This week in Shelter Island history: Island was a baseball powerhouse

10 YEARS AGO

As strike looms, why not consider the past

“Billy-Dick” Dickerson’s son remembers the days of an Island powerhouse.

A retrospective look 10 years ago at baseball on Shelter Island reveals the Island was once a “baseball powerhouse.”

William “Billy” Dickerson shared his family’s photo album dedicated to the baseball career of his relatives, starting with “Billy-Dick” Dickerson, who pitched for the Islanders in 1915, when he was just 16 years old. The baseball history of the Island is filled with Dickerson men.

POSTSCRIPT: Shelter Island’s baseball tradition was revitalized this summer with the formation of a collegiate baseball team, the Shelter Island Bucks, who played in the Hamptons division of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. They finished in first place, but lost in the opening round of the playoffs. Hopefully next summer they’ll be back to take the Island by storm again.

25 YEARS AGO

Culbertson Exhibit at Benson Gallery

Shelter Island artist Jan Culbertson’s exhibits “Environment” and “Creatures” were featured at the Elaine Benson Gallery in Bridgehampton in August of 1987. The two exhibits were said to reflect the effect of man on animals and the environments they inhabit, particularly as she saw them through her travels to such far-ranging places as the Galapagos Islands and Africa. Side by side were her exotic rest serene landscapes, painted with “beauty and calmness” in mind.

POSTSCRIPT: 25 years later, Jan Culbertson is still spreading her messages about the environment through her art. An updated profile of Ms. Culbertson was published in a recent edition of The Reporter.

40 YEARS AGO

‘Damned good job’

An editorial published in 1972 heaped praise on the Ambulance Drivers Association of Shelter Island for its quick reaction to a recent automobile accident. The members of the Emergency Rescue team had performed admirably in response to a drill just a few days prior to the actual accident. The preparation and experience saved lives, prompting the response that Shelter Island was “darned lucky to have such a dedicated team.”

POSTSCRIPT: The Emergency Medical Service just won overwhelming approval for a pension plan that will go into effect this year and provide a five-year look-back for members who have earned enough points based on training and response to incidents to merit credit for those years.