Page 32 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2025 - Online Magazine
P. 32
Exceptional John Dudley
SENIORS
PLANTING SEEDS
on a Baseball Field
by Carrie (Dudley) Nesmith
of so many, all because my dad, John
Dudley, recognized the opportunity
God gave him through the game of
baseball.
Nine-year-old John Dudley could
never have imagined that baseball
would one day become such a
central part of his life—not when
he failed to make a Southwest Little
League team that first year. His
older brother, Morris, did make a
team, and Dad vividly remembers
standing by as the uniforms were
handed out, wishing desperately to
be a part of it. The following year,
he got his chance, suiting up for
the Dunlap’s Texans. From then on,
baseball was a constant.
t’s not uncommon for my dad to Little League led to Pony League,
be at a restaurant and strike up Junior American Legion, Monterey
Ia conversation with someone he High School baseball under the
knows. We often tease that he knows legendary Coach Bobby Moegle, and
someone everywhere he goes! Just eventually Texas Tech baseball. It
as often, he’s approached by people seemed the game was in his blood.
who seem like strangers—until they But for Dad, baseball would grow to
light up and say, “Coach Dudley!” be more than just a sport—it became
Almost every time, the conversation a pathway to lifelong relationships,
begins the same way: enduring values, and a career rooted
in purpose.
“Coach, you probably don’t
remember me, but I played for you It’s no surprise that his love for the
(or I was in your class) back in 19XX. game led him into coaching. While
I saw you over here and just had to still in college, he got his first taste of
come say hello… you made such a it when a man named Phil Markham
difference in my life.” invited him to help coach a Pony
League team of 13- and 14-year-old 1980 - Dudley and player J.J. Johnson after
These encounters are small glimpses boys. That experience hooked him. winning Coronado’s first district championship.
of the seeds he planted—seeds that Coaching lit something in him, and Dudley remembers Johnson saying, “Coach, this
took root and flourished in the lives soon after, he decided to pursue a is almost as exciting as the day I accepted Christ
as Lord and Savior!
32 Lubbock Senior Link
