3A baseball honors Mooney for 44-year stint of State tourneys

 People go to state tournaments all the time. We have all been to support our favorite athlete, but baseball is a little bit different from other sports. Baseball isn’t fully sanctioned by the Idaho High School Athletics Association and therefore wouldn’t have a state baseball tournament unless people came together outside of that organization to host the contest. 

 Terry Mooney has been doing just that for the past 44 years. Forty-four years is a long term commitment when you stop and think about it. 

 Weiser High School baseball along with various athletic directors has been hosting the 3A State Baseball Championship tournament since 1980. At that time, a few coaches and athletic directors got together at the prodding of Mooney, former Weiser High School baseball coach for 20 plus years and former athletic director, to come together and put on a State Tournament because it didn’t exist for 3A baseball. The State Tournament for 3A baseball was born out of that simple idea that these young men deserved to have a tournament. 

 For the past 44 years, the tournament has had a group of people involved in planning and hosting the tournament. For the most part, the contest has been hosted locally in a variety of places including Fruitland High School, Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario High School, and most recently at Northwest Nazarene University. 

 These tenured groups of individuals worked with Mooney each year to ensure umpires were scheduled, field crews were ready to go, ticket takers were in place, and there were concessions to feed hungry fans. 

 At different times during the history of the tournament there were requests to host it in places like Moscow and Idaho Falls, so Mooney would help them plan and each time, Weiser and Mooney would end up bringing the tournament back home. 

 Sometimes if may seem like a thankless job to be the tournament director, but this year at Northwest Nazarene University, Mooney helped host the last one before Idaho High School Athletic Association takes over next year in the planning and facilitating of the now sanctioned tournament. 

 The 2024 tournament weekend was a whirlwind of baseball, cheering, and sun. Mooney was honored by the crowd, the championship teams, and was handed the ball on the mound by current Weiser Athletic Director Bowe von Brethorst to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Championship Game. 

 In true Mooney style, he sought out a young kid before the pitch to play catch for a while and many stopped to watch. He stood on the mound while kind words of appreciation were spoken and threw the ball to the catcher waiting behind the plate. Such a small gesture of appreciation, but the smile on Mooney’s face was big enough to encompass the 44 year career of hosting the tournament. 

 When speaking to Mooney about the tournament he said “Now don’t you tell them it was all me that did this. There were plenty of other people involved. I just kept things going.” 

 And kept it all going he did for the past 44 years. Those years would never have happened without Terry Mooney and the tournament won’t be the same without him leading the helm. Thank you Coach!