If you’ve played baseball in Moses Lake over the past four decades, chances are you played for Pete Doumit at some point in your life.
He’s coached anywhere from T-ball to community college baseball. Now, at the age of 67, he figures to spend a little more time with his wife Faith, the grandkids and maybe get in a little more fishing time out on the lake.
Saturday’s doubleheader with Blue Mountain Community College was the end of an era for the Columbia Basin baseball skipper.
“As far as I’m concerned, the run has all been about relationships,” said Doumit, who started his 45-year career in the spring of 1972. “What matters to me is how my players have responded and what type of people they’ve become. If I’ve had anything to do with shaping them or developing them into responsible, kind, loving people, then I’ve done my part.
“If I run across somebody that puts in a nice word about what it was like playing for me, that is most appreciated. It gives credence to the decision I made a long time ago to become a teacher and a coach.”
More than one player over the years went home with a note from Pete that read, “Wins and losses are soon forgotten. What matters most in life is the person you become.”
Kerry Garbe, whose son B.J. was part of the great 1999 Moses Lake team that was ranked No. 4 in the nation and was drafted No. 5 overall by the Minnesota Twins, looked on Saturday as the Vikings gave Pete a proper send-off at Viking Field prior to the swan song doubleheader with Blue Mountain.
“Moses Lake is great place to raise a family and it’s because of people like Pete,” he said. “I still remember when B.J. came home with that note about wins and losses are forgotten, but the kind of person you become is not. Pete used to have all kinds of sayings he’d write down for the kids to help them remember.”
Another one of those sayings that is still prevalent today. “Play the game like you love it.”