Rick Henning built “Slim’s Barn” and they came. Hundreds of kids in the last 14 years. They came to hone their timing in the batting cage. They came to learn from renowned pitching coaches. They came, in short, to get the edge.
 
These are the dedicated. The travel league players with dreams of playing high school and college ball and, maybe even, to go beyond that. You know the names: pro players Justin Thomas, pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization; A. J. Achter, pitcher with the Minnesota Twins organization; and college players Derek Spencer, BGSU, and Jim Phillips, Youngstown State University.

On the girls side: Hayley Weimer and Alyssa Frobase, state champs at St. Ursula and college players at BGSU and Kent State respectively; Jamie Wonderly, three-time state champ with Gibsonburg and Butler University pitcher; Michelle Henning, Madonna University and former TAAC player of the year at Cardinal Stritch; and Kasey Graham, Owens Community College and former City League Player of the Year at Clay.
 
These are just a few whom “Slim” Henning has helped at his Curtice barn. There are hundreds more in this area where the national pastime is still the local pastime. The Oregon area takes pride in its travel, high school and wood-bat college teams. Few cities can match Oregon’s success. Clay baseball is ranked fourth in Ohio and tenth in the nation in all-time wins. The school has won a state championship and 13 of its players have been drafted by Major League teams. Clay’s softball team has won the city league title four of the last six years and compiled a 218-80 record over the last 10 years.
 
The success is also evident in the travel teams. In 2004, Joe Frobase’s softball team won a U16 USSA National Title and finished second in 2005 at the U18 ASA National Softball Championships held in Columbus, Georgia.
 
“Our team would not have been as successful as we were without that barn and Rick’s generosity. We worked two days a week year long,” Frobase said.
 
“Rick probably doesn’t know this but I can’t tell you how many girls’ lives were changed because of our success and that success was because of Rick’s barn,” he added.
 
Slim could charge kids to use the barn, but that’s not him, Rob Branyan, a travel coach, said. He recalls trying to pay for six or seven sessions one winter but Slim would accept only a few dollars to help pay for heat.
 
Branyan said the community owes Slim its gratitude. He saw a need for an indoor practice facility, he had the money and he wanted to help kids chase their dreams.
 
Kasey Graham was one of those kids. Now, she will offer pitching lessons at the barn to another generation, Bob Graham, her father, said.
 
Graham said Henning’s generosity is appreciated by the coaches, but has gone unnoticed in the community. High school players are limited in the time they can spend with their coaches. Having an indoor practice facility and experienced travel coaches on hand contributes to the success of their teams.
 
“It isn’t a place to screw around. It’s a place to get instruction from the best and he is the best,” Graham said.
 
Henning’s record backs that up. He coached Cardinal Stritch softball for four years between 2006 and 2009. He won four league championships and compiled a 54-33 record. He’s also coached the Junior Eagles and Special Olympics teams. One of his four children, a son, 26, is a special needs athlete.
 
“He sees things from a top-notch coach’s point of view. The barn is absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me and my kids. Bar none,” Graham said.
 
As you can guess, the barn is about more than baseball, or softball. It’s about fathers spending time with their kids, engaged in something they both love. It’s about teaching the lessons of team sports—discipline, hard work, practice and sacrifice for a common goal.
 
The barn is also about friendship. Joe Frobase and Slim grew up together and wrestled at Clay. Bob Graham and Slim played softball together and were in each other’s weddings. While Slim paid to build the barn, his friends, particularly Ron “Ogie” Miller, helped him finish the interior and supplied the batting cage, pitching machines and basketball hoops.
 
“He’s the greatest Dad, person, coach I know…” Graham said, pausing to collect his emotions. He chokes up because his good friend is facing his biggest challenge—liver cancer.
 
The cancer was diagnosed in July by “dumb luck” when Slim went in for an MRI for leg pain. The doctor told him he had three months to live, but, since then, chemotherapy has shrunk the cancer by 30 percent and Slim says he now has hope and other options to delay the cancer’s progression.
 
Slim is 56. When he looks back on the barn he built he says, “I never really dreamed it would get as much use as it does. You’re only young once and I was able to do it, so I did.”
 
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