HARLEYWOOD ROCKER'S SOFTBALL TEAM

The Harleywood Rockers has been in the Roaring Fork Valley Men's Wreck League about 15 years.

Formerly known as the Great Divide Rockers (with Sandy Munroe the owner of the Great Divide music store as the sponsor) the team was predominantly made up of musicians...and John Sommers (the great fiddle, mandolin, banjo player and author of the HUGE John Denver hit "Thank God , I'm a Country Boy") was the coach and manager.

One day about nine seasons ago, John Sommers chanced upon Dave
Bluefield (former keyboardist for Three Dog Night) outside City Market in Aspen. It was in the ensuing conversation that John handed the mantel of running the squad over to David, who at the time, was coach and manager of Boogies, the perennial league standouts.

Bluefield could not ignore his deep musical roots and gladly agreed to switch teams and take over the thankless job of figuring out who gets to bat
higher in the order and how to get fourteen guys on a field that only allows ten.

Another challenge for Bluefield was fielding a complete squad of players who would actually show up to the games ...yes attendance counts...because of the huge myriad of summer activities available and the biggest
challenge..how to convince spunky skilled and FAST-running younger guys to agree to play with "eroding skills" over-40 guys.

It was actually an easy choice for Bluefield in that he was a member of Network, the great 7-piece local wedding and special event band. Other members of the band already on the squad were Bo Hale, Sean Mullen ( both retired) and Steve Cole (saxophonist, centerfield and big lefty bat). Other musicians on the squad were Dennis DJ Jung( bassist,left side infield and #3 hole hitter), Dave Notor (mandolin).The team also had/has some
non-musicians Dave Dawson (pitcher, clean-up hitter), Dave Weiss (leadoff), Paul Scrivens (first base) and Michael Munro ( audio/video tech, third base). Other players that switched over from other teams in the league were Greg Shugars (recruited from Misfits), Terry Trisch and Richard Schlein
(both recruited from Boogies)

The history of the team's performance in the regular league season includes one championship and numerous above .500 finishes. The playoffs, which take place on a weekend in August, are a different matter. Because many of the opening playoff round games start very early on a Saturday morning..waaaay to early for a late-nite musician to get up in time to attend...the team, up to Bluefield's time at the helm, had never made it into Sunday.

Hoping to bring the winning tradition of Boogies with him, David recruited
Tudie Calderon ( strong-armed infielder and percussionist), and some
non-musicians (Jack Lewis former owner of what is now the Harleywood Cafe),
and the all-important element of young fast outfielders( Mitchell,Pete,
Brent, Jed, Chad, and slugger Dean).

So, over the years ,the team, known as Dave's Rockers (Dave's Dawson, Weiss, Notor and Bluefield) has performed better ..actually playing both Boogies and the very strong Maroon Creek Club deep into the regular and playoff seasons...a highlight being a 3rd place in the 2001 regular and tournament season.

Other former (and now retired) musician /softball standouts were Bernie
Mysior, Haden Gregg (both excellent infielders and former members of
Starwood the highly touted local band that garnered Columbia and Windsong
recording contracts) and Billy Conn (standout shortstop and bassist for
Treehouse).

This current season has just ended with a new sponsor ...Harleywood Cafe, new colors and new attitude. Stay tuned for next yearl!

At Harleywood Cafe´ we provide terrific food, at reasonable prices, with easy take-out or sit-down dining. We serve Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale, El Jebel, and Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We're located on Highway 82, at "Old" Snowmass, about twenty-seven miles up valley from Glenwood Springs and twelve miles down valley from Aspen. Terrific dining for the Aspen area!