Pictured: Gay Lynn Drooger sprays Pee Wee players on the afternoon of the end of the season tournament when everyone was getting hot!

On Friday, July 23, GayLynn Drooger sat at a picnic table watching her last rec event of the summer but also of her career. Eighteen years ago she took up the mantle of summer rec director from the legendary Steve Ondrush. Now she is the legend.

She is also passing the torch as she steps away from summer rec activities and puts on the grandma mantle. Townspeople and those from the country remember her work and speak fondly of it. On various social media sites you can find tributes to her and the work that she put in. She is praised for her fairness and positivity.

It is also mentioned that the teaching of sportsmanship was a plus that Edgerton youth enjoyed. For eighteen years she stamped those youth with not only sports skills, especially softball and baseball, but also skills in fair play. She will be missed.

Edgerton’s summer rec program has a variety of activities from which the kids may choose. Pee Wees,  as well as baseball and softball for older kids were established when she took over, but now there are many more choices.

GayLynn started the tee ball program. She also guided Edgerton into the world of night league baseball and softball. In the last few years she added fit and fun, a triathlon, pickleball, and three on three basketball to the menu.

On various social media posts it has been mentioned that our state softball teams have their roots on the summer rec diamonds starting with tee ball.

Most of the girls learned from Mrs. Drooger to make a T and then and L before they threw the ball. She made sure that Pee Wee participants learned the fundamentals.

All of coach Fleischman’s daughters have come up through the ranks along with many of the other girls on those teams. Looking at the choices makes it easy to see that Edgerton’s kids have a lot of choices. Not everyone might like baseball or softball, but there are other things to try thanks to GayLynn.

GayLynn is not just a “roll the ball out there” type of summer rec director. There is a lot of work that must be done before the first pitch.

Soon after January 1 she meets with other directors to set up schedules for the various night leagues. Then registration sheets must be made and handed out. Returned ones must be tabulated for each of the activities. Helpers must be recruited. Equipment must be examined, and new things must be ordered.

When the actually seasons roll around, she needed coaches, umpires, and other personnel to make the games happen. Rain wrecks havoc with the most organized schedules. With ball games happening on four diamonds, lots of work must be done.

There is always plenty of work to go around during the summer rec season and Gay Lynn was always busy doing it, whether that was coaching (left and center) or cleaning (right). The summer rec schedule makes the June and July calendar pages packed full of activity

Most people never see her work in this aspect of the program, but we see the results as the games happen.

When the last pitch is thrown all of that equipment must be put away. Tee ball and Pee Wee shirts must be washed and folded. Yes there is a lot of work that goes on to make summer rec happen. GayLynn did that work, and she did it for the kids.