Full Transcript: Ike Blessitt on Sports in Hamtramck
Ike: Hi my name is Ike Blessitt. I’m originally from Hamtramck. Moved into Hamtramck in the 40s, and then we moved out and then come back to Hamtramck. And then I left out of Hamtramck in 68, after I signed with Detroit Tigers. Then I moved to Detroit.
Interviewer: So your parents moved here in the forties?
Ike: Yeah, thirties, they was here all their lives. Then they had me I was born in 49, so that’s when I came into the Hamtramck world. First I was down on the south end, and they came through there and built more factories and stuff like that so we had to move there. And then we moved on Yemans Street, right here between Buffalo and Conant. Oh yeah a bunch of people lived in there, in the area who were sports minded. And we had Buffalo Field at the time, where we always go play baseball out there, football. You know it was like a nice little community when we played there. Everybody sports minded here in Hamtramck at the time. You know we had four high schools in Hamtramck in a two mile square area, south and east, west, north and south. We had four high schools, we had Immaculate Conception was Ukrainian, then we had St. Florians, and then we had St. Lads. St. Lads and St. Florians were predominantly white. Then Hamtramck High was half and half. We all played against each other in sports and then when the summer came we all joined forces together and played Hamtramck. We didn’t have to go outside Hamtramck to play no sport, no football field, no nothing, we had everything in this community. Alone Hamtramck. And we were dynamite. You know we were super here in Hamtramck. We won the Little League World Series, the Pony League World Series. Co-league was a runner up in the world series. We played nothing but baseball, football, basketball and ran track.
Interviewer: So the Hamtramck Tigers, that’s the team that won the Little League World Series?
Ike: Right, and then ten years later I was on the big Tigers down at Tigers Stadium that won the pennant. I mean the pennant we played against--we beat Boston. And then we had to go against the Oakland A’s and they beat us, and they went on the World Series to win. We had some dynamite coaching. They was our coaches but they was also our fathers. So like if my father didn’t show for a game because he had to work or something I had 14 other fathers out there. You know, so that’s how we survived, they took time with us. And we played, they coached and everything. So that’s why we were so dynamite at everything we did because we had super dads and super coaches. Because my dad was a boxer. He fought Joe Lewis. If you’ve heard of Joe Lewis, my dad fought Joe Lewis. And all his brothers used to play baseball, he had seven brothers. So they had a little team theyself, they from Atlanta, Georgia. He stuck with me through the practice. Made sure, if he couldn’t get to practice another father would pick me up, take me to practice and then when that father couldn’t make it my father would pick him up and come. When we’d walk home whatever house we’d walk by first then we would stop and eat. [Laughs] Like I said it was fun back then, it was just--that’s why we loved the game so much. Well we played because there wasn’t no Nintendo, Play Stations. Basketball, all day long. Aint got time to go outside. And I ran into a problem one year, I played for American Legion and Colt League,, I played for both of them. And we both won, so the Colt League went to La Porte, Indiana. And American Legion went to Owosso, Michigan. And that year the planes went on strike and they wouldn’t fly me in and out, in and out. So they come over and say, well, both coaches, whatcha gonna do Ike? Which team you gonna go with? I say, you know, that’s a hard, hard question for me to answer. I tell you what, let’s look at the schedule and see how it works out. So I played in Owosso, Michigan, I’ll just pick a day like Thursday night in Owosso, Michigan. And Friday afternoon we played in La Porte, Indiana. It’s about 500 miles, more or less. I say, [Sigh] just get a big car and I’ll just jump in the back and go to sleep. So they got a station wagon, put a twin size bed in the station wagon. So after I got through playing in Owosso, Michigan they had me some hamburgers waiting for me. Jumped in the back of the station wagon. I ate the hamburgers, drank the pop, went to sleep. I woke up, time to go play in La Porte, Indiana. After I got through playing there I had to go back to Owosso to play Owosso again. Did it about three, four times, and it end up we both lost. But I was tired. But I couldn’t let down either one of my teammates. Tommy [?] was one of the drivers. Like I say, back then it wasn’t nothing about me jumping the back seat, going, because I wasn’t gonna take no side, and the way the schedule happened to work out, I could one play here, the next day I play here, come back the next day and— because I said we lost, both our teams lost so I didn’t have to do no more because we was out of the running for going to the World Series. But it was an experience. It was something, a love for the game I guess you could say.That’s all we did back there. We didn’t have no computers or these— what do you call them— Nintendos and all these, Play Station, we didn’t have nothing. All we had to do, go out there and play ball. We had to be home before the street lights come on, but that’s all you seen of us. And then we had a place which is the high school right now. Copernicus it was called. It was a junior high and they had like maybe ten basketball courts out there. And everybody came from the city, Pontiac, Pistons, everybody came out there and played basketball at the junior high. And baseball, we were always playing baseball. And after one sport we went to another sport and after that we went to another one. And we just kept doing it and doing it. And you got better at it. It would depend on your work ethic, if you wanted to make something out of yourself you gotta work at it.
Ike: We didn’t have enough ball players. We only had eight ball players we said right field is out. So if you hit the ball to right field it’s an automatic out. Or we say left field is out, you hit the ball to left field is out. But we still played. Went out to a school, drawing a square box with an x and get a change [?] ball and a broom handle and go out there and play hit and run. You know, strikeout we called it. Like I said we didn’t have the computer and stuff so we had to occupy our time, and if you continued doing it you had success. Like I said we had a lot of ball player come out of here with success and went to the pros--tennis, everything. They even tried, Ms. Hoxie, they even tried to get me to play tennis. I just told them five, that’s just too much. I said, I tried it. But I couldn’t do it, so.
Interviewer: So when you were young and you were doing it was because you knew you wanted to be a professional?
Ike: Do something, yeah. Well, go to college. You know I had scholarships to go to any college I want. My grades weren’t up to par. Back then in those days, like I said not bragging or anything, but when you’re a star some of your homework is done. And if I had to go all and do it all over again, I would really bear down and do my homework, instead of, “yeah we got a game tonight.” You know. So and that’s what I do now, I teach baseball. And I make sure the kid who I’m training he has a 3.5 or better. Because I don’t want to see them go through what I went through, to stay in school, no study habits. Sports is fine, but it’s second on my list. Number one is education, because I went through it, I seen how it is, because you get older, you can’t get a job, fixed income and all that. So I try my best when I teach kids I give them the whole nine years. Like the black kids, I try to get them ready for, because you know you still have prejudiced and racial people in this world, that will if you just change over and start wearing a suit and tie to get you through this world, but they’re still against black Americans. And you had to deal with it. We didn’t have to deal with it here in Hamtramck, we was just like family. That’s why I got along with everybody when I went to play baseball, because I got along with the white people here in Hamtramck. We all was family.
Ike: We didn’t have prejudice. Because prejudice is something that’s taught to you, come in clean. How you live your life till your old age is up to you, what you accept. So you know, you were brought up eating--I should say drinking, root beer, I mean when you get 15, you tired of root beer, you don’t like it you don’t want to drink it, then you think you don’t like it, you’re prejudiced against root beer. So like I said, in all walks of life, prejudice is something taught to you, not you’re born with that. And I can deal with that, I came from Hamtramck. I can deal with anything, came out of Hamtramck. I got a lot of great white friends that came out of here and I still today stay in contact with them. Played football, professional football. Professional like, for instance Rudy Tomjanovich. He’s historical here, all-American here, all-American in Michigan, at University of Michigan. Head coach and all-star for the Houston Rockets. Tom Paciorek that came out of St. Lads, he went and played so many, what 15 years in the major leagues with the Chicago cubs and all of them? Lot of kids came out of here that went and played pro ball. Football players, like my friend Noah Brown, he was a year behind me, super guy, went to Texas Southern and he end up going with the Houston Oilers. Just came back from Houston seeing him, haven’t seen him in about ten, fifteen years. Hamtramck is special. If you lived here back in our days with Hamtramck you can understand what I’m saying, how close we were. If you ever run across somebody from Hamtramck you can sit down and talk all day long with them. What you been doing? Where you been? Have you seen such and such? Have you did this? I had a lot of friends that found out I went on to play baseball for the Tigers and they found me on Facebook. This is a wonderful city. Like I said if I could do it all over, I’d come back here to Hamtramck.
Interviewer: So your parents moved here in the forties?
Ike: Yeah, thirties, they was here all their lives. Then they had me I was born in 49, so that’s when I came into the Hamtramck world. First I was down on the south end, and they came through there and built more factories and stuff like that so we had to move there. And then we moved on Yemans Street, right here between Buffalo and Conant. Oh yeah a bunch of people lived in there, in the area who were sports minded. And we had Buffalo Field at the time, where we always go play baseball out there, football. You know it was like a nice little community when we played there. Everybody sports minded here in Hamtramck at the time. You know we had four high schools in Hamtramck in a two mile square area, south and east, west, north and south. We had four high schools, we had Immaculate Conception was Ukrainian, then we had St. Florians, and then we had St. Lads. St. Lads and St. Florians were predominantly white. Then Hamtramck High was half and half. We all played against each other in sports and then when the summer came we all joined forces together and played Hamtramck. We didn’t have to go outside Hamtramck to play no sport, no football field, no nothing, we had everything in this community. Alone Hamtramck. And we were dynamite. You know we were super here in Hamtramck. We won the Little League World Series, the Pony League World Series. Co-league was a runner up in the world series. We played nothing but baseball, football, basketball and ran track.
Interviewer: So the Hamtramck Tigers, that’s the team that won the Little League World Series?
Ike: Right, and then ten years later I was on the big Tigers down at Tigers Stadium that won the pennant. I mean the pennant we played against--we beat Boston. And then we had to go against the Oakland A’s and they beat us, and they went on the World Series to win. We had some dynamite coaching. They was our coaches but they was also our fathers. So like if my father didn’t show for a game because he had to work or something I had 14 other fathers out there. You know, so that’s how we survived, they took time with us. And we played, they coached and everything. So that’s why we were so dynamite at everything we did because we had super dads and super coaches. Because my dad was a boxer. He fought Joe Lewis. If you’ve heard of Joe Lewis, my dad fought Joe Lewis. And all his brothers used to play baseball, he had seven brothers. So they had a little team theyself, they from Atlanta, Georgia. He stuck with me through the practice. Made sure, if he couldn’t get to practice another father would pick me up, take me to practice and then when that father couldn’t make it my father would pick him up and come. When we’d walk home whatever house we’d walk by first then we would stop and eat. [Laughs] Like I said it was fun back then, it was just--that’s why we loved the game so much. Well we played because there wasn’t no Nintendo, Play Stations. Basketball, all day long. Aint got time to go outside. And I ran into a problem one year, I played for American Legion and Colt League,, I played for both of them. And we both won, so the Colt League went to La Porte, Indiana. And American Legion went to Owosso, Michigan. And that year the planes went on strike and they wouldn’t fly me in and out, in and out. So they come over and say, well, both coaches, whatcha gonna do Ike? Which team you gonna go with? I say, you know, that’s a hard, hard question for me to answer. I tell you what, let’s look at the schedule and see how it works out. So I played in Owosso, Michigan, I’ll just pick a day like Thursday night in Owosso, Michigan. And Friday afternoon we played in La Porte, Indiana. It’s about 500 miles, more or less. I say, [Sigh] just get a big car and I’ll just jump in the back and go to sleep. So they got a station wagon, put a twin size bed in the station wagon. So after I got through playing in Owosso, Michigan they had me some hamburgers waiting for me. Jumped in the back of the station wagon. I ate the hamburgers, drank the pop, went to sleep. I woke up, time to go play in La Porte, Indiana. After I got through playing there I had to go back to Owosso to play Owosso again. Did it about three, four times, and it end up we both lost. But I was tired. But I couldn’t let down either one of my teammates. Tommy [?] was one of the drivers. Like I say, back then it wasn’t nothing about me jumping the back seat, going, because I wasn’t gonna take no side, and the way the schedule happened to work out, I could one play here, the next day I play here, come back the next day and— because I said we lost, both our teams lost so I didn’t have to do no more because we was out of the running for going to the World Series. But it was an experience. It was something, a love for the game I guess you could say.That’s all we did back there. We didn’t have no computers or these— what do you call them— Nintendos and all these, Play Station, we didn’t have nothing. All we had to do, go out there and play ball. We had to be home before the street lights come on, but that’s all you seen of us. And then we had a place which is the high school right now. Copernicus it was called. It was a junior high and they had like maybe ten basketball courts out there. And everybody came from the city, Pontiac, Pistons, everybody came out there and played basketball at the junior high. And baseball, we were always playing baseball. And after one sport we went to another sport and after that we went to another one. And we just kept doing it and doing it. And you got better at it. It would depend on your work ethic, if you wanted to make something out of yourself you gotta work at it.
Ike: We didn’t have enough ball players. We only had eight ball players we said right field is out. So if you hit the ball to right field it’s an automatic out. Or we say left field is out, you hit the ball to left field is out. But we still played. Went out to a school, drawing a square box with an x and get a change [?] ball and a broom handle and go out there and play hit and run. You know, strikeout we called it. Like I said we didn’t have the computer and stuff so we had to occupy our time, and if you continued doing it you had success. Like I said we had a lot of ball player come out of here with success and went to the pros--tennis, everything. They even tried, Ms. Hoxie, they even tried to get me to play tennis. I just told them five, that’s just too much. I said, I tried it. But I couldn’t do it, so.
Interviewer: So when you were young and you were doing it was because you knew you wanted to be a professional?
Ike: Do something, yeah. Well, go to college. You know I had scholarships to go to any college I want. My grades weren’t up to par. Back then in those days, like I said not bragging or anything, but when you’re a star some of your homework is done. And if I had to go all and do it all over again, I would really bear down and do my homework, instead of, “yeah we got a game tonight.” You know. So and that’s what I do now, I teach baseball. And I make sure the kid who I’m training he has a 3.5 or better. Because I don’t want to see them go through what I went through, to stay in school, no study habits. Sports is fine, but it’s second on my list. Number one is education, because I went through it, I seen how it is, because you get older, you can’t get a job, fixed income and all that. So I try my best when I teach kids I give them the whole nine years. Like the black kids, I try to get them ready for, because you know you still have prejudiced and racial people in this world, that will if you just change over and start wearing a suit and tie to get you through this world, but they’re still against black Americans. And you had to deal with it. We didn’t have to deal with it here in Hamtramck, we was just like family. That’s why I got along with everybody when I went to play baseball, because I got along with the white people here in Hamtramck. We all was family.
Ike: We didn’t have prejudice. Because prejudice is something that’s taught to you, come in clean. How you live your life till your old age is up to you, what you accept. So you know, you were brought up eating--I should say drinking, root beer, I mean when you get 15, you tired of root beer, you don’t like it you don’t want to drink it, then you think you don’t like it, you’re prejudiced against root beer. So like I said, in all walks of life, prejudice is something taught to you, not you’re born with that. And I can deal with that, I came from Hamtramck. I can deal with anything, came out of Hamtramck. I got a lot of great white friends that came out of here and I still today stay in contact with them. Played football, professional football. Professional like, for instance Rudy Tomjanovich. He’s historical here, all-American here, all-American in Michigan, at University of Michigan. Head coach and all-star for the Houston Rockets. Tom Paciorek that came out of St. Lads, he went and played so many, what 15 years in the major leagues with the Chicago cubs and all of them? Lot of kids came out of here that went and played pro ball. Football players, like my friend Noah Brown, he was a year behind me, super guy, went to Texas Southern and he end up going with the Houston Oilers. Just came back from Houston seeing him, haven’t seen him in about ten, fifteen years. Hamtramck is special. If you lived here back in our days with Hamtramck you can understand what I’m saying, how close we were. If you ever run across somebody from Hamtramck you can sit down and talk all day long with them. What you been doing? Where you been? Have you seen such and such? Have you did this? I had a lot of friends that found out I went on to play baseball for the Tigers and they found me on Facebook. This is a wonderful city. Like I said if I could do it all over, I’d come back here to Hamtramck.