Published: April 21, 2009 10:23 am      

Salisbury to hail ‘Chief’ tonight, wear O’s uniform

SALISBURY, Pa. — The late Stanley Bowman Thomas, longtime baseball coach at Salisbury High School known simply as “Chief,” will be honored posthumously by the Salisbury-Elk Lick school district this evening when the Salisbury High Elks take on Shade High School at 7:30.

Thomas served as the Salisbury baseball coach from 1961 until 2004, and early in his career there, he changed the nickname of the team from the Elks to the Orioles, after his favorite major-league team. Thus, during Thomas’ successful tenure, Salisbury competed as the Orioles. The nickname, however, was changed back to the Elks when Thomas stepped down from coaching. He passed away on June 9, 2006 at the age of 74.

At 7:15 tonight prior to the Salisbury-Shade game, the district will honor Thomas and his contributions to the school and community. In honor of Thomas, the Salisbury team will wear the old Orioles uniforms, and a plaque will be presented to the Thomas family.

“Our community has a genuine love of the game of baseball and it is in large part due to the efforts of Mr. Thomas and the commitment of local volunteers and organizations that love the game of baseball,” said Joseph Renzi, acting school district superintendent and elementary principal. “We are one of the few high school teams that play baseball games under the lights. In a very small community, we have two Little League teams, a Minor League team, and a Hot Stove team. Also, in the summer our local Lions organization runs an annual and very successful Little League tournament.”

Thomas graduated from Salisbury Elk-Lick High School in 1949 and earned a bachelor of arts degree from Penn State University in 1953. He also graduated from Echols-Temple School of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia, and later earned a masters degree in education from Frostburg State University, doing post-graduate work at West Virginia University.

For 37 years, Thomas taught mathematics and science at Salisbury, serving as high school principal and coaching the Orioles baseball team. He coached several generations of local youth in Little League, the Bi-State Pony League, and the Hot Stove League. Along with coaching and managing he made the Salisbury baseball field one of the premier fields in the area, and helped to start the annual Salisbury Little League Tournament.

The Somerset County Old-Timers’ Baseball Association honored Thomas as a charter inductee to its Hall of Fame and appointed him to serve on the board.

Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.