Gold Country Buzzards

The following is the tribute to David Kelley that was printed with two touching photos and distributed at his Celebration of Life on Saturday, May 9th, on the Buzzards home baseball field in Auburn.  Lots of family, co-workers, friends, teammates, former teammates and opponents came together on a nice afternoon for fellowship and sharing memories of Dave.  

Gold Country Kelley

May 4, 1957 - April 29, 2015

David Kelley the father of gold country baseball David Kelley was Mr. Baseball to adult hardball in the region. His regular baseball team, the Gold Country Buzzards, was staggered by the news, but has recovered enough to put together some interesting information about Gold Country Kelley from our perspective and expressed to us from other baseball friends of Dave.

The baseball community and ball players from the Sierra foothills, the Sacramento flatlands and around the world have expressed their deepest sympathy to the Kelley Family for their difficult loss and to the Gold Country Buzzards team for losing a great teammate and long-time friend. David Kelley meant a lot to many people locally and internationally. He used baseball as the entree to meet many, soon to be friends, in wonderful places around the world including the Gold Country of California.

David may have worked long and hard for that fine company, Pacific Gas and Electric, but he really just pretended to be interested in engineering and construction. He loved to talk, think and play baseball and plan the next international baseball trip.

David was known locally as a passionate baseball promoter and skilled player. There were many condolences with comments received from locals that said how his passion for adult baseball is what got them interested in playing again. And how they really appreciated him for bringing the enjoyment of playing baseball back into their lives. Baseball teammates begat baseball friendships, which became lasting friendships, and enriched many lives in exponential ways - thanks to 'Dive', which is Dave in Aussie speak.

Besides being a player for a mind-numbing number of teams, David was the founder and a manager of the Gold Country League at the start of this century. The older ballers in that league, with David as a founding father, eventually formed the current old man’s team, the Gold Country Buzzards. Also, affectionately known as the Ol' Buzzards, Dave was the original manager in 2006. The team plays on Sundays in the 52-years old and over division in the National Adult Baseball Association. Home games are played at James Field in Auburn, not far from his house. With David playing on the team, the Ol' Buzzards have won the Sacramento NABA championship the last two years, 2013 and 2014.

Dave took the Buzzards to Sydney, Australia in 2009 to attend the World Masters’ Games for the top highlight of the team. David organized the local team together, added some Canadian and Australian all-stars plus a smiley cop from Chicago to the squad, to create a formidable flock of Buzzards. That team went 10-0 during the tournament in November 2009, early Spring down-under, and brought home a special gold medal and terrific memories, along with lasting Aussie and Canadian friendships.

Ironically, Dave did not come back with the cherished gold medal. Dive wanted to play with the Australian guys he had played with before, the famous Downunders, for their last tourney. The D Unders are the fun-nest bunch of interesting older mates, but were not likely to win a medal. That team actually did remarkably well with David's bat and glove leading the way, but lost in the bronze-medal game. To David, he got the important win, a deeper friendship and the best of times with his Aussie buddies.

David and the D Unders go back to 2002, and he had lots of good times, baseball and otherwise, including many other medals with his favorite Aussie Mates. Yet, David smiled, proud as a papa, when the National Anthem was played and the Buzzards had gold medals hanging from their necks at Blacktown Olympic Park, the same site of the American gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Baseball International was Dave's biggest baseball joy. Through fund raising tournaments played in the USA and private donations, Baseball International sponsors baseball exhibitions in foreign countries and brings new equipment along for the kids. They play in 3 or 4 cities per trip, passing out baseball gear as they go. David was always encouraging ballplayers to go on a Baseball International trip. Fun and rewarding.

David loved to play baseball so much, and wanted to play in Auburn in a weeknight recreation league, so he formed one. Then he devised a way for a small group of guys, like six, to form a team and play baseball in this league. He invented a fun game that would have three teams playing each other, spreading out pitchers and catchers amongst teams. Then spreading players in an organized fashion amongst teams during a game, so everyone played a lot and no one team lost. This only lasted a while, but it was interesting and fun, and got some guys to join the adult baseball league.

David, the Auburn boy, played baseball on a lot of local youth and adult teams and is well-known and respected around the region. However, David is even more renowned internationally and was a big wig in the baseball hierarchy of the enormous World Masters' Games (over 28,000 participants in Sydney in nearly every Olympic sporting event in multiple age groups) with the next huge, every-four-year event, in Auckland, New Zealand in 2017. David would often say to the Buzzards and others, plan for the WMG on April 21 - 30 in New Zealand in '17. The Buzzards will be going to the world tournament in Kiwi Land in 2017 and DK will be there also.

David played ball in many parts of the world, but by far his favorite was Australia. He did warn us, before the Buzzards went, that Australia is addicting, and you can't just go once, or twice, or in Dive's case, eight times. The land is amazing, the animals are all different, the Great Barrier Reef is famous for lots of reasons, and the people are fabulous. They speak a funny, some say cute, version of the English language and are very easy to fall in love with. David played last Fall in the Pan-Pacific Games on the Gold Coast in the Land of Oz with close Australian and American baseball friends, again.

The tears from Australia poured out early and often after the sad news. There were lots of caring messages and questions and deepest, heart-felt sympathies to the Kelley Family. They have sent flowers, notes and remembrances that have brought more tears to the eyes. They love to brag about David and how many times they have played with him, or he stayed at their house, or he knew more about Australia than most Aussies, or about their interesting travels and tournaments, and on and on. So cool.

David made quite an impression in the land down-under. On Friday, the 8th, Dave's Aussie teammates organized a memorial gathering at the Knox Baseball Club, in a suburb of Melbourne. They said the turn-out was amazing with lots of good stories and Tinnys (cans of beer) rose in Dave's honor.

One noteworthy story that shows his caring and that only DK would think to do. On these International Baseball trips he would get carried away in the giving department. Besides the baseball gear intended to be given, David also gave away his stuff to those in need. One time, reported by teammate Mike Radey, Dave was traveling back on the bus from a tourney site, shivering in his seat, while wearing close to nothing, just his sliding shorts and undershirt. Even his shoes and socks were given away, besides his baseball gear. Wow! Now that's the David Kelley that we know and will miss so much, and actually - so will Baseball International.

It is easy to tell that David was addicted to baseball. There are worse addictions than the National Pastime, but David was afflicted bad with the baseball juju. He just could not get enough of it. We all benefitted from him immeasurably with the leagues and teams he formed, both locally and on the international stage. David talked many into playing baseball overseas with travel to cool places and combine site-seeing with a baseball tournament. He even talked wives or girlfriends into letting us go or coming along. That organization and salesmanship will really be missed.

Being a non-stop baseball promoter and prolific player was a great joy in his life. And he shared that joy with so many others. He always wanted to talk about baseball and was always excited when someone new joined the baseball team or league.

David played in too many places to remember. He was in Antigua earlier this year, and played in Aussie Land and Florida late last year. He played in Cuba a couple of years ago, loved it and was pushing for a return trip next year. Kelley’s baseball focused passport also had stamps from Canada, Hungary, India, Italy, and Russia.

The Gold Country Buzzards were as stunned as everyone else to hear the sad news. A couple of the guys had lunch with David the previous day and commented on how good he looked and how he was looking forward to getting better, and back on the field. We are still shaken, lost our focus at the first game since his passing, but have dedicated this season to him, as the special teammate and friend he was to us. Because David wore several numbers as an Ol' Buzzard, we will wear a black DK patch on the uniforms.

After seeing many of the comments and remembrances from around the globe for David, it made the Buzzards realize how lucky we were to be able to call him a teammate on a regular basis. He was a very special man.

The Ol' Buzzards held a nice memorial to David prior to last Sunday's game in Davis. After many kind words were said, the bagpiper came onto the infield playing Amazing Grace. The tune filled the air as the ball players from both teams circled the mound and tried to hold back tears. The touching song was followed by a long moment of silence, and then followed by a 'Thank You David'.

We will miss him dearly and cherish his memories until we meet again on the heavenly baseball fields. Probably in a league formed by Dave.