Tommy Gregg is not a Redfield native. In fact, he’s not even from South Dakota. But that hasn’t stopped Gregg from finding a niche and a home in the Redfield sports community.

A Marshall, Minn. native, Gregg has always loved baseball, but it was actually basketball that brought him to Northeast South Dakota in the first place. Gregg attended Presentation College as a member of the basketball team, but when the Saints formed a baseball team during his freshman season, former Athletic Director Rick Kline talked Gregg into joining.

The rest, as they say, was dominos.

A baseball career turned into a coaching gig with the Aberdeen Smittys Legion program. A teaching degree landed him a job and another coaching gig, girls’ basketball this time, at Redfield High School. His baseball experience landed him an offer to get involved with the Redfield Legion program.

And a love for it all has kept him at it for well over a decade.

Success has followed in his wake, too. The Muskrats high school baseball program has enjoyed success at the state level in recent years, while the Legion team has produced similar results. And while the girls’ basketball program hasn’t yet reached the state tournament, the Pheasants were SoDak 16 qualifiers a couple years ago.

But ask Gregg what the key is to all that success and he’ll just start pointing fingers.

“I can’t take credit for any of it,” he said.

For instance, the Legion baseball program was already in place. It just needed someone who enjoyed doing the little things, like paperwork and scheduling.

“I think all our small towns (in South Dakota) fall into the same category. All these towns want to see their teams do well. …They just need a facilitator. Someone who will sit down and do all the paperwork and schedule games. We’re not doing anything special on the field. What we do is not remarkably different than other towns.”

Fortunately for Redfield, Gregg fits that facilitator bill well. The rest has fallen into place on its own.

“It’s unreal,” Gregg said of the support his teams have received from the community. “(People will ask) hey, do you guys need anything? Money for food, hotel rooms? Alumni, do you need any uniforms or a bat? It’s unreal what they do to support our programs. Our kids don’t hardly pay anything to play baseball.”

Gregg also pointed out the work the baseball association has done to support the program, starting with what he called a “total makeover” of the baseball field.

“Our field was in disrepair 25-30 years ago, and now we feel it’s a pretty nice facility,” Gregg said. 

That love of the little things is something he tries to instill in his players, as well, inviting them to help work on the field at various times and taking pride in the facility in which they play.

“It’s been a lot of fun. The last eight or nine years, we’ve been blessed to have a lot of good kids come through the Legion program,” Gregg said.

And while that sort of thing – scheduling, field work and the like – don’t automatically translate to on-field success, Gregg is adamant he’s not the one behind it all.

“There’s too many guys who have done more before me,” he said. “Anything we’ve done, I’m just trying to continue on with what they’ve done. There’s so much community pride. That’s what makes it fun.”

And it would make it hard to leave, too. Gregg has been a fixture in Redfield for the past 14 years, long enough to have built enough relationships with his players to have attended more than a few weddings.

“I’ve been here long enough, some families I’ve coached all their kids,” he said. “That’s pretty cool. Getting know the families and developing those relationships, going to weddings – It makes you feel like you built a relationship.”

Still, Gregg isn’t just a baseball guy. He came to the area as a basketball player, remember, and when the calendar winds its inevitable way toward November, the drum beat changes and baseball takes a back seat. It always has, even when he was a kid.

“What’s your favorite sport?” Gregg said. “The kids will ask me that. Sometimes I think they’re trying to trap me, but It’s still, at age 38, it’s whatever season it is.”