Denny Mountain (center) stands with his former Little League players turned lifelong friends Carl Fochler (left) and Dr. Zane Gates during a recent trip to a Pittsburgh Pirates game at PNC Park. Courtesy photo

To develop and thrive on the long and challenging path to adulthood, children need a solid foundation and a stable home base.

Carl Fochler and Dr. Zane Gates — two graduates of Bishop Guilfoyle High School (now Bishop Guilfoyle Academy) — both benefited from those steady, nurturing and consistent foundations while growing up in vastly different circumstances in Altoona in the 1970s and mid-1980s.

Fochler, whose parents are former Altoona surgeon Dr. Francis Fochler and his late wife, Rose Marie, graduated from BG in 1984 and went on to earn a business management degree at West Virginia University before moving to the Charlotte, N.C., area after college and carving out a living for himself and his family as an independent, self-employed real estate developer.

Gates grew up in Altoona’s Evergreen Manors public housing project as the son of a loving and determined single mother, Gloria Gates, who instilled in him the belief that he could achieve anything that he set his mind to accomplishing.

Zane Gates graduated from BG in 1985, and went on to graduate from pharmacy school and medical school at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990 and 1995, respectively. His mother passed away from heart disease in 1991, and the fact that, due to insurance limitations, she wasn’t able to obtain potentially life-saving medical coverage by doctors in Pittsburgh prompted her son to become a health care trailblazer in providing medical care for poor, uninsured or under-insured individuals through the establishment of the Gloria Gates Foundation in 1999.

“I wanted to honor her for how much she loved all the kids in our community,” Zane Gates said of his mother, who was employed as a cook for the priests in the rectory at Altoona’s St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. “She’d always be helping the kids at the Evergreen Manors. We were very poor — we didn’t even have a car — but all she wanted to do in her life was to serve others, and her influence in my life meant everything to me.”

Though the encouraging, positive parental presence was a vital factor in their ability to flourish, both Fochler and Gates shared and benefited from the guidance and direction provided by their Little League baseball coach, Denny Mountain, five decades ago.

The three men have remained close to this day.

‘All that matters is what is inside of you’

Fochler, now 60, and Gates, 58, became friends as students at St. Rose of Lima Elementary School after their mothers became close friends. As young boys, Gates and Fochler played several summers for the Dairy Queen team in the Altoona Independent Youth Baseball League, and good fortune had their lives crossing paths with Mountain.

Mountain’s innate ability to relate successfully to young people manifested itself during his many years of coaching various sports through his affiliation with the Altoona Park and Recreation Commission, and in his 25-year career serving at-risk youth as an employee with both the Altoona Center for Community Action and the Blair County Juvenile Probation Office.

Mountain, now 70 and living in Duncansville, also became Zane Gates’ Big Brother through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization when Gates was 9 years old, and continued in that role for the next decade.

“Denny had worked with kids all of his life, and I first met him when he was my Little League baseball coach,” Gates said. “He loved me to death, and he became my Big Brother through that organization.”

Like Gloria Gates, Mountain’s contribution to Gates’ personal development was immeasurable and priceless.

“When you grow up poor, nobody realizes how much other people look down on you,” Gates said. “They call your neighborhood the zoo, and you go to school and you know that your clothes aren’t the same as other people’s clothes.

“I think that the best thing that Denny did for me is to make me believe that all of that stuff is just bull,” Gates said. “Denny made me realize that all that matters is what is inside of you, that you’re capable of doing whatever you set your mind to doing, and that if you’re good to people, good things will happen to you.”

“Zane didn’t have a lot of material things growing up, but he had what he needed, and that was a mother who really cared about him,” said Mountain, who is a 1974 graduate of Altoona Area High School and holds an associate’s degree in business from Penn State Altoona.

Inspired by friendship

Fochler — who has become a member of the Gloria Gates Care Board of Directors — has also been inspired by the trajectory that Gates’ professional life has taken.

“I’ve known Zane forever, and knowing him like I do, and the obstacles that he overcame, has been nothing short of amazing,” Fochler said. “To overcome those obstacles, and to still have the passion to come back and give to the people in your mom’s name … it’s hard to find a better human being than that.

“He’s given a lot of kids somebody to look up to,” Fochler added. “He’s not only a doctor, he’s a world-class doctor because of what he has given back.”

Mountain — who has dealt with a variety of serious health challenges in recent years — has a grown son and three grandsons living in Massachusetts. He also has a family in the Altoona area, including his ex-wife and caretaker Karen, her grown daughter and two grown grandchildren.

Mountain said that Fochler and Gates will always occupy a special place in his heart.

“I liked all the kids who I’ve ever coached,” he said. “The goal for me as a coach was to get the kids to play together, to have fun, and to become friends. I’m proud of all of the kids who I have coached, and many of them have gone on to do big things in their lives.

“But Zane and Carl were two who really stood out for me over the years,” Mountain said. “The things that they have been able to do with their lives really overwhelm me. They’ve both done really important and really good things in their careers, and they’re both good husbands and fathers who care about the people in their communities and are willing to do things to make a better life for a lot of people.”

For all their accomplishments, Fochler and Gates feel that the time and effort that Mountain provided to them in their formative years trumps anything that they’ve ever done.

Lifetime of memories

Along with the countless hours that Mountain spent with the youngsters on the Little League fields, there were the trips to the old Pappy’s Pizza restaurant near Altoona’s Logan Valley Mall, and to the movies, where Mountain would sneak in their favorite snacks.

There were the visits to the old Dairy Queen on Sixth Avenue for the free ice cream that was provided by the proprietors following one of the team’s victories.

There were the multiple baseball trips to Pittsburgh’s old Three Rivers Stadium to see Mountain’s beloved Pirates play the Los Angeles Dodgers, which Gates and Fochler followed with a passion.

Getting autographs from the Dodgers players as they were emerging from the players’ entrance after the games created special lifetime memories for Fochler.

“My favorite player growing up was (the late Dodgers’ second baseman) Davey Lopes, then probably (first baseman) Steve Garvey and (third baseman) Ron Cey,” said Fochler, who played second base for four seasons, from the ages 9-12, for the Dairy Queen team, which won a league championship during his playing days.

“The Dodgers had a great team and a great pitching staff back in the 1970s, and they had the same infield — with Lopes, Garvey, Cey and Bill Russell at shortstop — for 10 full seasons. That would be unheard of today.”

Fochler accompanied Mountain and Gates to a 1977 Pirates game in which the San Diego Padres were the visiting team, and outfielder Dave Winfield and relief pitcher Rollie Fingers — two future Major League Baseball Hall of Famers — emerged from the Padres players’ entrance after the game.

Fingers, who was a member of three World Championship teams with the Oakland Athletics earlier in that decade, gave Fochler one of the biggest thrills of his life by lending him his World Series ring.

“There was a group of kids around, and (Winfield and Fingers) singled me out and Rollie Fingers took off his World Championship ring and let me wear it for a while,” Fochler said. “For an 11-year-old kid, that was big-time.”

It all might not have been possible without Mountain.

“Denny was only 10 years older than us — when we were 10, he was only 20,” Fochler pointed out. “He was a young man not making a lot of money at the time, taking us over to Pittsburgh, spending the money that he had, making sure that we got good seats, souvenirs, all that we could eat and drink, and waiting outside the players’ entrance with us while we got autographs.”

Those were the best of times, according to Fochler and Gates. And in Gates’ case, one of those occasions provided a moment that he and Mountain still laugh heartily about today.

After one Pirates’ game, a young, diminutive Gates had somehow sneaked past security personnel at the Pirates’ players’ entrance and made it into the locker room, where he encountered the late former Buccos second baseman Phil Garner, who was a key member of the Pirates’ last World Championship team back in 1979.

“We always waited outside the players entrance for autographs — those were the fondest (memories),” Gates said. “Denny was panicking wondering where I was, after I had walked into the Pirates’ locker room and I was in there for five minutes before Phil Garner walked me back out.

“I did it all on my own — somebody had left the door open, and (security) had fallen asleep at the wheel,” Gates added. “Phil Garner was laughing about it, and he took me back outside to meet up with Denny again.”

Those are the types of lifelong, cherished memories that will remain with Gates, Fochler and Mountain forever.

“On the diamond, Denny was a great coach who had a passion for the game,” Fochler said. “Denny made all the players feel special no matter their talent level. Whether you were the best player on the team or the worst player on the team, he built up all the players’ egos.

“He’d take us to movies, Pirates games, out for pizza … we’d do stuff that we couldn’t or didn’t do without him,” Fochler said. “There were so many good memories.”

Earlier this month, Fochler was responsible for orchestrating the good memories when he used his business connections in North Carolina to set up a special day at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park for a group that included Mountain, himself, Gates and two of Gates’ sons, Hamilton and Monroe.

Paying it back

Fochler had returned to Altoona last year and had dinner at a restaurant with Gates and Mountain, rehashing old times.

It was there that Mountain expressed the desire to see another Pirates game with his two lifelong friends, and Fochler — who lives in the Charlotte suburb of Waxhaw — went to work to make that happen in a spectacular way.

Fochler — whose business ventures in the Charlotte area have included formerly owning a NASCAR auto racing team — is a friend and business partner of Andy Sandler, who owns three minor league baseball teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates’ High Class A affiliate Greensboro (N.C.) Grasshoppers.

“Andy knows people in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ front office management team, and I called Andy and I explained that I was planning to meet my good friends and my Little League coach, and I asked Andy if he could set us up with something with the Pirates,” Fochler said.

With the help of Sandler and Alicia Amling — who serves as the Chief of Staff at Temerity Capital Partners, a group that owns the Grasshoppers and is led by Sandler — the fan group that included Fochler, Mountain, Gates, Gates’ two sons and two other friends, were treated to premium seats behind home plate at PNC Park, along with on-the-field access to watch both the Pirates and Dodgers take batting practice, when the two teams opened a three-game series in Pittsburgh on June 9.

Six members of the fan group left Altoona that morning in a Gloria Gates CARE van that was driven by a company employee. To further re-enact old times, there was a stop at Pappy’s Pizza in suburban Johnstown for lunch.

It was a day to remember for Mountain, Gates and Fochler.

“Pappy’s Pizza was always a special place for all of us on that Little League team to visit,” Gates said. “It was just a special day for me, and I got emotional thinking about it, and I know that Denny was emotional, too.”

Despite the Pirates’ loss, Mountain — who has endured several health-related issues — is always looking on the bright side.

The recent trip to PNC Park “was wonderful,” Mountain said. “Those guys have done so much for me in my life. At 70 years old and even with all the health problems that I’ve faced in recent years, I feel extremely blessed by all the family and friends who have been such a big part of my life.”