For 50 years, the story has been legend, told and re-told, how two plays capped a state championship.

A grounder to the hole at shortstop that instead of an out became an infield hit, when the guy regarded as one of the slowest runners on the team got to first base ahead of the throw.

A player his coach called “one of the most clutch performers” he’d ever known taking a 1-2 fastball and ripping a line drive to left field and over the fence for a game-winning — and state championship- deciding — home run at Harvey Overton Bradwell Boosters Club Field.

The members of that 1976 Bradwell Institute Class AA state baseball championship team gathered over the weekend to commemorate their achievement, and they were honored before Bradwell’s game with in-county rival Liberty County on Friday with the unveiling of a new banner marking their two-game sweep of Lakeview High.

“I’ve had a few highlights in my sports career,” said Candler Boyd, coach of that championship team, and a player on Bradwell’s 1965 Class B state championship football team. “Winning that state championship was one of the two or three top highlights.”

Having so many players, and their coaches, reunite after 50 years is a “blessing,” Boyd declared.

“It means a lot to see these guys,” said Derrell Baker, who hit the title-clinching homer. “Some of them we haven’t seen in years.”

After winning the first game 5-3, the Tigers found themselves trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning of Game 2. Baker’s first tworun home run of the game had given Bradwell its first two runs.

Dale Berland followed his coaching. The Tigers had been taught that if they’re running to first base and see the first baseman come off the bag to dive for the bag. He did — “I tripped,” he jokingly told his teammates over the weekend — and gave Bradwell a potential tying baserunner in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Baker was next, and the star slugger whistled a line drive past the left fielder and over the fence.

“I was thinking keep the inning alive,” he said. “I needed to do something to keep the inning going. I was just focused on getting a hit somewhere. I wasn’t focused on hitting a home run.”

With two strikes, Baker knew he couldn’t take a close pitch.

“I put my bat on the ball and fortunately it left the park,” he said.

Still, while he delivered the big hit, what that homer meant didn’t strike Baker right away.

“It didn’t hit me until I got to third base and I saw Coach Boyd jumping up and down,” Baker said. “He was all over me, and I still had to touch home plate. I was glad that it happened. I get a lot of credit for hitting the home run, but we had a lot of guys who contributed to the state championship.”

Baker, who quarterbacked the football team to the state playoffs that fall and whose .462 batting average as a senior is still the single-season record at Georgia Southern, was one of the most clutch athletes Boyd has known.

“Derrell Baker may be as good an all-around athlete as I’ve ever been associated with,” said Boyd, who also played football at South Carolina. “I’ve never been involved with a player as good under pressure as Derrell Baker, except for Debra Collins. The greater the pressure, the better they perform.

“Someone asked me if I ever gave Derrell Baker a take sign,” the coach added. “Why would give a take sign to someone who knew more about hitting than I do?”

A foundation put down

Several of the players from that region championship team were returning, and Boyd was quick to point out that several of those 1975 seniors — Jimmy Martin, Jimmy Brewer, Donnell Riles, Nick Dowd and Clay Godley — set a standard for the state champions.

“I knew we had a good team,” Baker said. “We had some guys who could really hit the ball. We had guys like Mark Bitzer and Kenny West. Andy Anderson was a good hitter. Our whole lineup was full of good hitters.”

But even first-year coach Tom Bigwood did not foresee a state championship run in their future.

“I would have to say not necessarily,” he said of if they thought they could win a state title. “They did have a good tradition of winning from the previous year and all the guys back. We did have a bunch of horses. They were awesome to be around and very coachable kids.”

During the season, the Tigers were down 9-1 at Effingham County, with runners on first and third. Keith Fordham was the runner on third base and turned to Bigwood.

“He said, ‘Coach, don’t worry. We’re going to win this game.’ And we won 19-11,” Bigwood recalled.

Bigwood was just a couple of years removed from pitching for Georgia Southern in the College World Series.

“I’d like to say Coach Bigwood taught us baseball,” Mark Bitzer, who played right field, said, “and Coach Boyd taught us how to win.”

“We practiced like we played, and that made us a lot better team,” said Andy Anderson. “They didn’t expect anything less from us.”

The Tigers lineup also got the benefit of a young Bigwood throwing batting practice on a daily basis.

“He was better than most of the pitchers we faced,” Bitzer said.

“They loved having me throw to them,” Bigwood chimed in. “They wanted that slider. They kept me in shape, too.”

Bigwood later became principal at Southeast Bulloch High School and was superintendent of Candler County Schools.

He got his start in Hinesville, and all he knew of the place then was the family of his sister- in-law ran Whitman’s Pharmacy.

He had an offer to coach in Milledgeville, with a healthy supplement. But his wife balked at the move. Ed Edwards, the longtime Liberty County superintendent, called his Bulloch County counterpart Ed Wynn about Bigwood.

“And somebody asked me if I’d coach — for no supplement at all,” Bigwood said. “Mr. Ed saw fit that I got paid pretty well after that.”

Boyd was famous — or notorious — for making the players run the bases after a game, win or lose.

“We had a practice of whether we won or lost, we ran a single, a double, a triple or home run. It was a matter of pride and personal toughness,” Boyd said. “And they were tough.”

Boyd even joked that Berland said he would attend on one condition — “he wouldn’t have to run the bases,” the coach said.

“Coach Boyd kept us sharp,” Baker said. “Coach Bigwood was a real good baseball man. They were a great tandem.”

Both Bigwood and Boyd indicated it was more than the physical tools that made the 1976 team a championship caliber outfit. They finished 20-5 and lost only one game throughout the playoffs.

“They never doubted,” Boyd said. “And half of winning is believing.”

“My thinking was to continue what we were doing and continue to display good character,” Bigwood said. “Things just fell into place. I think Lakeview had more talent but our guys were quite determined. I think sometimes it’s one of those things that was meant to be. I think this situation was one of those. We were meant to go all the way through.”

Needing a shot at the right time

Anderson was on deck when Baker hit his title shot. Anderson, one of the team’s better hitters, was also its staff ace, going 12-1 on the season. He earned the win in Game 1.

“I was kind of hoping it was a double,” he said with a smile, “because I was on deck. But it worked out. It was a storybook ending.”

For his Game 1 start, though, he could barely take the mound.

Anderson went to the beach a couple of days before the state championship and cut his left foot, his plant foot when he pitched. The cut became infected and it worsened as the series approached.

“I told my dad I didn’t think I could put any weight on my foot,” he said.

They went to Dr. Frank Robbins’ office and he deadened the feeling in Anderson’s foot. Dr. Robbins went so far as to close his office, grab his doctor’s bag and go to the game.

“Every other inning, I would go out to Coach Bigwood’s car and he would jab me again,” Anderson said. “He did it about three or four times so I could finish pitching the game.”

Despite the needles and the running after games, the players asserted that they had fun on the way to a state championship.

“We had a lot of fun,” Bitzer said. “We never worried about losing.”

“We had a ball,” Boyd added.

“It was a lot of fun. We all gelled together,” Anderson said. “Candler told us it was fun, so it was fun.”

Like the commemorative glasses that were made after the state championship, with the game story from the Liberty County Herald included, the memories from that season remain etched in their mind. Many of the team members came together last weekend to remember.

A few could not return and the two who passed away — Jeff Shives and David Stephens — were honored in their memory.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 50 years,” Baker said. “It’s hard to believe, but it is true.”

“It feels like 10 years maybe,” Anderson said. “I can’t imagine it being 50 years.”

As for those glasses, Bitzer was in his parents’ house not long ago and came across one. Baker said he’ll cherish the one he has the rest of his life. Anderson’s mother bought three cases, he recalled, giving many away to family members.

He still has a few of them left.

“I have to turn it over and read the article to make sure it really happened,” he said.