A FINAL FOR
THE AGES
Story by Jim Green
About
THE YEAR WAS 1970.
in
The state 1A baseball championship between the Farmer Falcons and the Robersonville Rams was to be contested in Robersonville with three games over four days. The series – and the first game in particular – became the stuff of legend.
four
California,
years
ago
while
Bronfenbrenner
living
became
and film about the 1970 state championship series.
acquainted with neighbor Tom Clasby and his
“Michael B called me a couple of years ago,”
wife, Ginger Garner. Garner told him about
Respess said. “I told him about both pitchers
Farmer, (a community south of Asheboro in
(Robersonville’s Glenn Forbes and Farmer’s
Randolph County) where she grew up.
Randolph Myers) throwing all 17 innings, and
Eventually, she told him about the 1970 state baseball championship and the
he was all to pieces over it. He said this was going to be unreal.”
17-inning game. When Michael B suggested it
Michael B brought crews to Lanier Ballfield
should be a film, she said (in an article in the
in the New Hope Community in late August
Randolph County magazine Thrive), “That’s
2018
why I told you.”
grandsons of Farmer players. It was also a
to
shoot
reenactments
featuring
And, almost 50 years later, players,
Bronfenbrenner traveled to Randolph
reunion as players and coaches from both
coaches and fans associated with the two
County and met several involved with the
teams met for the first time in nearly five
communities
Falcons’ state championship team.
decades.
are
immortalized
in
the
He then contacted Nolan Respess, head
Not everybody could be at the reunion,
Michael Bronfenbrenner, known to many
coach at Robersonville, and soon after they
however. Robersonville players Bobby Gene
as Michael B, is the director and producer of the
met in Robersonville to discuss a reunion
Rawls and Lang Hardison, as well as Farmer
documentary “Just Plowboys.”
film, which documents the two communities and baseball teams success in the memorable 1970 season. An
Ithaca
College
(N.Y.)
graduate,
Bronfenbrenner has lived in California and now resides in Connecticut. He owns B-Line Images, which has produced video, film and photography media for broadcast, web and DVD distribution for the past nine years.
48
EITHER TEAM COULD HAVE WON. THEY WERE THAT CLOSE IN TALENT. AND THE FIRST GAME…THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER GAME LIKE THAT ONE – EVER. - M ichael Bronfenbrenner
