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Nov, 2018

Billy Brooks joins PONY's International Board of Directors


If South Zone Mustang Division Director Billy Brooks were still playing baseball today, he’d be the ultimate utility player. From being a coach to a league president to a PONY Field and Tournament Director to a president of an umpire association, Brooks has and still does wear many hats. Therefore, when an open seat became available for a member from the PONY South Zone to serve on PONY’s International Board of Directors, Brooks was the perfect guy to fill the position.

“It’s a great honor to me,” said Brooks. “I am excited that Mr. Banda gave me the opportunity to be here and everything. I’ve been around him awhile and like he said, ‘I’ve grown.’ I’ve come out of my shell, I guess.”

Brooks participated in his first International Board of Directors Meeting in October and he called the experience an eye opener, when he was told he was to serve on the Board’s Finance Committee. Being the Swiss Army knife that he is, he served in the position well.

“I was hesitant at first,” said Brooks. “I’d rather start on the (Baseball) Rules (Committee) and everything. But I was so glad. Once I got in there and saw how the operation works, how the money is taken care of, being on the outside for so many years, I enjoyed it.”

A year out of high school, Brooks started coaching Pony and then Colt for Pasadena Teenage Baseball in Pasadena, Texas in 1986. A few years later, his wife Patty gave birth to triplets – his daughters Amanda and Brittany and his son Christopher – so he had to take a break from coaching. In the 1990s, when Christopher started to play baseball, Brooks got back into coaching, and it was then that he signed on as Pasadena’s League President for six years.

In 2005, Brooks was brought on-board as a PONY Field Director by Troy Alexander and Duke Snyder. He started directing Palomino-age tournaments and is happy to say he has served as a PONY Tournament Director at all levels in the South Zone. He later moved up to becoming a Section Director in Houston, Texas, as well as the President of the Houston Area Association, a position he still holds to this day. Additionally, he runs the Lone Star Baseball Umpiring Association, who has previously worked PONY’s Mustang World Series.

After decades spent on the coaching and then administrative sides of the game, Brooks said it’s the brand of baseball PONY plays that has him coming back year-after-year as a volunteer.

“It’s the concept of being real baseball–playing by Major League rules and everything,” said Brooks. “That’s a key deal that I promote big time. If you’re going to play baseball, let’s play real baseball.”

A supervisor at a waste water treatment facility in LaPorte, Texas for 27 years, Brooks also dedicates his time to coaching his daughter Brittany in the Special Olympics. He thanks Patty for being so supportive of him in his baseball endeavors over the years, and he still tries to carve out time for family in his schedule.

“We go camping and fishing once a month, just to get away from everything,” said Brooks.

Looking ahead to 2019 and beyond as a Division Director and Board member, Brooks’ continued goal is to grow PONY in Greater Houston.

“I’m passionate about PONY Baseball and building the Houston area up,” said Brooks. “That’s what I’ve worked on the last few years and am still doing it."

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