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Stuart Pudenz ducked under the 4-foot attic entry way in the Habitat for Humanity home that he and his Blue Springs South High School baseball team worked on for more than seven hours Saturday afternoon.
“I’m about 6-foot-5, and the ceiling was about 4-foot tall, so it was a challenge blowing that insulation into the attic,” said Pudenz, a standout pitcher for the 5-2 Jaguars. “And you had to keep walking on these 2-by-4 beams or they said you could fall through the ceiling – so I made sure I paid attention where I was walking.”
And about 3½ hours later, he and teammate Danny McMurtrey had filled the attic with insulation and they were looking for a new assignment.
“When we finished that job, we all felt good,” Pudenz said. “We felt good about ourselves and our teammates and we felt good that we helped someone who really needed help.”
Before the start of the season, first-year Jaguars coach Ben Baier met with assistant coach Andy Mayfield to discuss some community service projects that would involve the team.
“You know, you can have years where you don’t win championships,” Baier said. "But you can graduate some great young men who do some special things. And that’s what we had today.
“Habitat for Humanity’s representative said we could only bring 20 players and that they had to be 16 or older, so we didn’t even get to bring as many kids who wanted to come,” Baier said. “As I watched them work, I just felt so proud. Here’s a group of teenagers, who spend their entire Saturday morning and afternoon working in a house for someone they will probably never meet – and they really enjoyed it.”
Before Saturday, Jeff Fowler had never heard of Habitat for Humanity.
“I had no clue what it was, but I do now,” Fowler said. “It’s a great organization and we had a great time. I was with my teammates – or, as I call them, my family – and we painted ceilings and walls and swept floors. We worked pretty hard, but we enjoyed every minute of it. It was an honor to do something like that.”
Teammate Derek Cox agreed.
“It meant a lot to me to be with my friends and teammates and help someone who needed help,” Cox said. “We did a lot of painting, and got most of it on the walls and ceiling and some on us.
“Stuart and Danny had the tough job – working with that insulation in the attic. But the harder we worked, the better we felt.”
Baier and Mayfield believe they have found a service project the Jaguars can be a part of for a long, long time.
“The kids felt good about giving something back to the community,” said Mayfield, a former standout baseball player at crosstown rival Blue Springs, where his father, Brad, won two state titles. “We don’t just want to develop players at Blue Springs South. We want to develop young men who can go into society and make a difference. Our players know there’s a lot more to life than baseball.
“The community has been very, very good to our program and our school. Heck, Lori Moon at Sonic donated the food for all the volunteers today. The kids love to be a part of something special, and this was special for all of us.”
Although he and Mayfield have been teamed as head and assistant coaches just this season, Baier sees the same dynamics he saw when Richard Wood was the head coach and he was an assistant.
“Andy knows there’s more to life than baseball, and that’s how Coach Wood was,” Baier said. “I learned from the best, and Andy and I are developing the type of working relationship that leads to projects like this.
“I think Andy was as excited as the kids when he found out we were going to help finish this house. I don’t want to sound corny, but today was very special for all of us. We all got something out of it.”
