Final chapter: Storybook journey ends with title

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Sept. 17, 2013

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News Sports Editor

There isn't anything to not like about these Hartford Hawks. They had all the factors to make them a lovable team.
The Hawks completed an impressive run through the Rock River League playoffs Sept. 7 with a 4-3 victory over Milton. It was the team's first championship.
"It's starting to sink in," Hawks manager Ben Kluck said. "The more you look at and break down each game, it gets more amazing."
The Hawks had to win a play-in game to get into the playoffs. Once in, they didn't look back, sweeping league favorites Kewaskum and Rubicon in two games of a best-of-three series to reach the league championship series. Then the Hawks swept Milton in the best-of-three championship series. The Hawks did it with a lot of flair, winning five of six playoff games by one run; the one game that wasn't was the Hawks' 3-0 victory in 12 innings in Game 1 against Milton.
This was all after the Hawks finished divisional play with a record of 9-7.
"At the start of the playoffs, if you would've asked everybody on the team, 'Do we have a good shot at winning it?' Half the team had some doubt," Kluck said.
Hartford beat defending league champion Kewaskum in Game 1, 2-1, on Aug. 17.
"Once we won that game at Kewaskum, the first game of the playoffs, it really sparked these guys," Kluck said. "It put some belief in us. They really started to believe."
In 2010, one of its biggest contributors, Ken Kluck, died of a heart attack. He was 54. Kluck took over as the team manager before the 2000 season. Without Kluck, the Hawks may have died as they had a clouded future.
The same was true when Kluck died.
Baseball was a big part of the late Kluck's life, having coached youth leagues and at Hartford Union High School before taking over the Hawks. The Kluck family wondered what do next.
"It was one of things where we knew he would want us to go on and continue playing," Ben Kluck said. "We had to fill his shoes and that was a big task."
In the days after Ken Kluck's passing, the Hawks won the Tri-County Night League championship.
However, Ben's younger brothers, Jim and Tom, and their mom, Mary, gave thought to leaving the Hawks and turning it over to somebody else once the season was over. Ken Kluck's legacy was too much to overcome, they thought.
"I'm really glad we stayed with it," Ben Kluck said.
In the years that followed, the Hawks were the common bond for the entire Kluck family, including its extended family.
The family came together when Ken Kluck took over the Hawks as Ben was already a member of the team and his brothers were members of the Neosho Rockets.
It was a no-brainer for the brothers to join the same team as they chased the same dream of their father's: to win a Rock River championship.
"There's so many people that have pitched in," Ben Kluck said. "It's such a great thing for the community."
It touched everybody in Hartford, including Mayor Joe Dautermann, who attended the championship game.
Mary has continued to be involved with the team, helping maintain the concession stand at home games, while their grandfather, Lloyd, constantly spread the word throughout town to let people know there was a game.

To become a championship team, the Hawks knew they had to step it up. One of the big contributors during the championship run was Matt Buhrow, an addition to the Hawks this season.
A former college pitcher at Carroll University in Waukesha, Buhrow pitched the complete game in the final game, allowing just three runs — two earned — and four hits, walked three and struck out nine. Buhrow was magnificent during the playoffs. He was 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA with 23 strikeouts to just nine walks. For the season, Buhrow was 2-1 with 1.93 ERA in six appearances (three starts), with 32 strikeouts and seven walks.
"Matt really stepped up," Ben Kluck said. "I think he was the X factor."
To make his season just that much more remarkable, he was coming off Tommy John surgery on his right pitching elbow. He had the surgery Sept. 11, 2012. He was pitching six months later. Typically, Tommy John surgery requires 12-18 months of rehab.
Buhrow remembers when he heard the pop in his arm: July 3, 2011. He went more than a year with the injury, admitting his pain tolerance is quite high.
A week after hearing the pop, he had an MRI done and the diagnosis a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. He had a difficult decision to make. He was heading into his senior year at Carroll and knew if he had the surgery, he'd miss his senior year as he was due to graduate in the spring.
"My family and I discussed it," Buhrow said. "I decided that I was going to play through it. I would rather fight through the pain."
When college was done, he still wasn't ready to have the surgery as he wanted to play summer baseball with his friends. Once that was finished, he had the surgery. For the five to six months after the surgery, he worked on regaining his strength in his arm.
Buhrow was recruited to the Hawks by Jordan Stephans, a former Orioles baseball player and the Klucks' cousin. Stephans also went to Carroll.
When he joined the Hawks, the arm was the last thing on his mind.
"The whole part was I can't disappoint these guys," Buhrow said. "I don't know them and they don't know me."
And it's a good thing the team overlooked its first impression.
On the first pitch he threw of the season against North Lake in a Tri-County League game, he threw the ball into the backstop on the fly.
"I was like, 'Oh boy,'" Buhrow recalled.
Later in the season, Buhrow replaced Zach Christopherson in a game despite Christopherson was pitching quite well at the time. Buhrow still struggled with his control, leaving Christopherson wondering: “I got replaced by him?”
Eventually, Buhrow came around.
"We kind of eased him into it," Ben Kluck said. "We'd start with two or three innings early in the year. You could see his strength getting better as the year went along. He kind of convinced me that he did feel strong and his pitching performance showed."
It wasn't an easy position for Kluck. He was dealing with a sensitive injury for a pitcher with a player he didn't know much about.
"It was tough and it was nerve-wracking," Kluck said. "I've never really had to deal with it. I trusted him in what he would tell me."
On July 27, Buhrow pitched a complete-game six-hit shutout and struck out 13 batters. He said that's when he regained his confidence.
"It shocked me because I never really felt pain," Buhrow said. "It was definitely an eye-opener with how well it worked out."

A championship season hardly ever goes according to plan as trouble hit the Hawks in late July.
Tom Kluck, the youngest of the Kluck brothers at 31, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer more commonly found in people age 45-74, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Kluck had been seeing an allergy specialist since he was a kid. One day, he decided to ask the specialist about this growth on his shoulder. The specialist suggested he see a dermatologist. Kluck had three biopsies to get to the root of the problem. He will never forget the phone call.
"I got a call while I was out on the golf course with my girlfriend," he said. "My doctor said I should make an appointment to get in the next day."
"I was shocked," he added. "I was initially worried because I've had this on my arm for eight to 10 years. Over time, it got bigger, it never alarmed me."
The growth was about the size of a baseball.
He never gave thought about it as it never seemed to hurt him. He finally asked about it only after he felt tightness in his throwing arm and was having a hard time getting loose.
Thankfully for Kluck and the entire family, the disease is treatable and is expected to complete his therapy in another week.
To put a lid on all this, the Hawks won the league championship at home, the field that was such an important part of late Ken Kluck's life. The man who dreamed of having lights installed at West Side Park, where the Hawks won the championship-clinching game.
"He would've had a huge smile," Ben Kluck said.
"I thought of it immediately," Tom Kluck added. "Even the week of, knowing we had a chance to clinch it at home and what it would mean to my dad. I know he'd be so happy."
To add another chapter to this fairy tale journey, the Hawks won the Southern Wisconsin Amateur Baseball Association Class B championship with a 12-6 victory Thursday over the Milwaukee Angels.
The Hawks won their final 12 games to finish 26-12 and two championships.
"It was an unbelievable ride," Tom Kluck said. "I don't think I'll ever be a part of it again."