Umpire Fulfilled Major League Dream by Working Little League Series

Although he has been paid to umpire at higher levels, Jerry Floury couldn’t contain his excitement last week after his selection as a volunteer umpire at the Little League World Series.

“This is one of the highlights of my career,” he said.

Floury, who was behind the plate when the Saipan knocked Canada out of a spot in the international championship game with a 4-3 victory, has been a fixture in South Bay youth baseball circles for 20 years.

Although the Manhattan Beach resident has umpired baseball and softball games at the collegiate and high school level, his heart has always been with youth leagues. He’s the Little League district administrator for Hawthorne, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Lawndale and portions of Compton. He owns a sporting goods store in Hawthorne, but has been known to spend more time on youth baseball than on his business.

“Sometimes I think Little League is his business and he just does the sporting goods thing when he has the time,” said Jimmie Timms, a Little League official based in Torrance.

Associates say Floury, 53, is a tireless worker when it comes to seeing that kids have a place to play sports.

“He’s without a doubt a perfectionist,” Timms said. “He has a lot of pride in what he does and you can trust him. When you need him, he’s the first one there.”

Floury grew up in Los Angeles and played a year of minor league baseball in the Dodger organization in the mid-1950s. Like so many players on the West Coast during that era, he switched to fast-pitch softball when his baseball career ended.

“A lot of guys I knew were making the switch, so I thought I’d give it a try,” Floury said.

After a stint in the Marine Corps, Floury attended El Camino College in the early 1960s and eventually signed to play softball for the Long Beach Nitehawks. Fast-pitch softball paid enough money for him to make a living in those days and Floury flourished in the sport for 12 seasons. In 1975, when the Nitehawks won the Western Softball Congress national title, he was named the most valuable player at the WSC World Series.

He quit playing in 1977 because of knee problems. By that time he had become a manager and coach of his son D.J.’s Little League teams. Coaches and managers were required to umpire a certain number of games each week and soon Floury was hooked.

He worked his way up the umpiring ladder and worked his first Southern Section championship game in 1990. He gravitated to softball about 10 years ago and has worked NCAA baseball games for six years.

But he cherished the opportunity to work the Little League World Series, which is for players 12 or younger.

“This is just something you want to do if you have been involved in it,” he said.

It took nine years for Floury to be invited to umpire the World Series. Because Little League has fewer than 100 paid employees worldwide, volunteers are expected to pay their expenses. Like others before him, the delight in being chosen to work the pinnacle of youth baseball was enough reward for Floury to spend about $1,000 for the weeklong trip to Williamsport.

Timms, also an umpire, described Floury as a stickler for details. But he doesn’t impose his will on managers or players.

“He’s one of those guys that comes onto the field and you know he’s in control without being a jerk,” he said.

Floury said kids need direction today and that’s why he continues to be involved in youth sports.

“We’ve got to get more adults involved with kids sports,” Floury said. “The kids aren’t getting the support of the parents any longer like they used to. The parents are just too involved with their own lives to care. They just want to know where to drop their kids off and when to pick them up.”

And Floury is happy to appease them at any of the 13 leagues he oversees.