"Gideon the Hippie Minister" returned for another visit to the College World Series, and members of a nearby church are glad he did.
Texas fan Peter Manry, an ordained minister, has attended almost all the games in Omaha, Neb., since the late 1980s.
He makes the 900-mile drive from his Houston home with his dog, Bonnie, and each year he donates thousands of T-shirts he brings along to the First Christian Church in neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. Most shirts are leftovers from Houston-area road races. Local missions can't use the shirts, Manry said, and many are sold as rags.
"We take them to somebody that needs a change of clothes," he said.
This year's trip carries a bonus. His Longhorns and rival Texas A&M Aggies are in Omaha.
"We always come up, whether the team comes or not, to bring a little Texas flavor," he said.
Proud Cal dad
Sunday was an extra special Father's Day for Roy Johnson. He got to watch his son, Erik, pitch California's CWS opener against Virginia.
"This is immensely pleasing, unbelievable," Roy Johnson said. "It's a dream come true."
The Johnsons, from Los Altos, Calif., were worried for Erik's future when the Cal administration announced last fall it would be cutting the program in 2012. That was before Erik, a junior, was drafted in the second round by the Chicago White Sox.
The Cal baseball program was reinstated after a $9 million fundraising effort wrapped up in April.
After the tension of the offseason and early part of this season, the trip to the CWS is a nice way to end it.
"I still have to pinch myself in the morning to make sure I'm awake," Roy Johnson said while watching Cal's batting practice. "It doesn't seem real."
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