: And she was working the snack bar at Santa Rita Park, and I broke it, and I knew I broke it, and I was like this. And I looked at my dad, I said, I broke my wrist. I said, he was like, what? I said, I broke my wrist. I said, got the--I broke it. And I'm walking, and I go through a dugout. I take my helmet off, the whole time, I'm like this. And my dad, if you don't know my dad, it's like, let me see it. That's it. I broke it. I said, I know. Couldn't-- he kept insisting, he goes, let me see it. And I go, Dad-- goddamn it, let me see your wrist!

JM: [laughs]

BP: And I'm like, because I'm saying, go get Mom. I said, go get Mom. So when I let it go like this, it just went--

MB: Oh!

BP: I'm like, see, I told you! And then that's when all the pain hit, and I picked it up, I pick it up, and that's when I was all-- and she's going, and, you know, softball was, it's a beer drinking league, so my, my team's bringing me beers and stuff. I'm sitting in the car and I'm drinking the beers--

MB: [laughs]

BP: --and we get, we're going to the hospital. We go to St Mary's. She's, I swear, man, I think she was hitting every single speed bump possible at full speed.

JM: [laughs]

JP: [laughs]

BP: But then she looked at me, and I remember her looking at me and saying, are you in shock? Because I wasn't--

JP: Yeah.

BP: I was just like this. And she asked me, are you in shock? And I'm like, I don't know. I said, I just know I broke my wrist. I mean, I can't remember exactly what I said, what she was saying, but yeah, I did break my wrist. And then that's when she told me, she never knew how much I cussed until I came out of surgery, and then I was still under the anesthesia. And then she said, I looked at it, and I was like, what the and then she said, I went back out, and, like, a minute later, I woke up again. I was like, using the F word a lot. She said, I don't remember any of that. She said, I never know how much you cussed! But, yeah.

Santa Rita, also, I used to throw slow pitch tournaments because we were, we were we didn't have a sponsor, because we were family. All these other teams had sponsors, we didn't have a sponsor. So we, we'd have to pay out of our own pocket. But I started throwing fundraisers. I started throwing slow pitch tournaments at Santa Rita Park. So that helped us with all the money, especially when we decided to go to Nationals. I actually did get a partial sponsor, but, uh, but we just, we threw golf tournaments, but it started off with slowpitch tournaments. Always, we always had slowpitch tournaments at Santa Rita Park, and I would start on Friday night, all day, Saturday and through, halfway through, Sunday would be championship. So, and we would earn, you know, 5000 or whatever, which would get us for enough for the season. And back then, 5000 was a lot, in the, the '90s.Yeah, we'd all do all that.

MB: So you were the coordinator.

BP: Yeah, I ran... I did everything for the Hawks, like I said, everything from recruiting new players. The only thing I didn't do was keep score, because that was Nita. Anita kept score.

JP: My sister.

BP: She was the, the uniforms I didn't have, really no say. She would pick the colors and whatever we would get on uniforms, because I never cared about anything like that.

JP: They were red.

BP: Like I said, we used, but we went, we butted heads a lot, so, because she wanted it her way and I wanted it my way, and we were both stubborn, but, yeah, but, yeah no, Santa Rita did provide us fields for slow pitch tournaments, a lot of slowpitch tournaments. Like every year we would throw one to get us our money. And then I went to golf tournaments. I switched to golf tournaments.

MB: Do you have anything else about the park and your experiences with the park?

BP: If I think of anything, I'll let you know.

MB: Yeah, maybe you'll jump in during Josie's.