Managers 'big helpers' for Golden Tigers

By Staff
Kim West
Adam Tyra and Dee Harvey do a little bit of everything for the Russellville varsity baseball team.
Tyra, 19, and Harvey, 13, serve as team managers for the Golden Tigers, a job that includes field maintenance, tracking down foul balls and traveling with the team.
"They're my big helpers, my righthand men," Russellville coach David Ward said. "They chase foul balls, get the field ready for games, cut and weed-eat the grass, travel with us everywhere and eat with us."
Tyra, who graduated from Russellville High last spring, and Harvey, a Russellville Middle School eighth grader, are several years apart but they both love being a part of the team and making sure the players' equipment is available when needed.
"I like going to get the foul balls," said Tyra, who can be often heard from the dugout and cheering the players to 'get your game on.' "I like getting to go on the (away) trips – I didn't get to go to Florida but I did go to Florence. I had the cops called on me there because a lady said I was trespassing when I went after a foul ball."
Harvey said he also enjoys helping out with the team's gear.
"I like helping with balls and the bats," said Harvey.
Tyra, whose father went to school with Ward, named the coach and senior clean-up hitter Jacob Daniel as the funniest people on the team.
"I've known coach Ward for the last four years," Tyra said. "My dad went to school with him. Jacob Daniel is probably the funniest player to me, and Jake Ward is my favorite player because he 's like a buddy to me."
In addition to nearly always being the first person to scramble out of the dugout for foul balls, Tyra was a fixture on the sideline at Russellville basketball games last season and also closely follows professional baseball.
"I don't like the Braves or the Yankees," Tyra said. "I like the Red Sox but my favorite player, Ken Griffey Jr., is on the Cinncinati Reds."
Harvey said he follows football, baseball and basketball at Russellville and prefers high school sports over the pros.
"I don't like pro baseball – I like high school baseball," aid Harvey, who named Casey Herring as one of his favorite Russellville players.
"Casey is one of the most superstitious players, and so are Jake Ward and Matt Crawford. And I think coach Ward is the funniest guy on the team – I just like hearing him talk."