Taking a baseball to the nose is difficult for anyone.
But little did Dorothy Strack know that more than six decades after she was struck in the face by a baseball while playing a grade-school game of catch on the playground at recess with Jean Lovell in 1937, the memory would come flooding back.
“(In 1999), I consulted an ear, eyes and throat doctor because of difficulty breathing through my nose,” she said. “The first thing the doctor asked was, ‘When did you break your nose?’”
Dorothy, now 81, and who has just returned with her husband, Bill, from their winter home in Florida, said she was instantly transported back to that
fateful day and recess on the playground at Amboy Elementary School.
“I knew immediately,” she said with a laugh. “It had never been diagnosed as I didn’t go to the doctor at the time, but the memory was still vivid.
“An ensuing operation helped to undue the damage.”
Dorothy, whose husband still owns and operates Strack Insurance in Conneaut, said reading a note in a Star Beacon column asking if anyone knew of Jean Lovell’s days here in Ashtabula County compelled her to answer.
“I had lost track of Jean,” she said. “Although I had known she had gone on to become a professional ballplayer, I hasn’t known of her death.
“But knowing her, even though it was while we were just kids, I’m sure she loved playing professional baseball and loved living her life.”
— Don McCormack
Sports
Related Photos
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DOROTHY STRACK, a grade-school classmate of Jean Lovell at Amboy Elementary School, found out the hard way what kind of throwing arm Lovell had. BILL WEST
Discussion
Dorothy ‘nose’ all about Jean
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Falcons impress
The Jefferson Falcons used an 8-2 early run and an 8-0 late run, both in the first quarter, backed by hot shooting, to open a big lead on the Conneaut Spartans that reached double digits early, paving the way to a solid 65-47 Falcon win Tuesday night at Falcon Gym.
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Eagles knocked off perch
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Lakers done in at Girard
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Pirates cruise as Eagles ‘lay egg’
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Beavers scalp Warriors
Chandler Smith had the answer. The question — how do you overcome a poor shooting performance?
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Scholastic Schedule:
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8
Girls Basketball
n Geneva at Perry
n Kirtland at Madison
Wrestling
n Jefferson, Grand Valley at PV (6) -
Lakers clinch NAC outright
Pymatuning Valley coach Jeff Compan thought that his opponent was the aggressor on Monday night. But his side still came out on top. And with that, the Lakers clinched the Northeastern Athletic Conference title outright.
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Warriors edge Heralds
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Eagles fly to top seed
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SECTIONAL SUCCESS:
- 1. Jefferson 17
- 2. Madison 11
- 3. Perry 8
- 4. Geneva 7
- 5. Conneaut 6
- 5. Pymatuning Valley 6
- 7. Riverside 4
- 8. Grand Valley 1
- 9. Edgewood 0
- 9. Lakeside 0
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