Dick "Chief" Twyman suddenly passed away in January of 2011 dealing a tragedy to the Twyman/Heat and All American family and the baseball world. Chief was a good man and did a lot for the community and baseball world. We lost a great man, a loving father, a supportive general manager, a teacher of life and baseball to thousands of young men that had the honor to play for him. He was a huge ambassador of the City of Havasu, City of Haysville, Baseball all over the country and the National Baseball Congress. Chief will be greatly missed, BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN.
In 1992 The Heat began with hopes of building a competitive baseball team comprised of elite college-level athletes. Chief was co-owner and general manager of the Heat. Building a world class team didn’t take long at all. Chief and his son Rick and the Heat team had many accomplishments in the last 18 years including the 1996 US Open Championship, 8 Pacific Southwest League Championships, 1 Jayhawk League Championship, 8 National Baseball Congress Regional Championships, 8 top ten finishes in the NBC World Series, 5 Sweet Six finishes in the NBC World Series and 3 “Most Popular Team in the Country” Awards. One of the biggest accomplishments and award of all being the “2007 National Baseball Congress World Title” which Chief was voted the Manager of the year.
In 18 seasons Chief Compiled 612 wins and only 119 losses. He helped 122 players move on to play professional baseball with different organizations.
Some of his players currently in the big leagues are:
- Morgan Ensburg (Houston Astros)
- Mike Gallo (Houston Astros)
- Fernando Cortez (Kansas City Royals)
- Dennis Sarfate (Milwaukee Brewers)
- Sergio Romo (San Francisco Giants)
- Bryan Peterson (Florida Marlins)
- Craig Gentry (Texas Rangers)
Chief was also a driving force and President behind the NBC Pacific Southwest League. Chief made sure from 1998 to 2009 that the PSWL was one of the strongest leagues in the country. Former teams like the Havasu Heat (currently the Haysville Heat), Casa Grande Cotton Kings and the Palm Springs Power were a few of the founding teams in the first season of 1998.
As far as contacts in the game of baseball from the college level to Professional baseball not many people have respect in the game that Chief or his son Rick have. He has worked hand and hand with over 500 college coaches and professional teams thru out the country for two decades. College coaches rely on Chief and Rick to help there players playing for the Heat and to find them high school players for their universities.
Outside of baseball Chief was a very giving man. Every Christmas he sponsored a different family in need and sometimes more than one family was sponsored. He would take care of the family with presents, dinner and a Christmas tree. Chief always donated his time and donated the heats time for many organizations thru out the country. He wanted to make sure that the boys that were on the Heat team or came thru All American also learned how to give back to the community and people in need. Boys all over the country will tell you stories of what they have learned from Chief, not only on the baseball side but in life as well.
Chief will always be apart of the Heat and All American Baseball looking down and making sure that the High School players of All American are given the shot to play college baseball and the college and Heat players will be given the shot to play professional ball. That is what he worked so hard on for two decades and the top college coaches and Heat/All American staff will continue with his ongoing work to make sure it will continue.
On 8-6-2011 The legend Dick "Chief" Twyman was inducted into the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame.See Hall of Fame inductee Page :2011 NBC Hall of Fame Class
Story about Chief from reporter in Midwest
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