ELHS Grad Recalls Ventures in Baseball and Music

He pitched alongside future American League Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch and later jammed onstage with the legendary Allman Brothers Band.

Although Dale Corbin never made it to the big leagues in baseball or music, the East Lansing native can still look back fondly on the glory days of his youth.

“Those were some great days,” said Corbin, who is now 70 years old, and lives in Okemos. “We were all young, wild and crazy, and had lots of fun.”

A standout baseball pitcher at East Lansing High School, Corbin took his skills to Eastern Michigan University in 1971. In college he received numerous awards including being named the Hurons’ Most Valuable Player during his sophomore year.

Quite a remarkable feat considering at least four of his teammates were drafted to major league teams: Welch, Bob Owchinko, Ted Dasen and Glenn Gulliver.

The five young men would help lead the Hurons to the 1975 College World Series where they defeated the University of Florida before falling to South Carolina University during a rain-shortened game, and then lost to Oklahoma University in the double-elimination tournament.

“That was our year,” said Corbin, who still believes the Hurons could have staged a comeback against South Carolina. “We had a lot of good players and everything just clicked for us.”

Of course it wouldn’t have hurt that a young Corbin, one of the team’s ace relief pitchers, had just been summoned to the mound moments before the rain delay was called.

“I had finished throwing my warm-up pitches when from the corner of my eye I saw the umpire and our pitching coach walking to the mound,” Corbin recalls. “The coach was waving me in.

“That’s my claim-to-fame. The story of my life. I almost pitched in the World Series. I almost pitched in the majors, but never quite made it.”

Despite having an excellent curveball and slider, and a decent fastball, he wasn’t large enough to garner serious attention from major league scouts, said Corbin, who was 5’9 and 176 lbs.

“[The scouts] were looking for taller, bigger guys who could throw through a brick wall,” Corbin said.  

Someone like Welch, who upon graduating, was quickly snapped up and would go on to pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics, winning the prestigious American League Cy Young Award in 1990. 

“Bob [Welch] was a young, cocky guy with a major league arm,” said Corbin, who often roomed with Welch during road games. “He was a fun guy to hang out with. He would come to my parents’ home and spend the night when he came to town. 

“I hated playing catch with him. He threw what we called a ‘heavy ball.’ He would throw a ball and it would pick up speed as it approached you – and it hurt when you caught it.”

Owchinko went on to be drafted fifth overall by the San Diego Padres, where he was named the team’s Rookie of the Year. 

Gulliver would go on to have a stellar career as a third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. Dasen, a speedy outfielder and third baseman, would be drafted by the Detroit Tigers, and would grind it out in the team’s farm system for four years.

Dasen, a longtime friend of Corbin, described Corbin as a team leader at EMU, whose hard work was an inspiration to him and other players.

“I have to give Dale a lot of credit for my success,” said Dasen, who is two years younger than Corbin. “He encouraged the coach to recruit me. He even brought the coach to one of my games.

“He was an inspiration to me because he was always working to improve his game.”

Corbin never received a call from a major league ball club, but would try out, unsuccessfully, with more than a half-dozen teams. He also didn’t have much luck finding a teaching job, even though he had earned a bachelor’s in education from EMU. Several schools offered part-time coaching jobs, which Corbin declined.

The experience was devastating, Corbin said, referring to his dashed baseball dreams.

“I was very disappointed,” recalls Corbin. “It’s like the rug was pulled out from under me. My friends went on to play in the Major League, and I got left behind.

“I didn’t know what to do after baseball was over.”

Down, but not out, Corbin turned his attention to another childhood passion – music.

“When The Beatles came out, my parents bought me a bass guitar,” said Corbin, who was 14 years old at the time.

He and some high school buddies, quickly put together a rock group they dubbed “The Dump Band.” The group consisted of Corbin on bass, Lee Carr, drums and Dave Tomkins, lead guitar.

After college Corbin briefly worked at a Lansing area liquor store before joining R.C. Finnigan and the Quarter Moon Band, a popular local country group during the 1970s and 80s.

The group, which performed regularly at the well-known Stardust club in Lansing, toured throughout the Midwest and recorded several albums, Corbin said. Their biggest break occurred when they were asked to open for the Allman Brothers during a late 1980s concert held at the Michigan State University Auditorium.

The group’s growing success came to a screeching halt due to a dispute over money, Corbin said.

Corbin then joined The Flying Tigers, a Rockabilly band, which also released an album and enjoyed some success, opening for such acts as Martha Reeves and The Vandellas.

After that band disbanded, Corbin tried working several odd jobs before relocating to Florida where his parents were living. Once there, he met his future wife, and found work as a hotel supply seller – a job he held for 18 years. Like many Americans, Corbin lost his job when COVID arrived. He decided to move back to Michigan and now works at Meijer in Okemos unloading trucks.

It’s not a glamorous job, Corbin admits, but it helps pay the bills. His dream is to save enough money so that he can return to Florida and be closer to his two daughters and five grandchildren.

Despite the many peaks and valleys his life has taken over the years, Corbin says he no longer has any regrets about never becoming a professional baseball player.

Two memories put a smile across his face.

“My biggest thrill was playing in Tiger Stadium,” said Corbin, who took the mound and pitched several innings during a college summer league tournament game. Corbin was the winning pitcher of record for that game and was named tournament Most Valuable Player.

”To be able to pitch in the same place as Bob Gibson, Denny McClain, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth played…Wow,” said a still flabbergasted Corbin.

Another thought suddenly occurs to him:

“Bob [Welch] may have won the Cy Young, but he could never say that he played on the same stage as the Allman Brothers,” Corbin said before breaking into a laugh.