Remembering Dave Drummey

By Jim Drummey Jr.

Dave Drummey, who died last month in Connecticut at the age of 83, grew up on Nichols Street in Norwood as the fourth of eight sons born to Gertrude and Jim Drummey Sr. He was also the fourth of the Drummey boys to die, following Bob, Bill, and Denis and leaving behind Jim Jr., Brian, Jerry, and Mark.

Dave married Lynn O’Keefe of Westwood and they moved to Somers, CT in 1975 and raised their seven children there.

During those happy days of the late forties and fifties, Dave was noted for two things – his sense of humor and his baseball prowess. An early example of the former came when he was six years old. Unable to pronounce the letters TH, his mother sent him to Mrs. Rose Nicholson, a speech teacher at St. Catherine’s School.

After a few weeks of therapy, Mrs. Nicholson pronounced the first grader cured. When he got home, Mrs. Drummey asked, “How did you do, Dave?” With a grin on his face, Dave replied, “I fought I would never get frough.”

Fifteen years later, Mrs. Drummey had invited Jim’s fiancé Terry to Sunday dinner, and she told the boys to dress nicely. They were all sitting at the dining room table when Dave showed up wearing a raggedy tee shirt and green work pants. Sent to his room to change, Dave came back downstairs with the same tee shirt and work pants, but this time he had put on a necktie.

Baseball was a big sport in Norwood in those days, with the start of Little League and Pony League. Dave excelled at it, but was stuck on the jayvee squad at the high school in the spring of his junior year. Pete Dixon, who was senior captain of the team that year, tells the story of being asked by varsity coach Andy Scafati to recommend someone to play right field.

“Without hesitation,” Pete recalls, “I suggested David because he was a heavy hitter with a strong arm. The next day David joined the varsity. He was a great asset to the team, not only for his athleticism, but for his fun personality. He was very popular and well-liked and friendly to everyone.”

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Pete went on to Trinidad Junior College in Colorado (before being recruited for football by the University of Washington and playing in the Rose Bowl), and he suggested that Dave go to Trinidad, which he did and, said Pete, “easily made the baseball lineup.”

Asked about Dave’s strong throwing arm, high school teammate Pat Dempsey remembers a game at the old Civic Field (where the hospital now stands), when Dave caught a fly ball in right and tried to keep the runner on third from scoring. The throw, said Pat, “sailed over the catcher’s head, over the fence surrounding the field, and across the street into a lumber yard.”

If there’s baseball in Heaven, Dave Drummey will have no problem making the team.