Sports are an important community connector for kids to adults. Plain Township has a wide variety of options available. Diamond Park hosts many soccer and baseball events all year round. Al Leno park offers pickle ball, tennis, and volleyball for a local pickup game.
Challenger League
Local Challenger Baseball League Started in Plain Township
Challenger Baseball is a division of Little League baseball which was founded in 1989 and designed to be an adaptive baseball program for individuals with physical and intellectual challenges. Our local league’s mission is to make the experience of playing baseball available to all in a safe environment, while building teamwork and social skills that will remain with them throughout their life.
The origins of the Canton Challenger Baseball league date back to 1991 when a teacher’s aide in Plain Local School District learned of the new Challenger program at the Little League World Series. The aide, Bonnie McClellan, then turned to her local league, Holly Hills Little League, to try and interest them with in is program. They were excited to accept this project, and the Canton Holly Hills Challengers were born.
Reaching out into the special education classes, Bonnie was able to field the first team, the Tigers, with 38 players. This proved to be a success and was followed over the years by many more players, reaching as many as nine teams and 180 players. The Challenger home field continues to be at Barr Elementary school, but their growth as led to more fields being added in Jackson Township and Canton City. Today, the program has grown to 203 players including the new Senior division allowing older players to play.
The season typically starts with Opening Day at Barr Elementary School and ends with Recognition Night at GlenOak’s Joe Gilhousen field. Following the regular season, the Challenger league participates in the Challenger State Tournament held around the state at various little league fields.
For more information: website https://www.cantonchallengerbaseball.org/
Holly Hills
Holly Hills Baseball and Softball programs are part of Little League Baseball and give children from the ages of 4 – 12 who attends Plain Local Schools the opportunity to participate in organized sports. For more information https://www.hollyhillsbaseball.com/
Plain Local Youth Football
The league is a private, volunteer, non-profit organization that sponsors flag and tackle football and cheerleading activities to the youth of Plain Township. For more information https://www.plainlocalyouthfootball.org/plainloc/
Industrial Sports Leagues
It was not uncommon for local businesses to have sports leagues for their workers. Before professional sports, this was a way to showcase the talents of the workers. As semi-pro sports came along, many businesses backed a semi-pro team and the members were workers of that business. As sports evolved and grew into the national pastime it is today, there was still a need to provide outlets for the workers who wanted to continue to participate in sports. The industrial leagues also provided team comradery, bragging rights, marketing opportunities, and a way for the workers to escape their jobs. Leagues formed around football, basketball, baseball, softball, fumble ball and bowling to name a few.
Sports Programs
High School sports programs are a time capsule of information and very useful for the Plain Township Historical Society. It is one of the few places where the history of a particular sport is documented. Information from these programs, in the past, have helped us to document the history of sports at Middlebranch and Glenwood High Schools.
The artwork and how the programs are produced show how printing has changed. In the beginning, at Middlebranch, the programs were hand made with line drawings as artwork. As Plain Local Sports grew and with a new high School, the programs got a more professional look with ad ready graphics and color. This continued on with Oakwood High School as well. Even the first few years of GlenOak High School showed the classical designed cover. As photography became cheaper, photographs begin to appear.
Advertising gives us a snapshot of the businesses that supported the sports of our community from sole proprietorships to large companies. These ads allow PTHS to track various business that existed during a certain time period that did not take out ads in the newspapers. Also, how the makeup of the ads changed is interesting as the role of marketing and recruiting employees changed as businesses looked for ways to reach their target markets.
This is one of the few consistent places where statistics for a sport are kept on a regular basis. Yearbooks only provide a high-level glimpse into a sport. The school newspaper provides a recap but not necessarily a long running conversation on the stats behind the sport. Each sport keeps its own records and has it own patrons to help support the players.
PTHS is always on the lookout for Plain Local Sports programs from high school to elementary school to organized sports. Consider donation any copies you have so we can preserve this piece of history.
