I played LL in the late 1970s. We had dads as coaches. Some were better than others, but I wasn't afraid of, or convinced I knew more than, any of them I had fun, learned a few things about the game (some of them very wrong)--Little League was awesome. My dad was a farm kid who never played baseball and knew nothing about it, so he never coached.
A few things I recall vividly: 1) Gear: A couple of kids had their own (wood) bats that they brought to practice and let everyone use, the league supplied 3 or 4 metal bats (no such thing as composite, of course), and that was it. You just picked one of those bats for the season. No one had their own helmet--the team usually had 4 total (enough for bases-loaded situations). We practiced in jeans--baseball pants were handed out as part of the uniform for game days only, and were returned to the league at the end of the season for re-use next year (holes in the knees and all).
And 2) Water: drinking water during practice was bad for you, so we practiced in summer sun in North Carolina for a couple of hours with absolutely no hydration. I remember being really thirsty... No water in the dugouts on game days either.