MICHAEL ADAM RAY

(originally printed in The Daily O’Collegian on April 29, 2008)

For most people, signing a Division I scholarship without playing organized baseball in high school would be front-page story.

For sophomore outfielder Dusty Harvard, it’s a footnote.

When Harvard signed a scholarship to play baseball for Oklahoma State in 2006, he became the first player to sign a Division I baseball scholarship from Casper, Wyo., in 20 years.

In the grand scheme of things, though, that accomplishment is not nearly as important as the road he traveled to do so.

Harvard’s parents divorced when he was 5, and he moved in with his grandparents, along with his two brothers.

After the divorce, his dad left, and the three Harvard boys have rarely seen him since.

Dusty’s grandmother, Leanne Moore, who raised Dusty and his brothers with her husband, Bill, said it was hard on the boys growing up.

“I don’t think Dusty has seen his father more than twice since he was 4,” Moore said. “And Shawn, Dusty’s younger brother, has never seen him.”

That’s only the beginning.

Harvard’s mom remarried when he was 12, and she soon left the boys permanently with their grandparents.

“When mom got remarried, she moved out as well,” Harvard said. “It sounds bad, but she just kind of left us, me and my two brothers, and we just ended up moving in with my grandparents.”

Harvard said when his mother remarried, she decided she was going to move wherever her new husband wanted to go, even if her kids didn’t want to go with her.

“Pretty much, it came down to us deciding we didn’t want to move wherever they went,” Harvard said. “She had her mind set on going wherever that guy wanted her to go, so she just left.”

Harvard said the last time he saw his mother was right before he started high school.

“Really, there was no goodbye or anything,” Harvard said. “It was just kind of like, now she’s gone, you know? It was weird. There was no formal goodbye at all.”

When his mother left, Harvard and his brothers had nowhere else to go other than to their grandparents’ house.

Moving three boys in with a retired couple was difficult for everybody.

“It was really hard on us,” Bill Moore said. “I just tried to treat them like they were my own sons.”

Leanne said Harvard and his brothers helped out around the house and made the situation much easier to deal with.

“I had no problems with that boy,” Leanne said. “He was well-behaved, and if you asked him to do something, he did it. There was no back talk or anything. He was a wonderful kid.

“He has never been in trouble, ever.”

To help pass the time during the summers, Harvard picked up baseball when he was 7.

“My best friend in elementary school was playing and I really didn’t have anything to do,” Harvard said. “I just kind of followed him, and his dad had him playing little league, so I started playing, too.”

As time went on, though, things didn’t get any easier for Harvard and his brothers.

When Leanne’s eyesight began to diminish, the family had to share one car, and it put a lot of stress on Bill to get the boys everywhere they needed to be.

“It was just run, run, run all the time, taking the boys to games and school and the store,” Leanne said. “It was just go, go, go all the time, and it was hard on Bill.”

Harvard said finding rides to practice was sometimes the hardest part of the day, but he said his friends were always willing to help out in any way they could.

“I had a lot of good friends that helped me out with all of that stuff,” Harvard said. “But other than that really, my grandparents pretty much did everything for us.”

Doing everything wasn’t easy for the Moores.

Because Harvard’s grandparents were retired, there wasn’t a lot of money.

Social Security was the family’s only source of income, and as a result, money was always among the many problems facing the family.

“It was very hard,” Leanne said. “Trying to live on Social Security and raise three grandsons was rough.”

When the boys wanted something, Bill said he always tried to get it for them, but the family had to watch its spending.

The family’s money was so tight over the years Harvard didn’t have his own baseball glove until his junior year of high school, and that was one a coach gave him.

Although things were difficult for Harvard at home, he didn’t let it prevent him from succeeding in the classroom and in athletics.

Randy Roden, Harvard’s high school basketball coach, said Harvard was one of the hardest-working students he has seen.

“It was like he was out to get something because he had been through something so bad that he was wanted to be the best at everything he did,” Roden said. “After knowing the circumstances, it made more sense, but you just don’t see kids work that hard.”

Harvard said missing out on everything parents provide was the hardest part about his parents leaving. He said he didn’t have so many things that others often take for granted.

“It was just so hard to not have someone there all the time when you need it,” Harvard said.

Roden said he believes Harvard is a better person because of his family situation.

“The thing that was great about Dusty was you never had to question his character whatsoever,” Roden said. “He never had any issues off the field.  He was a tremendous leader and a tremendous role model, and one of the finest people, not to mention athletes, we’ve had walk the halls at this school.”

When kids are faced with situations like Harvard’s, it’s easy for their troubles to take over their lives and cause them start making bad decisions, Roden said.

“When kids get to those crossroads and can choose how to respond to that, they can make a decision on their life,” Roden said. “Some people make bad choices and end up in prison. Dusty, he faced that and made himself a better person through it all.”

Harvard said his family life taught him that nothing would be handed to him.

“Not having a family and all of that when I was growing up, really just made me realize that I’m going to have to work extra hard even to just get to school and find a ride to practice,” Harvard said.

Harvard said he was forced to mature at a young age and decided because things weren’t going to be done for him, he would push himself every day to accomplish the goals he set for himself.

Harvard’s older brother, Josh, didn’t deal with the situation quite as well.

“He got into some trouble with some friends,” Harvard said. “He was really just trying to find someone; he was just looking to fit in, and he got into some trouble with some kids and ended up going to prison for 2 1/2 years.”

Harvard said Josh wouldn’t have been in such a bad situation if his parents had been around.

“He’s really not a bad kid,” Harvard said. “He just kind of took it hard. He just didn’t really mature. He seemed like he would have been a lot better off with the family life, but he’s learned a lot. He’s fine now.”

Harvard said his younger brother, Shawn, took after Dusty when he was around.

“He just kind of followed me around throughout his childhood,” Harvard said. “He’s only two years younger than me, so he just kind of took after me.”

After Dusty left for college, things haven’t been so easy for Shawn, Harvard said.

“He got into some trouble after I left,” Harvard said. “I think it’s been really hard on him without me being around. No one really influenced him more than I did, I don’t think, and without me being around, he seems kind of lost.”

Roden said he is impressed with Harvard’s ability to rise above his situation.

A lot of young people can come out of rough situations and say they’re going to change their life for the better, but doing so is much harder, Roden said.

“We’ve got a lot of kids that go to school here that have similar backgrounds, but you don’t see them taking on the world and kicking its ass,” Roden said.

If things weren’t hard enough for Harvard to overcome in his personal life, he had to deal with the absence of organized baseball in Wyoming.

“We had American Legion summer league teams, but since we had no organized baseball, we missed out on that whole season,” Harvard said. “I played football and basketball, and I ran track during what would normally be the baseball season.”

Because of the lack of organized baseball, Harvard was unable to work on the sport during the school year. Baseball was available from only April to August.

Harvard said missing out on the chance to play baseball year-round was a big disadvantage coming into college.

“I meet all these guys who have been playing in high school, and they’re really two or three years ahead of me in baseball because they played so much,” Harvard said.

If there’s one thing Harvard welcomes, though, it’s a challenge.

When he was playing basketball for Roden, Harvard wasn’t the most talented player, but his work ethic and his selfless nature gained him a lot of playing time.

“He was a tremendous competitor,” Roden said. “More importantly, he’s the only kid I’ve ever had that could actually look me in the eye and really, truly mean the team comes first.”

Harvard’s background allowed him to see the bigger picture in life and athletics, Roden said. He said it helped Harvard develop into a selfless person.

Harvard’s unselfish nature was summed up in one moment during his junior year. The basketball team was playing a crosstown rival at a large event center, and it was a big deal for the town, Roden said.

Roden said he made a few questionable coaching decisions, and after the game realized Harvard had barely played in front of his home crowd.

After the game, Roden apologized to Harvard for not giving him as much playing time as he should have.

Without hesitation, Harvard grabbed Roden’s shoulder and said, “Coach, it’s no big deal. We won the game. You did the right thing.”

Roden said he has never seen such a team-oriented attitude from someone so young. Coming from Harvard, however, Roden said he wasn’t surprised.

Despite playing baseball four months a year in a state with no organized baseball, Harvard’s summer league play was enough to gain the interest of the Oklahoma State coaching staff.

OSU assistant coach Billy Jones, who previously coached one of Harvard’s summer league coaches, was the first college coach to come see Harvard play.

“He played OK, but as I was sitting there watching him, I started to hear his story,” Jones said. “I started to hear about his home life and being on his own, and just what a great kid he was. He played pretty good, but once I met him, I knew I wanted to give him an opportunity. He deserved the opportunity.”

Jones offered Harvard a scholarship, and the decision to come to OSU was easy, Harvard said.

When Harvard arrived at OSU, though, things weren’t as easy.

Harvard entered a highly competitive race for playing time in the Cowboys outfield last year, and he brought his selfless nature with him.

“It’s tough, because it is Division I, and there are so many great athletes,” Harvard said. “We had a great outfield last year, so I knew my role as a player on that particular team was to help out wherever need be.”

The work ethic Roden praised also came along, Jones said.

“He will do whatever you ask of him,” Jones said. “He’s probably our hardest worker on the team, and he doesn’t play that much. He works hard at everything he does, in practice or in a game, and the guys love him because he’s such an unselfish kid. It’s a testament to everybody that raised Dusty.”

OSU coach Frank Anderson said Harvard’s hardworking nature stood out to him the moment Harvard stepped on campus.

“Dusty is, for lack of a better term, one of my heroes,” Anderson said. “I’ve had less than five guys in my coaching career give 100 percent effort every day in practices, games, weights, whatever it is, and he’s one of them. To be the person that he is with the character that he has is just really impressive.”

Despite Harvard having played so little baseball in his life in comparison with the rest of his teammates, his coaches say his best baseball is still to come.

“Some of his teammates probably played more games in one year than he probably played in his whole career before he got to OSU,” Anderson said. “I think it’s a disadvantage, but I think his best stuff is ahead of him.”

Jones agreed with Anderson.

“Good things will happen to him,” Jones said. “I believe it. I tell him that every day. He works too hard and he gives everything he has every day whether we’re practicing or playing games. He never takes a day off and that’s a testament to him. Good things are going to happen to him, I know they are.”

Harvard, who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 28th round out of high school, said he hopes to continue his baseball progression at Oklahoma State and play professional baseball.

“I just want to get drafted again and see how far that will take me,” Harvard said. “Of course I want to graduate, to keep that as a backup, but ideally I would like to get drafted and just go from there.”

This season, Harvard has struggled at the plate in an outfield that is talented offensively, and again he finds himself competing for playing time.

Harvard says he’s up to the challenge.

“Everything in my life has shown me that if you just put forth the effort, everything will work out, no matter what the circumstances,” Harvard said.

Coming from where he’s been, who could question him?