MC CRACKEN FIELD--THE LEGEND:
(By Bill "Bax" Baxter).
It was during the pioneer years of a "B" High School named Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland (1970 to 1974). Within the Town of Rockville were two brand new housing tracts: Rockshire Homes and Fallsmead Housing located on what was then Ritchie Parkway. Across Ritchie Parkway from Rockshire and Fallsmead was a brand new high School named after Thomas Sprigg Wootton. The school first opened during the 1970 to 1971 year. The first Senior Class was the Class of 1973 (1972 to 1973). In the Fall of 1972, my family bought a brand new home in Rockshire, and I began attending Wootton High in September 1972 as a Junior. At that same time, a family (The McCracken's) moved from Alabama to the Fallsmead Housing Tract. Mahlon (Buddy) McCracken began his Junior Year at Wootton as well, and his brother Dave began his Sophomore Year. Buddy quickly made friends among the athletes at Thomas S. Wootton High School. He had lettered in Varsity Baseball back in Alabama and he tried out and played shortstop for the Wootton Patriots Varsity Baseball Team in 1973, and again in 1974. He proved himself to be quite an asset at shortstop, which is the hardest position to play, and during Baseball Season of 1973, he had become one of most popular teens in school.
I attended Thomas S. Wootton from 1972 through 1974 as well, and served as a Varsity Manager of Varsity Football, Varsity Wrestling and the Track Squad. Buddy and I had our differences as first, but later we grew to like each other. Buddy McCracken was part of Wootton's Second Senior Class of 1974. I moved to Southern California from Rockville to Huntington Beach, CA; in Late Winter of 1974. It was arranged so that I could return to Wootton High School and go through the graduation ceremony there, after I finished high school out in Southern California. When I returned to Wootton, just prior to graduation, I saw Buddy McCracken standing in the hallway. He greeted me, and I asked him to sign my yearbook. He did. We chatted for a little bit. That was the last time I would ever get to talk with Buddy. Soon after high school graduation, one of Rockville's darkest hours was about to take place!
A week after graduation, and visiting my friends, I returned back to Southern California. During the Summer of 1974, my family and I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. In the Fall of 1974, I began attending Ohlone College in Fremont California. During my Freshman Year at Ohlone, I received a letter with tragic news from one of the Pom Pom Girls who had attended Wootton. One fateful evening, Buddy McCracken and his fellow Baseball Team Member, Duane Westrick, were hanging out together in Buddy's neighborhood. A station wagon driven by Richard Touey, (who sadly enough served as the Varsity Football Manager a year before I did) pulled up to a fire hydrant. Riding in the car with Richard were George and Chris Duke and Alexis Von Bretzel. They began to mess around with the fire hydrant making mischief. Buddy saw what they were up to and he walked over to them and told them: "Stop messing with a fire hydrant in my neighborhood." An answer came back from inside the station wagon: "Okay." At that time, Chris Duke produced a shot gun and fired two shots into Buddy McCracken's Chest. Duane Westrick watched as he saw his friend collapse to the ground with two gunshot wounds. The ambulance came, but Buddy died about a half an hour later.
There have been conflicting stories that Buddy saw the shotgun and tried to immediately disarm Chris Duke causing the gun to go off accidentally. As it turns out, there were no powder burns anywhere on Buddy, so he was too far away to be able to grab for the gun when he was shot twice in the chest. There is no doubt that Buddy McCracken was murdered that night in the first degree. The next day, news of Buddy's death rocked the school where he attended and shocked and saddened all the people who knew and loved him. It has been 43 years since that night, and people are still haunted by that event today. Later on, People got together, and the Baseball Field at Thomas S. Wootton High School was named after the school's star shortstop during the 1973 and 1974 Baseball Season. It is called "McCracken Field."
