Jasper Youth Baseball honors Ed Ewing for continued support

Ed Ewing still has the Rex Critchlow Award he received more than 70 years ago.

“I’ve probably won 200 trophies since then. All of them are gone,” Mr. Ewing said. “I have my Rex Critchlow Award on the shelf next the sink in my bathroom that I see every morning.”

The annual award recognizes a 12-year-old who is nominated and chosen by coaches for their sportsmanship.

Monday evening, Mr. Ewing and his family stood under a new scoreboard that overshadowed the left-field side of Jasper Youth Baseball Field #1. The new scoreboard, one that Mr. Ewing picked out himself, features his name in a not-so-surprising reveal, as league officials recognized his continued investment in Little League by naming the field in his honor.

The impact of Jasper Youth Baseball, or more specifically, a certain coach, in Mr. Ewing’s life can’t be overstated. Stepping onto the baseball field to commemorate the moment and then throw the ceremonial first pitch on the newly named field is a direct connection to 75 years ago when he showed up to sign up to play.

“I heard from my friends they were going to try out for baseball, and I thought that was a good idea,” he said. “I didn’t ask my mom and dad. I got a glove and walked up to the field by the catholic church from my sixth Street home.”

He met a man sitting behind a white folding table at the field.

“What position do you want to play?” Ewing said the man asked him.

“Batter,” he replied.

The man laughed, told him he would get a chance to do that, then asked if he could throw the ball before sending him out to pitch some batting practice. That set Mr. Ewing on course for a game that would help shape his life. “That was Ralph Heath,” he said. “For 75 years, I’ve been thinking about that.”

He sees that same potential on the diamond today.

Through baseball and team sports, children learn the impact of friendships, sportsmanship, and competition, he explained.

“At eight years old, you do not know what your skill is until you get on the field and compete,” Mr. Ewing said, comparing it to business. “When you get on this field, you’re all equal, and depending on your determination and hard work, you can win. That’s what you will learn starting out at your age.”

He also recognized the impact coaches can have on kids through the smallest actions.

“My coach through Little League was a man named Vic Bohnert,” Mr. Ewing said. “One day when I was getting ready to take the field, he called me back into the dugout and he says, ‘Eddie Ewing, do you know you are special?'”

That was 70 years ago and the moment still stands out in his memory.

“That man told me I was special. My mom didn’t tell me that, and my dad didn’t tell me that,” Mr. Ewing told the crowd at the park. “My coach, Vic Bohnert, told me that.

“Coaches,” he turned to the men and women standing on the field with the players. “You can make a difference in their lives.”

Vic Bohnert seems to have had an impact in Mr. Ewing’s life.

Soon after graduating from Jasper High School, he joined the Air Force and, after getting out, began building his wealth by buying properties while working at companies such as Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. That became Ewing Properties. Headquartered in Jasper, Ewing Properties developed duplex communities across Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois — all built on a philosophy of minimal debt and meticulous upkeep. He’s also known for his work reviving companies through the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group.

His estimated net worth has reached as high as $750 million, and his business footprint has extended from southern Indiana to Nashville, Texas, and beyond. Despite his wealth and national profile, Ewing has maintained a connection to the community where he started, making his support of local institutions like Jasper Little League a natural extension of the story he has always told about himself.

“I owe Jasper Youth Sports and people like Mr. Heath,” he said. “It was an extraordinary experience for me.”

About 75 years after that meeting with Mr. Heath across a folding table, Mr. Ewing was joined by his wife, Linda, son, Tony, and daughter, Alayna, on a field full of potential that now bears his name.

“My goal and my family’s goal is to make this field right here the very best field in Little League Baseball,” he said before thanking the league for the honor.