Buck kicked the bucket

One of the things we liked to do when growing up in Palouse was go to the Washington State College baseball games.

We really didn’t care about the game, but we went to see baseball coach Buck Bailey kick the bucket.

Buck came to WSC in 1927 as an assistant football coach and became baseball coach.

He was coach for 32 years and was tragically, along with his wife, killed in an auto accident in 1965.

We didn’t care about his long time as baseball coach or his successful 603-305 record. We came to see Bailey kick the bucket.

There were a number of times that I skipped school to catch a WSC baseball game. There would always be several Palouse students at the games, as well as Palouse townspeople, and it was always easy to get a ride to the games. It was only 15 miles to WSC.

Bailey would always get in a skirmish with the umpires. He kept a bucket near where he stood, and when his temper flared up he would give the pail a hefty kick. Seeing Buck kick that pail was like a spring rite of passage for me.

I don’t remember ever getting into trouble for going to a WSC baseball game. It was like playing hooky was expected of you.

Our local movie house closed, so we added ducking school to go to the movies in both Pullman and Moscow.

Pullman had two theaters, and Moscow had two. Pullman’s were about a block apart. In Moscow they were side by side, where we would go to one movie, leave, and go next door to the other movie.

There again it wasn’t hard to find a ride.

In Pullman, kids could go into one pool hall and play pool. The pool tables were separated from the beer section. This was one additional pastime.

My early record would have read, sometime student, movie fan, and pool player. It didn’t show up that way on my diploma though.

But the thrill of it all was watching Buck Bailey kick that bucket.

Going to the baseball games at WSC (now WSU) was free.