Friends honor Howe
CLARKSTON, Mich. – Mourners preferred not to remember Steve Howe as the once-promising pitcher derailed by battles with drug abuse.
Instead, they recalled a confident joker blessed with a slingshot of a left arm who everyone wanted to be around.
Howe, the 1980 National League Rookie of the Year who was banned from baseball for drug abuse, died April 28 when his pickup rolled over in Coachella, Calif. He was 48. His ashes were scattered near Whitefish, Mont., Howe’s home at times during and after his baseball career.
His family and friends, including former major leaguers Bob Welch and Rick Leach and several former high school teammates, gathered Saturday at Clarkston (Mich.) High School for a memorial service.
“He loved to play baseball and was always fun to be around,” said Paul Tungate, his high school coach. “He was a joy to coach.
“Very likable, cocky and confident. He knew what he could do, and we knew what he could do. He just went out and did it.”
Born in nearby Pontiac, Howe helped Clarkston win a state title in 1976. His photo is part of the school’s wall of fame trophy display.
His brother, Chris, said Howe’s favorite moment as a baseball player was Clarkston’s run to the state title.
“He said, ‘I grew up with those guys,’ ” his brother said. “Of all he accomplished in college and professional baseball, that was his best memory.”
The left-hander played two seasons at Michigan and helped lead the Wolverines to the College World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers selected him in the first round of the 1979 amateur draft.
A season after being named the N.L.’s top rookie, he closed out the Dodgers’ World Series win over the New York Yankees. He made his lone All-Star appearance in 1982.
His problems with cocaine began after that season, when he checked himself into a rehabilitation center. The Dodgers fined him and suspended him twice during the 1983 season. Three positive cocaine tests during the off-season prompted commissioner Bowie Kuhn to suspend him for the entire 1984 season. He came to be one of the most prominent faces of baseball’s rampant cocaine use in the 1980s.
Former Michigan teammate Leach, who had his struggles with addiction, recalled practical jokes he and Howe played on each other in college and the minor leagues but also said he drew inspiration from his friend’s deep spirituality.
“Those of us who have been through addiction know that’s the only way to stay strong and healthy and get through life on a day-to-day basis,” Leach said. “When I got the call about his passing I felt like I lost a brother.”