HONORS Inspiring Coach honoree finds his true calling with Miracle League
INSPIRING COACH
Monty McLamb By MIKE BOLLINGER
T
he fun had gone out of coaching for Monty McLamb. Then, he saw a segment on television in 2008 that started him on the road to regaining that fun. He found that joy through the formation of the Miracle League of Johnston County, and because of that work he has been named the Johnston Now Honors Inspiring Coach Award winner. He had coached his two sons in various sports beginning when they were about five years old. “I was the typical dad coach. When they got to high school, I kind of bowed out of coaching them since they had their high school coaches,” he said. “I really didn’t have anything to coach, so I stayed out a year.”
Then, he was asked to coach in a youth league by parents of some of the players. “People were yelling at the umpires and the kids. The fun had been taken out of it,” McLamb said. The TV segment McLamb saw was about Miracle League, a league that helps children with disabilities and special needs enjoy baseball. “I got in touch with them in Conyers, Ga. A lady named Diane talked to me and looked up information on Johnston County. She said, ‘You need one’, and sent me the information,” he said. The concept of the Miracle League of Johnston County was born. From there, McLamb said he contacted some people he knew through church and school activities, and they sat down one day and came up with a plan to start raising money.
Hospice doesn’t mean giving up hope. 919.877.9959 heartlandhospice.com/Raleigh
10 • [ JOHNSTON NOW ]
“My Sunday School class was the first people I told about it,” he said. Attorney Emery Ashley volunteered to do the legal work. “He got us set up,” McLamb said. In 2009, the local league was incorporated. “We hit the ground running,” McLamb said. At first, he said the goal was to raise $10,000. Then, following a presentation to the Smithfield Civitan Club, he spoke with a representative from the Partnership for Children of Johnston County, which was trying to raise money to build a park for children with special needs. “We decided to combine forces to build a Miracle League field and a special needs park. Suddenly, we were looking at a $1 million budget,” McLamb said. “We started raising
money in 2011. The Town of Smithfield provided the land for the field (at the Smithfield Recreation and Aquatics Center), but we couldn’t break ground until we had the money.” Finally, through fundraising efforts and state grants, construction began in 2017. In April 2018, the park and the field were opened. “We had a crowd of about 400 people at the opening,” McLamb said. The league had been playing at the community park in Smithfield since 2010 on a regular baseball field. “We learned quickly the facilities were not compatible. Wheelchairs don’t roll well on dirt and walkers are very hard to navigate. We played eight years on regular fields,” McLamb said.