C. J.'s Cottonwood Cafe was a pleasurable backdrop for an interview with this month’s honorable Left Hand Laurel, Richard (Dick) Piland. Beginning the first weekend in June for the last several years, Dick has been umpiring the annual Baseball Tournament for Niwot Youth Sports (NYS). 

Dick is an accredited high school umpire with seven years’ experience at the high school level and over 10 years‘ service as a volunteer for NYS. Along with being an umpire, he helps NYS find other umpires for the tournament. "I basically take care of scheduling umpires and making sure they show up. I take on the title of umpire-in-chief, I guess," he said modestly. 

He makes sure they all show up and they are all paid. "That’s all the involvement I have, but it’s a big job. There was a huge tournament this year, biggest I’ve ever seen. It’s normally a two and a half day tournament. This year it was a whole day on Friday, then all day Saturday, and (all) day on Sunday." 

Dick is planning on helping with the girls’ softball at the high school level this fall, beginning in the latter part of September for six weeks. He will be attending clinics to learn more about the sport, which is quite different from baseball "and critically short of umpires for the girl’s teams," Dick points out.

A United Airlines pilot by profession, Dick and his family first moved to Gunbarrel in 1989, and then to Niwot in July 1990. He and his wife Dixie met in college and have been happily married for 32 years. Dixie is a schoolteacher, working in the Dacono and Firestone areas and currently teaching at the new middle school. 

Dick and Dixie have two children, Dia, 29, named after his old high school sweetheart, and Heidi, 26. "They both live in Boulder County, all within 12 miles of our house, with two grandchildren: Denna, two-years-old, and Elsie, a newborn," Dick stated proudly.

After 20 years in the Navy, Dick retired and segued into commercial flying with United, a job which is "difficult to admit to these days," he laughs. "I pinch myself every morning. My life’s better than I ever imagined. I feel very lucky," Dick admits. "We’re a typical middle class family with a cat named Mouser and a dog - all the things you’re supposed to have!" he said.

Dick’s heroes include Gregg Hangge, groundskeeper for the ballfields, and Sue Prahl, a mainstay in NYS, along with all the volunteers, who are the backbone of the program. 

"There (are) also contributors to Niwot Youth Sports, such as Art Stapp and Bill Lambert, from Sprinkler Used Cars, whose name is on the Niwot High School scoreboard. He and Art were instigators in getting the weight room at Niwot High School," noted Dick. Oh, yes there was that other guy, Biff Warren, a long time friend of Dick’s and NYS, who helped out a lot too.

Dick has truly enjoyed being involved with NYS and other sports programs. "It’s a very rewarding experience. If (the) parks and recreation (district) comes in, hopefully our volunteers won’t go away."