On Saturday night as part of the Justin Demary Memorial Tournament, four individuals, as well as the 2007 state champion Minot Vistas American Legion team, were enshrined into the Minot Baseball Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Corbett Field. Longtime contributor to the American Legion baseball program Ron Garcia, former baseball coach Bryan Kramer, and highly decorated area baseball players Kory Houston and Derek Somerville were officially inducted into the Hall alongside the entire 2007 Vistas team.

“When I was notified about a week and a half ago, I was taken aback that I would be bestowed such an honor at being inducted into the Hall of Fame,” Garcia said. “I can remember when I arrived in Minot 50 years ago and I got involved in youth activities, it’s just something I fell in love with. Over the years, not only youth activities, but the American Legion was extremely important to me and I supported it for all those years. It is an honor to be recognized for the things I’ve done because of my love for the youth and the activities I’m involved in.”

Garcia has been a well-known name in the Minot American Legion baseball community since arriving in Minot in the ’70s as an active-duty service member with the air force. Now a retired military member, Garcia found a new passion in life while stationed on the air force base when he was informed at the time that there was no funding at the time for youth programs. He knew that had to change.

“I wanted to get involved because when I got here there was no funding for youth activities at the base and we needed to do something to generate funds for youth activities in order for them to be able to go and do simple things like play baseball, play soccer, have funds for them to be able to go out and do things,” Garcia said. “That’s when I got my passion to help the youth.”

Garcia’s charitable efforts stretch well beyond the baseball diamond. He helped in the development of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and frequently volunteers at the Lord’s Cupboard, a local food pantry that serves to feed the hungry and poverty-striken population in Minot. He helped create a monthly luncheon for veterans at Sommerset Neighborhood Assisted Living & Memory Care and is a committee chairman for scholarships in the community provided by DAV.

For all of his contributions to the Minot area, where he gets the most joy is seeing the growth of the young men as they come through the American Legion program.

“What I’m most proud of is to see the young men that have come through the program and I saw those young men that are now leaders in the community,” Garcia said. “We’re talking about doctors, we’re talking about lawyers. People that have come through the program and made something of themselves based on the hard work and ethics they’ve had growing up and going through the baseball program.”

Garcia, who will turn 80 next month, said he doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon, as there are always more ways in which he can give back to the community. Until he is no longer physically able to help, he will always be there to provide support.

Some of those young men that Garcia has witnessed growing up through the American Legion program at some point played for Bryan Kramer during his long and successful tenure at Bishop Ryan. Kramer helped lead the Lions to 11 Class B state tournaments and advanced to the state championship game six times. Bishop Ryan won five state titles under Kramer’s leadership winning back-to-back in 2000 and 2001 before rattling off three straight in 2007, 08 and 09.

“It means a lot,” Kramer said of being inducted into the Hall. “I realize very clearly that without great assistant coaches and really supportive parents at our school and really some great baseball players that we don’t have the success we had. I was blessed and lucky to be a part of that.”

Had you told Kramer early in his professional career that he would go on to win multiple state championships as a baseball coach, not only would he not believe the part about the championships, but he especially wouldn’t have believed the baseball part.

“I didn’t play baseball after I was 13 years old,” Kramer said. “I didn’t know a whole lot about it, so when I first started coaching baseball I kind of got thrust into it when I was at Enderlin and I was a terrible baseball coach and then I went to Sawyer High School and basically got thrusted into the baseball position and I was a terrible coach there, too. I think you just learn and the more you learn, the more I got to work with the kids, I just loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. It was my favorite sport to coach.”

In attendance for Kramer’s induction was his son, Ben, who Bryan has been coaching since he was 10 years old. The duo were together for the championship run from 2007-09, with Ben being named both the senior athlete of the year and the Region 7 athlete of the year in 2009. According to Kramer, Ben was one of the easier kids to coach.

“I had players that were all in all the time,” Bryan Kramer said. “They were very committed to being really good players and so it was easy to coach those guys. Ben was one of those guys. He was a leader. He was our catcher, which on the baseball field is kind of your general and he was good. There were times where he would be frustrated with me or thought what I was doing on the field was completely reckless and idiotic, but we don’t win the 2009 title without him. It was fun to coach him. I’ve coached his teams since he was 10 years old. He was used to my antics.”

Of all the state titles, Bryan Kramer said they were all different, but the final one in 2009 sticks out the most because it was the most unexpected. The Lions had lost eight of nine starters from the 2008 championship squad – Ben being the only returner – and despite there being little to no expectations for success that season, Bishop Ryan still managed to hoist the state trophy at the end of the season.

Neither Houston nor Somerville could be in attendance for their induction ceremony (their parents filled in on their behalf), but their contributions on the diamond spoke for itself. Houston won a high school state title with Minot High in 2005 and two Legion titles with the Vistas in 2006 and 2007 before continuing his baseball career at Minot State. The center fielder hit .361 his freshman season with the Beavers and tied for the team lead with 48 hits in 37 games. He led the Beavers with 25 stolen bases and 21 walks his sophomore season and was a Dakota Athletic Conference gold glove winner, becoming just one of nine MSU players to earn such an honor.

Somerville was a three-year starter for the Magicians, playing both first and third base. He helped guide the Vistas to their most recent state title in 2010 before playing collegiate baseball with the University of Mary. He batted .333 in 10 games during his freshman season and .313 in 50 games as a junior. That season he also collected 51 hits, 35 RBIs, 12 doubles, and 28 runs. For his career with the Marauders, Somerville posted a .292 average in 99 games with 88 hits, 62 RBIs, 22 doubles and 48 runs scored. In his post-playing career, Somerville has worked in Major League Baseball as a member of the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks. He currently serves as the Diamondbacks’ minor league strength and conditioning coordinator.

With the 2025 Minot Vistas looking on, the 2007 squad were honored with their induction into the Hall. The 2007 Vistas earned the program’s ninth state title with a dominating team that posted 50 wins, including a pair of victories in the Central Plains Regional. The Vistas toppled Bismarck in the state championship that season after posting 37 runs in their opening two games of the state tournament, among them a 17-3 victory over Williston in the semifinals.