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  • Home
  • News
  • About
    • Our Team
    • Sponsors and Partners, Grant Form
    • Check Out Our Videos
  • Programs
    • Play Ball Everywhere
    • Full Count RBI
    • Lessons & Activities
    • Diamond Dreams
    • FOB Annual Coaches Clinic
  • Events
    • 2023 Swing for the Fences Gala
    • 2023 FAMILY INFO NIGHT
    • Full Count Nike RBI Girls Lead
  • Contact
    • Centennial Portrait Postcards
    • Signup for Full Count RBI
    • Team Shop
  • Give
    • Coach Gatto "I Believe" Fund

Our Team

PictureNova in her Powell Little League days playing catcher for Oregon Leather.
Exec­u­tive Director
​Nova New­comer has been a base­ball fan for as long as she can remem­ber. Her love of base­ball started with Beaver base­ball games at Civic Sta­dium with her dad, then it was catch­ing for her Pow­ell and Parkrose Lit­tle League teams and even four years of scrappy high school com­pe­ti­tion. Her first job was at the souvenir stand working for the Beavers in 1993 and to this day she still says that job earned her every sub­se­quent job she’s ever had, includ­ing her 1996 stint with the Port­land Rock­ies as an intern for their daily radio show. Nova grad­u­ated from Port­land State Uni­ver­sity (PSU) in 1999 with a degree in Polit­i­cal Sci­ence, where she worked in the Ath­letic Depart­ment as a media rela­tions assis­tant, includ­ing work as a sta­tis­ti­cian and Pub­lic Address Announcer for home base­ball games. Nova worked for adi­das Group in the US and inter­na­tion­ally and has held posts with the Cen­ter for Women’s Lead­er­ship at PSU and Port­land Energy Con­ser­va­tion, Inc. Most recently, she owned her own busi­ness as a con­sul­tant part­ner­ing with Har­rel­son Group on trans­for­ma­tional projects with busi­nesses, regional agen­cies, and non-profits. Serving as Executive Director fulfills her per­sonal pas­sion to bring the dream of play­ing base­ball and the impor­tant con­nec­tions it cre­ates to more of our region’s youth. Nova has a son and daughter who both play Lit­tle League.

PictureAdam aka "Conan" as the go to 3rd baseman for the Hollywood Little League Braves.
​​Full Count Program Coordinator
Adam Cohen's love affair with baseball began at the Age of 7 playing  for the Hungry Tigers Tee Ball team.  Playing for Hollywood Little league, Adam hit his first in game Home Run during their All Star tournament and the love only grew from there.  In Babe Ruth, his team traveled to Hermiston, Oregon finishing 4th in the state tournament.  He attended Oregon State University, where he focused on Business Management and Financing.  In 2008, Adam began coaching at Benson High School.  He began as an Assistant on the Junior Varsity team and worked his way up to being the Head Varsity Coach in 2011.  As the head of the program, Adam holds the second highest winning percentage in the past 30+ years.  In his first year as Head Coach, he won PIL Co-Coach of the year.  In 2014, Adam stepped away from Benson in order to pursue coaching his twin boys in Little League.  Serving as the Full Count Program Coordinator, Adam will be able to fulfill his passion of teaching baseball to youth and spreading the values baseball can teach throughout the community.  

PictureJavondre' in his Peninsula little league days playing catcher for Roedel Tile
​​Full Count Summer Camp Assistant
Javondre’ Cole has been a baseball fan since the young age of 7. His field days began as the coach's son. With the help of his dad and uncle, team Roedel Tile from the Peninsula little league finished an astounding 10-2 in year one, and undefeated the next. Although those early days of baseball were fun, they were short lived. It wasn’t until 7 years later as a freshman in high school that he found the desire to be back out on the diamond. In his first year back for junior varsity baseball, the team saw its most victorious season since 2011 with an astounding record of... 4-14. His leadership skills on and off the field resulted in being recommended by Jefferson’s head baseball coach for his first job as a Fellow with Friends of Baseball’s inaugural Full Count program. After hosting a week long kids camp held at Jefferson High School, Javondre’ wanted the chance to get more involved with the Friends of Baseball organization and he worked at Sunday morning camps monthly the next year. Watching children grasp and understand the fundamentals of the game brought joy and passion. His most memorable moment thus far with Friends of Baseball was being given the opportunity to emcee the Friends of Baseball 10 year anniversary in October of 2015. Most recently, he accepted a coveted summer internship role with Friends of Baseball through the Summer Works program, where he is serving as the Full Count Camp Assistant. Javondre’ is approaching his senior year of high school at Jefferson. To kickoff the summer of his senior year, he visited the city of Chicago through the Nike Product Creation Experience. Javondre’s team competed against two other teams to design the best marketing strategy with the winning team receiving an all-expenses paid trip to the city of their inspiration. Following high school, he would like to pursue a Business degree with a focus in Sports Marketing.

PictureBen in his Lakeside Little League days.
Board of Directors 

Ben Long­cor (Co-Founder and Pres­i­dent) has loved the game since a very early age, from the beginning, dreamed of being a catcher. As he progressed through little league, Babe Ruth and High School, he finished his career as a first basemen. He still enjoys playing rec league softball, to keep the skills sharp. After leaving the game as a youth, along with his father, he longed for a continued connection with the sport he loved. From that, Friends of Baseball was born, which grew from a family based foundation set up to keep youth leagues and teams on their feet, to a 501c3 non-profit organization that enhances young ball players through the baseball’s unparalleled power to teach. 

Ben graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in 2001 with a BA in Communications/Public Relations. After nearly 11 years as a communications specialist with WE Communications, he decided to focus more on his family and running Friends of Baseball. He is now building his business as a Real Estate agent and enjoying the flexibility and the chance to help people find their dream homes in the NW. He also dedicates his free time to his wife and two children and the baseball community through his son Sterling's Little League as a coach and former Board member.
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“I have always longed to share with others the feeling of team and pureness I had when I played ball throughout youth and high school baseball. Thanks to Friends of Baseball, I am able to help kids and teams experience the sheer joy and purity — the feeling — of baseball. Not only that, I look forward to passing that along to both my young son and daughter in the very near future.”

​​Jordan Bice has been a baseball fan since before his mom coached his kindergarten tee-ball team. He grew up in the Portland suburbs before moving to Seattle to study political science and play trumpet in the marching band at the University of Washington. After school, he spent three years in Washington, D.C. working as a legislative aide on Capitol Hill before finally returning home to Portland where he belongs. He now works in Government Affairs for Pacific Power, and while he wasn’t able to fulfill his childhood dream of playing shortstop for the Seattle Mariners, he still plays in an adult baseball league on Sundays. He lives in southeast Portland with his wife, Samantha, and their Chihuahua, Griffey.

Nathan Chris­tensen (Vice-President) is a life-long base­ball fan. As a child, Nathan was known through­out his neigh­bor­hood for the count­less hours he spent throw­ing a ten­nis ball against his par­ents’ garage door. He gave up his dream of being a major league pitcher long ago, but remains a die-hard fan of the game and its rich his­tory and tra­di­tions. Nathan grad­u­ated from Stan­ford Uni­ver­sity, where he held the cov­eted job of play­ing the game­time music at Sunken Dia­mond — Stanford’s base­ball sta­dium. Nathan also holds a law degree from the Uni­ver­sity of Chicago Law School, taught fourth grade in Atlanta through Teach for America, and prac­ticed law with Perkins Coie LLP. Nathan is now CEO of Mammoth HR, a Collaborative HR com­pany headquartered in Portland. He and his wife have three chil­dren, and many, many base­balls scat­tered around the house.

Jason Dailey (Treasurer) Jason Dailey has had a love of baseball since he could hold a glove and bat.  He loved playing catch with his dad in the back yard, playing pick up games with friends at the playground, and played organized ball through high school.  Jason really loved the strategy of the game and took a liking to coaching at a very young age.  He coached his first team as a senior in high school and just loved that aspect of the game.  Recently Jason has been a youth coach in West Linn and served 15 years on the West Linn Baseball Association.  During those 15 years he held positions of President, Player Agent, and Treasurer. Professionally, Jason is the Chief Financial Officer of DeJarnett Sales, Inc (a food broker for Western Family Foods).  Jason enjoys spending time with his spouse Sonya and two boys and enjoys golf and triathlons in his free time.
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One of Scott Davis’ strongest baseball memories happened at Spring Training in Arizona in 1988. Times were different back then, as he hung over the roof of the dugout seeking the autograph of his idol, Will Clark. The boy next to him hollered “Hey Will, Can I have your autograph?” while Scott used “Mr. Clark” instead. Will signed his ball (and not the other boy), and cemented a value of respect for others that has stuck since. After playing local baseball through high school, Scott has more recently served as a Coach and League Board member for his children and put the spikes back on as a player in Portland’s “old man baseball league”. He leads Strategy and Planning for Manifesto, the creative agency who recently helped Friends of Baseball refresh its brand, and holds a Master’s in Business from the University of Oregon. He lives in SW Portland with his wife, Mary, and their two boys.

Dan Floyd (Secretary) was born and raised in South­east Port­land. He attended Port­land Pub­lic Schools through 8th grade, and then attended Cen­tral Catholic High School. Dan played for South­east Port­land #1 Lit­tle League and Mar­shall Babe Ruth before play­ing three years of var­sity base­ball at Cen­tral Catholic. He later played at Col­lege of the Siskiy­ous, Clacka­mas Com­mu­nity Col­lege, and for Jerry Gatto at Lewis & Clark Col­lege. Dan has coached junior base­ball in West Linn and Sell­wood, and was named Head Base­ball Coach at Cen­tral Catholic in 2011.
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Dan is the for­mer Chair of the Prov­i­dence Port­land Med­ical Foun­da­tion and is the cur­rent Vice-Chair of All Hands Raised (for­merly Port­land Schools Foun­da­tion). Pro­fes­sion­ally, Dan is the Chief Oper­at­ing Offi­cer of Hood To Coast / Port­land To Coast Relays and the Bet­ter Series. Dan was recently mar­ried to Megan Danil­son in Octo­ber of 2013.

Drew Hagedorn (Board Member) is a life-long baseball fan.  A native Oregonian, Drew comes from a baseball family.  His grandfather played at Grant High School and then Willamette University and his father played at Albany Union High School and then briefly at Oregon State.  Drew played second and short-stop through high school and his brother pitched for La Salle prep.  Drew graduated from the University of Southern California and is now a partner at the Portland law firm Tonkon Torp where he chair’s the firm’s Government Affairs and Public Policy practice group.  Drew’s hero is Vin Scully, the longtime radio play-by-play announce for his favorite team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. He and his wife live in Lake Oswego where they root for the Dodgers from afar.

Jonathan Jwayad (Board Member) spent his formative years hustling around the base paths for Interstate Little League in North Portland. After receiving All City baseball honors at Benson High School, Jonathan continued his education at the University of Oregon where he played for the Club Baseball Team. During college, he, and three teammates, formed a youth baseball camp called Baseballism. The camp was a success and, in 2013, it was transformed into a lifestyle apparel brand inspired by America’s Pastime.  Jonathan is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Baseballism Inc. and has been instrumental in the company’s rapid growth.  Jonathan has been responsible for the launch of 8 retail locations around the country at such marquee locations as Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.  Jonathan’s greatest pride comes from the fact that Baseballism’s success has allowed the business to donate more $500K in product and cash to baseball organizations, teams, and charities around the world. Jonathan lives in Portland with his wife, son and daughter. He spends his weekends coaching his son’s youth baseball team. 

Cindy Nichol (Board Member) caught baseball fever from her mom, a die-hard Pirates fan who organized family events around when games were on. Cindy loved to go to games at Three Rivers Stadium, and thrilled to see classic players like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Manny Sanguillen. Living in Boston, she couldn't help sharing in the Red Sox Nation's yearning to win a World Series That done, she lived in the Bay Area, where there was always a Giants or As game being played locally during baseball season — heaven! Cindy graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota, where she played intramural softball whenever the temperature was above 32 degrees. She also holds a Masters in African Studies from the University of London, and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University. Cindy is Chief Financial Officer at the Port of Portland, where she frequently uses baseball metaphors to encourage teamwork and continuous improvement.

Dave Stinson (Board Member) began his love of baseball by watching his older brothers play. Finally, at the ripe old age of 6 he was allowed to begin his playing “career” that continued into his late teens. During that time he played for Lynch Jr. Baseball of the Tri-county league, several summer league team through high school as his school did not have a baseball program, and finally on the University of Oregon club team during the dark days when they did not field an NCAA team. Dave reengaged his active obsession as a volunteer coach for his son's tee ball team, and every team thereafter.  The coaching led to league Board involvement that culminated as President of Gresham Little League followed by President of Gresham Junior Baseball.    

Dave studied Finance at the University of Oregon.  Professionally, Dave is in the lumber industry working as the U.S. Mill Sales manager for Hampton Lumber.  Hampton is a family-owned Oregon company that owns timberland in Oregon and Washington and manufacturing plants in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Dave enjoys spending time away from work with his wife Ginger and two kids, Jack and Miranda. 


Emer­i­tus Board
Keenan Long­cor (Founder) wrapped up a very brief col­lege expe­ri­ence, choos­ing instead to estab­lish his own sales and mar­ket­ing com­pany. The com­pany grew to encom­pass a five-state area in the Pacific North­west, mak­ing it one of his industry’s largest sales agen­cies in the region. His suc­cess­ful busi­ness strate­gies became a spring­board for his pub­li­ca­tion of INTERPERSONAL, A Sales And Man­age­ment Let­ter, as well as his career as a man­age­ment consultant.
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“Of all my years in busi­ness, with all its many rewards, my fond­est mem­o­ries are not busi­ness related, but of being with my son on one of our base­ball road trips. We were fol­low­ing his team, fol­low­ing our favorite pro­fes­sional team, all the while chas­ing the moment… and the con­ver­sa­tions found through our shared love of the game.”

Rakeem Washington (Past Board Member) is a Portland native and former Peninsula Little Leaguer.  Baseball was cherished in his family—his father was a long-time coach and is in the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame.  His mother kept score for hundreds of little league and high school games while also fueling dozens of his teammates every weekend with an innumerable amount of pancakes.  As a child, he and his siblings and cousins spent summers playing Wiffle ball in numerous Concordia neighborhood backyards.  After lettering for four years at Benson High School, Rakeem played for two years at the College of the Redwoods followed by two more years at Pacific University.   His connection continued as a coach for several summers, most recently in 2013 with Roosevelt High School.  
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Rakeem is a 2008 graduate of Lewis and Clark Law School and practiced as a juvenile delinquency and child welfare attorney for several years before taking a position with Portland Public Schools working on equity issues in school discipline.  He is currently working in the child welfare arena with the Oregon Judicial Department and is also teaching in the University Studies Department at Portland State University.  He continues his support of the community as the Executive Director of the Portland Observer Newspaper, the longest running minority publication on the west coast.

Advi­sory Board
Sally Long­cor wore many hats as she enjoyed careers in the fields of pub­lic edu­ca­tion, inter­na­tional trad­ing and, most recently, as an exec­u­tive admin­is­tra­tor for a north­west Sales and Mar­ket­ing Com­pany. But there is only one hat, and one field, that has cap­tured her heart for life.

“My great-grandfather, grand­fa­ther, father, and step­fa­ther were all wildly enthu­si­as­tic about base­ball, so my ardent pas­sion for the game is gen­er­a­tions old. To those who say I’m a Base­ball Maniac, I say, “Thank you for the compliment.”

Drew Mahalic is the immediate past CEO of the Ore­gon Sports Author­ity, a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion that brings world-class sports events and sports fran­chises to Ore­gon. He is a five-year vet­eran of the National Foot­ball League with the Eagles, and was a three-year start­ing line­backer for Notre Dame. He is the first NFL vet­eran to grad­u­ate from Har­vard Law School, and has pro­duced a hand­book on sports­man­ship for youth.

“Though I played pro­fes­sional foot­ball, it was youth base­ball that was my first love, and remains so today. I constantly review base­ball sta­tis­tics, and am the proud owner of a mod­est base­ball card col­lec­tion. I often agree with Babe Ruth’s words in his farewell speech at Yan­kee Sta­dium when he said, “The only real game, I think in the world, is baseball.”

Dave Gasser (High School Coach)

Dave Gasser’s coaching career spans nearly 4 decades. His varsity coaching record in Oregon is the winningest in Oregon baseball history, including five state champions at three different schools, 18 league champions and twelve state “final four” appearances. Dave has been a long-time educator which guides his baseball philosophy. He has provided expert and inspirational instruction at several of our Annual Coaches Clinics and the inaugural Full Count program in 2015, for which he helped develop curriculum.

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