Faust has been PONY’s ultimate utilityman
Editor’s note: This is part of a series about the 75th anniversary of PONY Baseball and Softball, leading up to the Pony League World Series in August at Lew Hays Pony Field.
Terry Faust’s life in baseball is a matter of family, persistence and great passion for the game.
Born without a left hand, Faust rose above as an athlete, playing baseball as a youth, in high school and in college.
Faust is an inductee of the Washington-Greene County Sports Hall of Fame for Youth Service.
His presence at the Pony League World Series is understood. He remains part of the Decisions Committee as his experience, fairness and understanding of the game are impeccable.
It all started with his father, Neil, and includes his brother, Ron.
“I go back a long time,” Faust said. “I initially got involved with my dad, when he was not only coaching my brother, but he used to take a week off every year to stay at (Washington & Jefferson) with the Pony League World Series teams.”
Faust played baseball at Washington High School from 1962-64 and he played youth baseball from 1958-64 in the Washington Youth Baseball League and for American Legion baseball where he was chosen as an All-State player in 1964.
He was a three-year letterman at what was then known as California State College from 1965-69. He was a pitcher.
Faust coached various Washington youth teams in leagues from 1971 through 1984. He coached the Washington Thorobred team to the World Series in Tidewater, Va., in 1981.
He moved to PONY Baseball and Softball administration in 1986 when he became a Field Director that changed his direction.
Faust served many years (1975-1984) as an administrator with Washington Youth Baseball and the Pony League World Series, working as a host and ground crew participant. From 1984-92, he was president of Washington Youth Baseball and has remained actively involved with Washington Tournaments, Inc., the local organizing committee of the Pony League World Series.
“It’s just been something that he loves to do,” said Ron Faust, who also played and coached in the Pony Baseball program and is the longtime official scorer for the Pony League World Series. “I can’t even recount all he’s done. I know he coached and he was WYB president and has gone on up the steps. At one point, probably in the early 1970s, we had a thing called host AC (Host Athletic Club), where my dad and Terry and I formed a group and worked as ambassadors. When the teams came in, we each had a team and we escorted them around and so on. Terry has done it at – all levels and he’s very knowledgeable about what he does.
From 1986-2004, Terry Faust served as Field Director for Pony in the Eastern United States to plan and host league tournaments and from 2005-10, he was vice president of the East Zone of PONY Baseball.
He remains vice president of the East Zone.
Faust served as chairman of the Pony Baseball Executive Board of Directors from 2009-10 and 2017-2018.
One of his greatest accomplishments was forming the “Champions” program within PONY Baseball and Softball, which invites “Special Needs” youth to be participants.
Faust has been a constant promoter of baseball at the local, national and international levels.
“Because of my affiliation with playing in Pony, coaching a Thorobred team for three years. I met a guy who oversaw PONY Baseball Field Directors in the East Zone. He asked if I would want to get involved as a field director.”
Faust said his attraction to PONY Baseball was that the game played is “real baseball.”
“Runners lead off base. Pitchers go to the stretch position. They play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. That’s what attracted me to it,” he said.
He reminded that Little League and Dixie League have rules that are different from regular baseball.
“The PONY representatives have been mentors to a lot of us,” said Bill Stough, Pony League World Series volunteer and member of Tournaments Inc. “That interaction between PONY and the volunteers of the World Series and Tournaments Inc. is effective.
“Someone like Terry, who is on both sides of that equation, is invaluable. In between the games and between the Series we’re trying to raise money. Terry’s one of the ones who we always go to when we have an issue. He’s seen things from all over the place and he always has good suggestions. It’s never like a dictator. It’s more of a ‘Hey, what about this or that, or can we do this?'”
Terry Faust knew many of PONY Baseball’s founders and his respect is strong and he is quick to credit them for laying such a strong foundation.
“I was very fortunate to live in Washington,” he said. “As a result of that, I knew all those guys who were the founding fathers. Back in the day, in the 1950s, there wasn’t a lot of things for kids to do. You looked forward to going to baseball practice and the games every day. And it kept kids out of trouble.
“I’m going to be turning 80 in October. And I’m slowing down a little bit. I just had two knees replaced. It’s coming to a point in time when you got to say enough,
“I’ve met so many good people out of this program. Being on an international board of directors for 27 years, I met a lot of great people who remain as friends. I would have never believed that I would be involved this long.”