Leonard "Lenny" Brickens
#2 ... LB2 ... LB# ... The Pounder ... # ...
Leonard C. Brickens 59, of Indianapolis, passed away on October 30, 2009. Born on September 4, 1950 in Indianapolis. Lenny began Umpires for Youth in 1971 and took over the Indianapolis Umpire Association (IUA) in 1973. He recruited, trained and scheduled umpires in central Indiana throughout all of those years.
Lenny was also the umpire supervisor and scheduler for the Missouri Valley Baseball Conference since 2006. During his 40 year career, Lenny umpired all levels of baseball and had several appearances in NAIA World Series competitions, NCAA Division 1 Tournament, Division II and III College World Series, as well as numerous Missouri Valley and Big Ten Championships. Lenny also represented the United States as an umpire at the Pan Am Games in Indianapolis, the Junior World Championships in Moncton, Canada, the European Olympic Championships in the Netherlands, and the World Baseball Championships in Taipei.
He was a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, the IHSAA, Collegiate Baseball Umpires Alliance, Amateur Baseball Umpires Association, Indiana Officials Association and The Fall Creek Officials Association. He organized a contingent of umpires to work pre-season collegiate baseball in Florida. Because of his dedication and perseverance, Lenny built one of the most respected and unique umpire organizations in the United States.
He also can be credited with helping Central Indiana high schools to better their baseball programs by organizing and running a summer baseball program. To help supplement team costs for this summer program, Lenny organized and ran an annual charity night in Indianapolis raising thousands of dollars. His IUA was never shy when it came to helping others through specific charities or to IUA-related families suffering great losses.
Lenny was also the umpire supervisor and scheduler for the Missouri Valley Baseball Conference since 2006. During his 40 year career, Lenny umpired all levels of baseball and had several appearances in NAIA World Series competitions, NCAA Division 1 Tournament, Division II and III College World Series, as well as numerous Missouri Valley and Big Ten Championships. Lenny also represented the United States as an umpire at the Pan Am Games in Indianapolis, the Junior World Championships in Moncton, Canada, the European Olympic Championships in the Netherlands, and the World Baseball Championships in Taipei.
He was a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, the IHSAA, Collegiate Baseball Umpires Alliance, Amateur Baseball Umpires Association, Indiana Officials Association and The Fall Creek Officials Association. He organized a contingent of umpires to work pre-season collegiate baseball in Florida. Because of his dedication and perseverance, Lenny built one of the most respected and unique umpire organizations in the United States.
He also can be credited with helping Central Indiana high schools to better their baseball programs by organizing and running a summer baseball program. To help supplement team costs for this summer program, Lenny organized and ran an annual charity night in Indianapolis raising thousands of dollars. His IUA was never shy when it came to helping others through specific charities or to IUA-related families suffering great losses.
By Matt Moore
Referee Magazine, Associate Editor
The morning of Oct. 30, 2009, I received word that a dear friend had passed away. Lenny Brickens, who I met more than six years earlier, had succumbed to a heart attack about 10 days after having surgery.
I moved into the Indianapolis area in the spring of 2002. Having umpired for more than 10 years before having to take a job-related break, I was anxious to get back into it. A friend at work got me back started doing some youth games, and I asked the umpires I worked with about moving up.
Very quickly, I was told, join the smaller of the two local associations, because you won’t have to put up with Lenny. And the many negative stories about him just spread like wildfire.
With a goal of getting back into college baseball, I researched and contacted Rich Fetchiet, who was the Division I conference assigner for the Big Ten and other midwestern conferences. No, I didn’t expect to jump right into Division I, but with that goal in mind, I figured he might give me good advice.
Rich, without hesitation, said to contact and work for Lenny Brickens. Lenny was his main point of contact in the area.
So against the advice of the locals I had met, I contacted Lenny and found out when the next meeting I could attend would be.
That was the start of a wonderful relationship. I’ve never met someone who was more passionate about the things he believed in related to umpiring than Lenny Brickens. He truly fought for umpires and was willing to do anything to help them advance to bigger and better things.
Oh, those negatives I was told about, turns out those were dastardly things like making you attend clinics, accept game assignments at all levels, hustle while on the field, etc.
When I took the job at Referee, it was easy to tell my boss that I was leaving. Heck, my immediate boss announced his resignation the same day and my overall department head moved away six weeks later.
But telling Lenny in early February that I had to give back my entire schedule and was moving away was tough. I called him up and asked if I could come over to his house to talk about something. He invited me right on over.
I got there and it wasn’t two minutes when he said, “OK, give me the bad news.” I asked how he knew he wasn’t going to like what I had to say. He responded, “No one comes over here to tell me good news.”
Lenny helped my umpiring career advance greatly. That continues even for the upcoming 2010 season. I am working two weekends that were assigned by him before he passed away.
But I’ll miss Lenny for a lot more things than just the assignments he gave. He was a rare breed of umpire — an umpire’s umpire. He was also a very good friend. We planned on getting together this spring and going out to dinner when I was in Indianapolis. I’m sad that I won’t have that opportunity again.
Godspeed, Lenny.
Referee Magazine, Associate Editor
The morning of Oct. 30, 2009, I received word that a dear friend had passed away. Lenny Brickens, who I met more than six years earlier, had succumbed to a heart attack about 10 days after having surgery.
I moved into the Indianapolis area in the spring of 2002. Having umpired for more than 10 years before having to take a job-related break, I was anxious to get back into it. A friend at work got me back started doing some youth games, and I asked the umpires I worked with about moving up.
Very quickly, I was told, join the smaller of the two local associations, because you won’t have to put up with Lenny. And the many negative stories about him just spread like wildfire.
With a goal of getting back into college baseball, I researched and contacted Rich Fetchiet, who was the Division I conference assigner for the Big Ten and other midwestern conferences. No, I didn’t expect to jump right into Division I, but with that goal in mind, I figured he might give me good advice.
Rich, without hesitation, said to contact and work for Lenny Brickens. Lenny was his main point of contact in the area.
So against the advice of the locals I had met, I contacted Lenny and found out when the next meeting I could attend would be.
That was the start of a wonderful relationship. I’ve never met someone who was more passionate about the things he believed in related to umpiring than Lenny Brickens. He truly fought for umpires and was willing to do anything to help them advance to bigger and better things.
Oh, those negatives I was told about, turns out those were dastardly things like making you attend clinics, accept game assignments at all levels, hustle while on the field, etc.
When I took the job at Referee, it was easy to tell my boss that I was leaving. Heck, my immediate boss announced his resignation the same day and my overall department head moved away six weeks later.
But telling Lenny in early February that I had to give back my entire schedule and was moving away was tough. I called him up and asked if I could come over to his house to talk about something. He invited me right on over.
I got there and it wasn’t two minutes when he said, “OK, give me the bad news.” I asked how he knew he wasn’t going to like what I had to say. He responded, “No one comes over here to tell me good news.”
Lenny helped my umpiring career advance greatly. That continues even for the upcoming 2010 season. I am working two weekends that were assigned by him before he passed away.
But I’ll miss Lenny for a lot more things than just the assignments he gave. He was a rare breed of umpire — an umpire’s umpire. He was also a very good friend. We planned on getting together this spring and going out to dinner when I was in Indianapolis. I’m sad that I won’t have that opportunity again.
Godspeed, Lenny.