South Dakota and North Dakota champs, the 1972 Crofton Bluejays included Bob Bozied (front row left), Marlan Schieffer, Tim Kuchta, Larry Bartz, Lynn Palmer, Tom Kollars, Marv Hegge, Sid Kollars; (back row left) Whitey Mumm, Greg Sommervold, Lyle Tramp, Dennis Hegge, Dan List, Steve Perk, Tom Kuchta.

Crofton is a baseball town and always has been. With nearly 150 youth participating in little league and American Legion baseball and softball programs in Crofton each summer, the real foundation of that baseball legacy is the Crofton Bluejays. A couple of major league players have put on the Crofton uniform over the past century, including David Bancroft, the Sioux City native who played and managed in the majors in the 1920s, and of course, the late St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer, Bob Gibson of Omaha. 

While the Jays have taken their fair share of South Dakota State Amatuer baseball championships over the decades, it was perhaps the 1972 Bluejays team that was most decorated. 

It was 50 years ago that the Jays captured the Lewis and Clark League regular season title and defeated Tabor, 3-1, to win the District 6 tourney and earn a berth in the state tourney, held in Yankton that year. Rich “Whitey” Mumm pitched a 5-hit performance for the Jays and Lyle Tramp was the offensive leader in the district title game. 

In the South Dakota state tournament, the Jays defeated teams from Gregory, Yankton and Sioux Falls, to set up a title game against Rapid City. The Bluejays took that contest, 7-3, to gather the state trophy. Crofton had to rally from behind in the ninth inning, behind hitting from Steve Perk and Marv Hegge. Tramp, Perk, Mumm and Bob Bozied were all named to the all-tournament team. 

The state title gave Crofton the opportunity to play a best two of three series against the North Dakota state champion, Rolla, in early September. “Rolla is located 12 miles from the Canada border,” recalled Hegge in a 2019 interview with the Journal. “Crofton chartered a bus for the team and another for the fans,” he said. 
The first game of the series was set to begin at 5 p.m. on Sept. 3 in Rolla. Hegge said that the Jays took batting practice at a softball field about two blocks from the ball park. A pro scout from the Baltimore Orioles was on hand to watch the Crofton batters. He was particularly impressed with Tramp, who was pounding hits 100-150 feet over the softball fence during practice, Hegge recalled. 

For the first game, Dave Gassman, a pickup pitcher from Scotland, started on the mound for Crofton. Behind a one-hit pitching performance from Gassman, the Jays took the first game, 5-1. One highlight of that game, as reported in the Crofton Centennial book, was a ground-rule double hit by Tim Kuchta. This ruling was made because the ball Kuchta hit rolled into a hole in centerfield where football goalposts had been located the night before for a high school football game. 

Crofton’s ace pitcher, Mumm, was on the mound for game two of the series. The first four batters from Rolla hit doubles in game two, and when the dust cleared, Rolla was ahead 3-0. The Jays tied the game in the seventh inning when Bozied hit a homer with two runners on.

Crofton took the win, 6-5, when Perk laced a sacrifice fly that scored Mumm in the top of the 10th inning, earning the baseball title in two states. Mumm went the distance for Crofton, gathering his 16th win for the season. The Jays finished the season 26-5, winning 21 consecutive games. Bozied was voted playoff MVP. 

The Jays headed home as victors after the game, with the team and fan buses arriving in Yankton around 4 a.m.,Hegge recalled. When they reached the Nebraska side of the river, a surprise caravan led the buses home for a party at the Crofton auditorium. 

The Jays have seen much success since that late night and early morning in early September 1972 - including District 6B titles in 2020 and 2021- but many baseball enthusiasts around northeast Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota can still recall that time when the Jays ruled baseball over two states. 


Crofton can still pack in the crowds, especially for the annual Independence Day weekend matchup against Wynot, fellow South Central League rival.