After a difficult week for the community of Jacksboro, one of the town’s sports teams re-took the field with a very different perspective. The benefits of that day turned out to be much bigger than baseball.
The home of the Jacksboro Tigers does not feel a whole lot like home right now.
“It didn’t feel real, the buses destroyed, cars destroyed,” said Jacksboro junior Christian Wiggins. “We were just in the gym that same day playing basketball, and we came back and it was destroyed. It felt like a movie. Everything felt like a movie. It’s something you should never see.”
What the Jacksboro community saw was the result of EF-3 and EF-2 tornados that hit the town directly, including the high school’s athletic complex – and a building in which Jacksboro baseball coach Blake Belcher and his family were huddled inside.
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“It felt like somebody was pressing on your ears, and then letting off,” said Belcher. “That happened about four or five times. After the third time, my son looked over at me and said Dad this isn’t good, and I said, no it’s not. After the fourth time, the whole building started shaking and it went over us. The football field was on the left and it ripped it up. The high school is on the right and it ripped it up. But the fieldhouse held and all the people in there didn’t have a scratch.”
No scratches, but devastating damage to the school’s facilities, including the baseball field, with the parking lot filled with trucks and equipment already on hand as the community does the important work of cleaning up and rebuilding.
“Early in the morning until the sun goes down,” said Wiggins. “Just cleaning up and helping everybody who needs help.”
But the athletic department at Jacksboro high school decided one way to help students get through a difficult time – allow the kids to play the sports they love, even as their community rebuilds.
“They just need something that’s normal until we get back to normal,” said Belcher.
“No other sport makes me as happy as when I play baseball,” said Wiggins. “It just brings me so much joy.”
Joy on full display, after Jacksboro’s neighbor and rival about 35 miles north, Bowie high school, offered their home stadium for the Tiger's next home baseball game.
“You don’t really have the words to say or you can’t imagine something like that happening to their school,” said Bowie high school baseball coach Tyler Price. “We want them playing ball, playing the game they love. If we can help make that happen, we’re more than happy to.”
“That people are willing to open up and help us or let us use their facilities and stuff like that,” said Wiggins. “We appreciate Bowie a lot for that.”
Appreciation was evident in the energy the Tigers showed as they took the field for a game that felt bigger than baseball.
And dominance shown by pitcher Christian Wiggins as he struck out the first six batters he faced to begin his first time back on the mound.
“It feels surreal going from all these houses that had nothing left, to playing the sport we love,” said Wiggins.
Surreal perspective as their community rebuilds, but a familiar feeling on the baseball diamond, taking advantage of an opportunity provided by their neighbors up the road, offering a temporary new home of the Jacksboro Tigers.
“You don’t want to waste an inning, or waste a second, or even a pitch,” said Belcher. “Just play with everything you’ve got with joy in your heart and be thankful for what we have.”
