They’re grown men now, but back then in 1995, a dozen 13-year-old boys helped change how baseball is regarded in Vicksburg.

Friday night at Bobby and Kathy Stokes’ residence in Timberlane, the players, coaches and parents gathered for a 10-year reunion of the first Vicksburg-based youth baseball team to win a state championship.

“Back then Vicksburg was a pure football town,” said team manager Randy Martin-Nez who helped direct the youths to the 1995 13-year-old Babe Ruth state title. “But this team helped baseball step it up a notch.”

The key was to play, and play some more. The core of players grew up playing in the Culkin Athletic Association.

“These kids started when they were five or six in the Culkin league and they played out there until they were 12,” Martin-Nez said. “We wanted to make a move to the bigger, 90-foot fields, plus we wanted to play as a travel team. Culkin wouldn’t allow it, so we moved our team to the city and went on the road. We were Vicksburg’s first travel team.”

Just about every weekend, the entourage headed out to a different tournament venue. Some of the stops included Little Rock, Ark., Panama City, Fla., Pensacola, Fla., Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis, Tenn.

The club had played over 60 games by the time they reached the Babe Ruth State Tournament in Tupelo in late July.

“We played a lot, but it was also a lot of fun,” said player Todd Montgomery, who now is the head baseball coach at Central Hinds Academy near Raymond. “We won a lot of ball games because we learned to play together and it was fun.”

Judy Nasif, the mother of Blake “Bodie” Nasif, said the boys weren’t the only ones who became tight knit during the journey.

“It became one big family. Going to Panama City was a nice trip for us. Then after they won state, we all took a bus to the (Babe Ruth) Regionals in Henderson, N.C.”

At the state tournament in Tupelo, the team stayed in the winners’ bracket, beating Long Beach to reach the final and then Columbus in the finals.

John Robert Ward, at first base, helped start a game-ending double play.

“It was right in my hands. We turned a double-play to win the state championship,” he said.

John Robert’s dad, Glen Ward, was Martin-Nez’ assistant coach along with Bobby Burks.

“There are so many memories about that summer, but I guess the state tournament is one that sticks out the most. The big thing was that, for the most part, we stayed in the winners’ bracket in a lot of these tournaments and that kept our pitching fresh.

“But what was real important about this team is they helped create a baseball powerhouse in Vicksburg.”

Martin-Nez said the city’s reaction helped cement the deal.

“We got in the paper, we got the key to the city from Mayor (Joe) Loviza but it also helped get other travel teams started. The VBA (Vicksburg Baseball Association) got rolling and that’s how teams like the Mudcats and Vipers got started.”

While this corps of players did not win another state title, their successors in the Mudcats and Vipers each won state and regional titles in Babe Ruth, and both advanced to the Babe Ruth World Series.

“Justin Henry, Carl Upton and Joey Lieberman were on those teams and they’re all now playing college ball,” Martin-Nez said. Henry starts at Ole Miss while Lieberman is signed to play next year at the University of Memphis and Upton pitches for Mississippi College.

The two most well-known players off the 1995 title team were the Newton twins, Bo and Craig.

Both went on to star at Warren Central and earn scholarships to Delta State University.

Bo played two seasons with the Statesmen before transferring to Mississippi College, where his career was ended by shoulder injuries.

Craig, meanwhile, turned in a Hall of Fame career at DSU, catching the final out of the 2004 Division II College World Series, sealing the school’s first-ever national championship in baseball.

This past spring, Craig batted .364 and belted 15 home runs to lead the Statesmen back to a South Central Regional title and the CWS in Montgomery. He was named a finalist for the Dave “Boo” Ferriss award given to the state’s top baseball player. The award was won by his former Warren Central teammate, Brian Pettway, who led Ole Miss to the NCAA Division I Super Regionals against eventual national champion Texas.

Craig Newton is currently playing pro ball for the New Jersey Cardinals in the Class A New York-Penn League.

As for the rest of the team: