Alumni Spotlight – Daniel Jesse Mays ‘43

Jesse grew up and attended school in New Freedom, a child of the Great Depression, working canning seasons at Charles G. Summers and whatever odd jobs that came his way. These experiences gave him an appreciation for the simple things and the value of hard work – qualities that served him well. His father’s name was Daniel Webster Mays, but his son Daniel Jesse was always “Jesse.”

He graduated from New Freedom High School (now the community building) at the height of WWII, but his mother received his diploma, Jesse having a previous engagement that evening – with the United States Army. Students in good standing and of enlistment age were permitted to leave school a semester early for the purpose of serving. Then and now a fervent patriot, Jesse took advantage of the offer.

There were only 100 students in the high school, 30 in the graduating class, but that didn’t stop the school from having a strong sports program, one that Jesse took advantage of. Even at that size, New Freedom was the second high school in York County to field a football team and had a baseball team that was a consistent contender. Jesse was a running back and infielder, lettering in both sports. He was also the sports editor of the school newspaper, and his interest in sports, specifically his interest in baseball, was to be a guiding force in his early life. But first there was a war to be won.

He completed his basic training as an army infantryman in Washington state and was then transferred to the prestigious Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP), sent to programs at the University of Utah and then Montana State College. His specialty was engineering, and he was being trained in reconstruction efforts, but the ASTP program was discontinued in 1944, causing Jesse to enroll as an aviation cadet in a program designed to replace lost pilots in the Pacific. As to the ASTP program, Jesse recalls with pride that its alumni include Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, television news anchor Roger Mudd, U.S. Senator Frank Church, and New York Mayor Ed Koch.

But the Army (as the Army tended to do) changed its mind about the aviation program and sent Jesse back to Oregon for additional infantry training with “Task Force Herron,” a division organized to replace fallen infantrymen in the Pacific.

Toward the end of 1945, the Army finally decided what it wanted to do with Daniel Jesse Mays and sent him to Camp Miles Standish, outside Boston, to undergo final training for deployment to the European Theater of Operation. After two years of seemingly endless training, his army life suddenly became interesting, beginning with an unescorted run across the Atlantic in a converted cruise ship and an unexpected deployment with General Patton’s Sixth Army to provide relief in the Battle of the Bulge, as a member of the 274th Infantry Regiment.

The 274th fought for 86 continuous days in the Bastogne relief effort, earning a distinguished unit citation for its heroic actions. Jesse earned a combat infantryman’s badge and three battle stars for his service.

After turning back the German offensive at Bastogne, the 274th was heavily involved in forcing the German retreat, and Jesse served several combat postings in France and Germany, returning to the United States in 1946.

After an honorable discharge, he enrolled in Dickinson College that September under the G.I. Bill, but his passion for baseball had never left him, and after a semester, he accepted a contract offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization to play in its farm system in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) league in Hornell New York. For the next several years, he lived the life of a “baseball bum” in the post war minor leagues, playing successively in Greenville, Ala. (1948) Salisbury, N.C. (1949) and then to New Iberia, La. when his contract was purchased by the Boston Braves.

He started the 1950 season in Hagerstown, Md., but when his contract was optioned to Eau Claire, Wis., Jesse – now engaged to Dottie Stermer (Class of 1948) – decided to retire from baseball and “return to the real world.” He married Dottie that summer and started working for American Insulator (A.I.) in New Freedom.

A.I. was an organization keenly interested in attracting baseball players for the New Freedom town team and Jesse played there for a few years, but now 26 years old, married, with a child on the way, he decided it was time to take life more seriously and focus on a career. He worked with Tom Kerrigan, coaching the Glen Rock town team for a few years, but his baseball life was mostly over. He worked at “real jobs” as he described them, leaving American Industries for Black and Decker, then Crescent Industries, and finally Caterpillar Tractor, where he spent 20 years as a tool designer, retiring in 1986.

Jesse and Dottie have five children, all Susquehannock graduates. Daniel ‘69 graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and continued a career in the U.S. Navy; Andy ’71 attended Gettysburg College, worked for the FBI and then the Maryland State Police, Robert ’73 became a tool and die maker and carpenter and is an avid skier in Colorado; Jenny ’78 attended York Art Institute and is an interior designer, Tracy ’81 has an Associate’s degree and works in the travel industry.

He is well known in the community, having served as a member of the local school board for eight years, and a leader in the consolidation boards that merged six municipal school districts into one – the Southern York County School District. His publication, One Hundred Years of Glen Rock Sports documents a rich community and high school tradition and has been accepted into the library of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jesse was inducted into the York Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.

Thanks to Daniel Jesse Mays ’43 for making us “Warrior Proud.”