Dick, Ginny Leaf have travelled the country to watch Grace College hoops for 45 seasons
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
By virtue of being born in Ohio, Dick and Ginny Leaf are Buckeyes. They will be until their dying day, said Dick. For nearly 50 years, however, the Leafs – Dick, 84, and Ginny, 82, – have shown their allegiance to the Grace College Lancers. The Leafs, explained Dick, love basketball, and they love to travel. Over the last 45 seasons, they've been able to combine their passion for both. They've seen the Lancers play in 20-plus states, including four trips to California. They've watched Grace play in the Bahamas four times as well. They were in Texas when the Lancers won the national championship in 1992, and they were in Branson, Mo., when Grace advanced to the national semifinals in 2013. “I wish we'd kept track of all the miles we've travelled,” said Dick. “It's a lot, I know that. And we've loved every minute of it. We both love to travel, and we both love basketball. There will never be another female fan like my wife. For her, it's God, family and Lancer basketball.” The Leafs, you see, aren’t just fans of Grace College's men's basketball team, the Lancers have become part of their lives – literally – and vice versa. “In sports, you have fans and you have fanatics,” said Grace College Athletic Director Chad Briscoe. “The Leafs take it to the next level, they're more like family. They're an extension of the program. They're a part of the players' lives. They've opened their home to the players and their parents. They've impacted the players' lives, and never asked for anything in return. They're very, very special people. I probably wouldn't recognize Dick without his red sweater.” The Leafs, who grew up in neighboring towns in Ohio, got married in 1954. In 1969, they moved to Winona Lake, as Dick accepted a maintenance job with Christian Assembly. They've been a staple at Grace College games ever since. At last week's NCCAA National Championships at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center, they were in their usual seats near the Lancers' bench. Dick estimated that in 45 seasons they may have missed a total of 40 games. “When we moved out here, we latched right on to the basketball team,” said Dick. “That was in '69, and we just travelled to as many games as we could. I was laying in bed thinking about it, and we must have watched at least 1,000 Grace College basketball games. If you take an average of 25 games a year, 40 years would be 1,000 games right there, so it has to be over 1,000 games. And we travelled around with the team ... we've been all over the country with them.” The Leafs, who were recognized for their contributions to the program and inducted with Grace College's first Hall of Fame class in 2008, raised two daughters, Joy and Judy. They probably couldn't tell you, however, how many adopted sons they've fed or housed during the summer. “I've probably fixed 10,000 hot fudge sundaes,” laughed Dick. “And she has baked a lot of blueberry pies. We used to feed a lot of them. We had a new home in Winona Lake, and when we'd get up in the morning, there would be a strange car in the driveway. We never knew who was going to stay with us, but the boys knew they were always welcome. When we sold the house and moved, I told the new owners they better change the locks because I think we had seven keys out to ball players.” “We had a two-story house, and they had the whole upstairs to themselves," said Ginny. “So they'd just go up when they came in, and we wouldn't know who was there until they came down in the morning.” At their current home on the north side of Warsaw, a picture frame hangs on the living room wall. Inside the frame are the words “Love Is The Most Important.” It appears the Leafs, who have been married 61 years, have lived their lives and treated others with those words in mind. “It’s special for me being more than a decade out of my playing days at Grace, but one thing that is always special when I am able to get back and watch the Lancers is the consistent support Mr. and Mrs. Leaf still show,” said former Grace player and assistant coach Matt Moore, now the varsity boys basketball coach at Kokomo High School. “I recall the same support years ago, and they are still going just as strong today.” Dick said he and his wife would like to keep going to games for five more years, pushing their support of the team to 50 seasons. Buckeyes by birth, but Lancers at heart. It seems as if they turned over a new ...
