Catching history one signature at a time

Tom Cooney with one of the baseballs
signed by 11 United States Presidents

11 United States Presidents have signed this baseball.
Tom needs two signatures to complete his dream. He
needs President Trump and former President Obama.

It was back in 1951, Tom Cooney was 15 years old at the time, watching a baseball game on television with his older brother, Patrick, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower threw out the ceremonial first pitch at an opening day game. 

After watching this customary first pitch, Cooney told his brother he had the idea to start getting the president’s signatures on a baseball with each new administration. 

“Patrick was excited about the idea and encouraged me to go to the library and get the addresses of past presidents and go for my dream,” Cooney said. 

Cooney found out former President Herbert Hoover lived at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, and it wasn’t far from where Cooney was living at the time in New Jersey. So, he went to the hotel, but didn’t get the signature on his first try. 

It was a little more difficult for Cooney to communicate with the hotel staff what he wanted because Cooney was deaf and couldn’t talk. He wrote down what he wanted and handed the piece of paper to the hotel clerk, but the clerk told him “good luck – everyone wants to see the president.”

Cooney said someone overheard the clerk and wrote on a note to Cooney to come back and go to a certain elevator because Hoover took a walk every day and got off of that specific elevator. 

Cooney came back the next day and tried again. He found Hoover and followed him on his daily walk.

“President Hoover was a fast walker,” Cooney said. “He walked around the block with a deaf man and kept talking all the way and I pulled out the baseball and he signed it!

“He never knew I was deaf,” Cooney continued. “Little did I know this was the start of history.”

Cooney was born in 1935 and was adopted at birth. Cooney became deaf at a very young age due to a mastoid infection and lost his hearing in both ears. Not only was he deaf, but he was confined to a wheelchair for several years due to balance issues.

Cooney said he was made fun of by kids in his neighborhood, who called him names like “deaf and dumb” and even pushed over his wheelchair.

And while it was difficult communicating with neighborhood kids, Cooney said it was hard even communicating with family members. 

“My mom only knew very few signs,” Cooney said. “We would point to things. She knew things like bathroom, eat, television and sleep.”

Never to be daunted, Cooney did eventually teach himself how to walk at around 7 or 8 years old.

“My mom saw me for the first time get out of the wheelchair and walk and told me she had prayed every night on her knees I would be able to walk again,” Cooney said. 

Cooney eventually was enrolled in a boarding school for deaf people. 

Today, Cooney, 81, lives in Clearwater and is still completely deaf in both ears, but can talk to some degree. Since 2000, he’s had an interpreter and assistant, Camie Gallo, at his side interpreting for him. 

Having overcome so much in his life, Cooney is determined to accomplish his mission of 66 years – continuing to collect the signatures of former presidents and first ladies.

Cooney has 11 presidential signatures on one of the baseballs, including presidents Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton and G.W. Bush. 

A second baseball has the signatures of first ladies, including Jacqueline Kennedy, who signed both baseballs since her husband, John F. Kennedy, had passed away before Cooney could get him the baseball. 

Cooney said he only needs the signatures of President and Mrs. Trump and former President and Mrs. Barack Obama, as well as former first lady Hillary Clinton, to fulfill his dream. 

“These are the only baseballs in the world like this with this many signatures,” said Cooney.

Because these baseballs are so rare, Cooney keeps them under lock and key in a safe deposit box at a bank. The last time they were taken out was when President George Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush signed the balls during Thanksgiving a few years ago. 

“Gov. Jeb Bush helped us get the two signatures and even he had his secret service handle the baseballs because he was so scared to transport the baseballs,” said Cooney.

And Cooney, who has never let his limitations hold him back, is not one to give up. 

A former reporter for the Silent Jerseyette News in 1992, Cooney honored by President George Bush as the 745th Point of Light honoree for his work with kids in schools. He was the Grand Marshall for the Helen Keller Festival in Alabama, and signed the National Anthem for the 2001 Super Bowl in Tampa. Cooney has been a motivational speaker in classrooms, served as a deputy sheriff and court interpreter.

He’s a man who doesn’t give up and doesn’t let what some would consider a disability hold him back. 

“Deaf people can do anything they want to do, except hear,” said Cooney. 

Cooney has two sons, Tom and Ron, who were with him when he met some of the presidents. His family wants the balls once signed by all the living presidents and first ladies one day to go to the Smithsonian to be on display. 

“I just want these icons up to date, so they can be preserved and recognized for future generations,” said Cooney. 

To see photos and videos, visit www.f­acebo­ok.co­m/DCO­TUS.

The first time I met Tom Cooney in person. What a wonderful
story he has to share.

Go to bit.ly/DCOTUSpaper to read story in Clearwater Beacon

Family fun at minor league baseball games

Looking for something to do with the family that is fun and won't cost you a lot of
money? Recently my family went to a Clearwater Threshers Baseball game on Friday
night and paid $32 for tickets which included four fantastic field box ticket, four shirts,
four sodas, four bags of chips and four hot dogs. There was also a post-game country
concert included the night we went. You really can't beat that for a night out.

This deal is every Friday night home game during the season. It's called the Tampa Bay
Times Family Pack. You do need a coupon and can find it in the Tampa Bay Times
Newspaper.

We went with a group of 18 people and had a great time cheering on the Threshers team.
The Threshers are the minor league team for the Philadelphia Phillies. We are so fortunate to have not only the Clearwater Threshers, but several minor league teams right
here in the Bay area including: the Dunedin Blue Jays and the Tampa Yankees. We've
been to each team it's stadium and have a blast.

What my kids love with the minor league teams is being able to get autographs from the players after the game! They also like the contests during the innings throughout the
game. There are races on the field, shirts thrown into the stands and lots of other crowd
interaction.

Minor league teams are great because the teams do all sorts of promotions throughout the
week to get you to their games and the tickets are very reasonable. Most ticket prices around $8 for adults and $6 for kids and seniors. A lot of the minor league teams even have a day when kids get in free to the game and some have fireworks after the game. The Threshers have fireworks every Saturday night home game.

Check online to see what kind of promotions each team is running. If your kids are on
little league teams and you want them to have the opportunity to take the field with the
pros, call the team. It's a great experience and one your kids will remember. My girls
have done this the past two years with their teams and it is a great memory.

What's nice is there are a lot of games and the games will run all summer long. Most
teams play until first week of September. No matter what age your kids are, it's a great
time for the whole family!

Benefits of kids playing sports

Recently in one week, I went to four ball games. Two were baseball games, the USF Bulls and the Tampa Bay Rays and the other two were my girl’s softball games. As I was thinking about the games, I was reminded about how good it is for kids to be involved in sports.

Graci, center, helped announce the lineup during
the fourth inning of the USF Bulls Baseball game
 on March 16. She is pictured with USF baseball
announcer Alfredo Muente and Marketing
Coordinator Allison Minisce. 

My two daughters’ have been playing sports since they were 4 and 5 years old. The first sport they wanted to play was tennis. I think they started out with tennis because their cousins played tennis. The next sport was soccer, than T-ball, baseball and this year they’re playing softball.

Being in sports has helped my girls in so many ways. They learn how to win and to lose. They learn how to play as a team and as an individual. They learn how work for a goal. They also learn camaraderie and sportsmanship. Another benefit is they are exercising.

Since my kids are young only 8 and 9 years old, they are still learning how to play. This is the first year they have played softball. Most of the kids on the team are learning the positions, how to throw, pitch and catch. In just a few weeks, I have already seen an improvement.

My husband and I always try to encourage out kids.  Sometimes they get upset if they strike out, don’t get a hit or make a bad play. While we were at the Rays spring training game, we were able to show the girls that even the professionals strike out and don’t get hits every time.  They even make errors, but they don’t let it get them down and get right back in the game.

Kristi Bulluck sings National Anthem
at USF Bulls Baseball Game March 16.

My daughter Graci and I attended the USF baseball game to watch one of my sister, Kristi, sing the National Anthem. While we were there we not only saw the baseball game, but had the chance to see the girl’s softball team play for a few minutes. It was a great chance to tell my daughter that if she gets good enough, she could get a scholarship and play softball for college if she wants.

By the way, if you haven’t been to USF for a game it’s pretty neat how the baseball and softball fields are right next to each other. The stadiums are beautiful and kids get in free to the games. It’s a wonderful experience. Graci even got to be the kid announcer during the 4^th inning and go into the press box to announce the Bulls players who were batting that inning. That made her day!

I know from my own experience that when I was playing sports and going to school, I didn’t have time to do much else. I played soccer, basketball and softball. I wasn’t good enough to go to college on a scholarship, but I still enjoyed playing.

If I can encourage parents to help your kids find a sport they like to do, whether it’s a team sport or an individual sport. It can make a big difference in your child’s life.

Here's a clip of Graci announcing the game: