Elizabeth Dedert: Today I am joined by Bob Grana. Bob is a former SMSU football player and class of 1975. He is also the founder and longtime president of the Saint Louis Redbirds, a high school summer baseball program that has produced numerous college and professional players. Thank you so much for joining me today, Bob.
Bob Grana: Oh, absolutely. It's my pleasure. Thank you.
Dedert: Well, as I mentioned before, you are a former SMSU football player. Can you just walk me through what your personal experience was playing football here in the 70s?
Grana: It was a lot of fun. The main factor with all that was Coach Bill O'Neil. He recruited me. I went to Southwest High School in Saint Louis, and he recruited me and was a mentor. He was a no-nonsense coach, but he was also fair. And I have former teammates Rusty Shadel, Billy Donegan, Richie Coburn, Sunny Hobson, Barry Brambilla, guys that, you know, we played together. And we had a lot of fun. And at the end of the day, we also did a lot of good. It was a great experience.
Dedert: Walk me through — you were talking about your recruitment process. Was it different than how it is now, today? How was it? So he just called you up? How was that recruitment process for SMSU?
Grana: Coach O'Neill came to my high school, and my high school football coach introduced me, and we set up a recruiting visit, and I went down to Springfield and spent the weekend touring campus, sitting with the coaches and, you know, going through, you know, what they were looking for as far as players, their philosophy and...kind of see how we meshed together. I don't think it, well, I know it's not as, intricate and sophisticated, complicated as it is now. It's just one visit on Sunday. I'll never forget sitting with Coach Cross and Coach O'Neill, and they're like, 'look, you know, we'd love to have you. This is what we can offer you. And what do you think?' And I immediately said, 'I'm in. Where do I sign?' And, you know, that was that was the recruiting process. Nowadays, it's, you know, a little more complicated, but that was easy. And it's a decision I will never regret at all.
Dedert: I love how you were, you were saying how just, like, eager you were to play, wanting to start off your experience. Continuing to look back in your football experience throughout the years leading up to you graduating, what would you say is your fondest memory? I know you were talking about Coach O'Neill and Coach Cross. As a player, what would you say is your most favorite memory then?
Grana: Well, there were several, but I guess the biggest memory on the field was my senior year. We were playing Northwest Missouri State. And they were — I believe they were leading. We were in the MIAA, a conference and I think they were first, we were second or so, and it was a wild game. Away game. I was fortunate enough to catch a long touchdown pass from Kent Stringer. They came back and scored. And then on the ensuing kickoff, which there was not much time left, maybe a minute or two, they kicked it off and Gino Travline took it 80 some yards for a touchdown, and we won the game.
Dedert: Wow.
Grana: That was — yeah. I'll never forget that.
Dedert: Just something, just something out of a movie.
Grana: Yeah. It was. It was a lot of fun. And, you know, there were a lot of great memories. I mean, I played with some great players. You know, Tom Mullen was the number one draft choice for the New York Giants in 1974. Fred Tabron. Tommy McIntire. Great guys and great coaches.
Dedert: Yeah. Fast forwarding a little bit to your involvement in your foundation to now the Saint Louis Redbirds. You have a lot of experience with football, but what kind of drafted you and pulled you towards baseball?
Grana: Well, I always loved baseball. And growing up in Saint Louis — you know, you're a Cardinals fan.
Dedert: Oh, yeah.
Grana: And, but I was, I played a little bit in high school. I was not very good. But I enjoy the sport. And I partnered up back in the 80s with a gentleman by the name of Rick Dowd. We started — originally was the Ellisville Redbirds. And we started the program and basically had players from two high schools: Lafayette High School and Marquette High School and then the private school players within that, those two high school areas. We were fortunate. I mean, obviously great players. I mean, Ryan Howard, Luke Voit, David Freese, Jeff Gray, Matt Buschmann, Burt Green. You know, it was a lot of fun running that program and then working with college coaches, getting kids to further their baseball experience and to get an education. So, it was fun and a lot of great memories there as well.
Dedert: Yeah. And your sons are also involved and along with you are in the Hall of Fame for the Redbirds. Was it just kind of natural for them to almost follow in your footsteps and continue to work with and build up younger ballplayers in the Saint Louis area?
Grana: Well, my son, oldest son Tony, he was a baseball player in high school and in college, actually played with Ryan in high school and then summer league as well. He's a Redbird coach now as well. I'm no longer involved in the program. I turned it over to a couple former players 15, 16 years ago. And, but he has a team. My grandson Tate plays on it. He's got a great future, good arm, good infielder. And he's 12 years old. And so, he's working on it. And then my youngest son was fortunate enough to play in the minors for the Cardinals, Dodgers and Diamondbacks, actually played a year or so with Joey Hawkins, head coach at Missouri State now and actually worked with the new pitching coach that they just hired. So, yeah, a lot of great experience, a lot of great guys. You know, it's — that was fun to be involved and to stay active in sports.
Dedert: Exactly. And I'm from Saint Louis myself. It's the sports, the sports community there, especially, like you were saying, you know, if you're from Saint Louis, you're a Cardinals fan. The sports community there and baseball is huge. And you had mentioned, you know, David Freese, which is ultimately royalty for the Saint Louis Cardinals. But you mentioned when we were talking earlier, Ryan Howard and Jeff Gray and Ross Detwiler and Luke Voit that you mentioned that you had worked with. Maybe them in particular or other players, coaching side of things, what was your fondest memory on just being on that side of the ball?
Grana: Fondest memory here. I'll give you a funny story.
Dedert: Hit me.
Grana: We played our home games in the summer at Lafayette High School. For people who are familiar with the area, there's a big subdivision probably about 50 feet behind the game field. And, you know, there's a little berm and a fence and big trees. And anyway, we were playing on a Saturday afternoon. Ryan's (Howard's) senior year, he was heading to Missouri State. So, we're playing. I'm coaching third base. Ryan hit a ball that immediately was out of the ballpark and was over the trees and in the subdivision. Well, anyway, about 20 minutes later, a police car pulls up to the field, and a couple get out of the police car. And I'm, again, coaching third base. The inning's over, and I run over, and the couple's, like, you know, 'we're sick and tired of balls being thrown in our backyard and, you know, hitting our house' and this and that. And I looked at the woman and I said, 'see that young man at first base.' 'Oh, yeah?' 'He hit that ball.' And the husband was like, 'seriously?' And he hit the ball, and I said, 'yeah, he hit the ball. He hit it over the trees.' And I said, 'I apologize. I'm sorry, you know. He hit your house. But, you know, it's part of the game.' And immediately after that, the husband looked at the wife and said, 'We got to go.' And the...husband grabbed my arm and he said, 'who is that?' And I said, "Ryan Howard. He graduated from here at Lafayette, and he's going to then Southwest Missouri to play baseball." He's like, 'thank you.' And he said, 'you want the ball?' I said, 'no, you keep it.' And so anyway, it's a funny story, you know? But there's many others like that as well. But that one just kind of always stuck out in my mind because, well, it was just a whole crazy way to spend a Saturday afternoon watching Ryan hit a ball and hit a house and everybody getting fired up.
Dedert: Yeah. Make sure, make sure that that husband and wife kept that souvenir for later.
Grana: Yeah, absolutely.
Dedert: Yeah. Well, thank you so much again, Bob, for sitting down with me. It was a pleasure to sit down and just talk about your life. It was just, again, amazing. And again, I was joined by Bob Grana. He is former SMSU Football Bear and founder of the Saint Louis Redbirds organization. Again, thank you so much, Bob.
Grana: Oh, thank you Elizabeth, I appreciate it.
Dedert: Of course.
Grana: Thank you. And go Bears.
Dedert: Yes. Go bears.
