Power and more power.
Allen County Community College baseball circa 1983 — the Red Devils had power hitters and power pitchers. They also had a very good defensive team.
Put that together and you get a record-breaking, record-holding and JUCO World Series baseball team. The 1983 Red Devils are still talked about today here in Iola and, well, they should be after rolling to the World Series and finishing third.
That 1983 Red Devil team went 47-12, which is the school record for wins, and will go into the Red Devil Diamond Club Baseball Hall of Fame as a unit.
“We were a team of individuals but with the same goal — to win,” said Scott Vondemkamp of Topeka, who played left field for the Red Devils. “We had a variety of personalities but our will to win and our talent came together so well that year.”
On Friday, the 1983 Red Devils will be part of the inaugural class to be inducted into the Red Devil Diamond Club hall of fame. The club is an ACC baseball alumni organization recently established.
“We were and still are a close knit group of guys,” said power-hitter Duane Wales (not Wells as reported in Tuesday’s Register).
“I was so happy to hear the entire team was being inducted because we had a special team in 1983. We were the first team to represent Kansas junior colleges at the JUCO World Series and that’s pretty great to say and we’re proud of that.”
Wales still holds hitting records for Allen Community College, all coming from 1983. Wales cranked out 25 home runs and had 92 hits, both still team record standards. He also led the 1983 team with 88 runs batted in, which is still a team record.
Allen hit 88 home runs as a team in 1983. Rod Rush, the Red Devils’ center fielder, and Dan Christie, first baseman, each hit 13 home runs and Vondemkamp delivered 11 home runs.
“We, as a team, were an odd bunch from different states but together we were hard to beat,” Rush said, who was from Lawrence but now lives in Topeka. “All the guys on the team had winning backgrounds as high school players and we played not to fail out there.”
Rush was a good example of the speed the team had also. He led the Red Devils in stolen bases with 27 as they had 153 as a team. Dane Hupp and Greg Schiffelbein, outfielders, and second baseman Greg Golden all had double-digit stolen base totals.
Talking to four members of the team one word kept coming up — camaraderie.
“Val was good friends with Don Williams, a scout for the Philadelphia Phillies at the time. Don put out the word that Allen County was the place to go and play baseball,” Wales said. “I was from Ohio and we had nine or 10 states represented on the team. We had a good nucleus of Kansas players, including some from right there in Iola.”
Brett Beede led the Allen pitching staff going 11-3. Chris Coursey was the Red Devil closer. He finished with a 7-1 record but also set the ACC strikeout per inning record at 1.57. That mark still stands.
