Biography of Duane Richard Erickson (Slug) 22 Hall Avenue Nashua, NH 03064
Born: May 28, 1943 Silver Cross Hospital Joliet, III
Parents: Richard and Virginia
Richard passed away at 95 and Virginia at 100!
Siblings: Darrell (Goose), Douglas (Tuffy) Darwyn (key) Danny (Bingo)
All 5 sons had names beginning with D and all 5 had nicknames.
Early Childhood: raised on a grain and dairy farm on the extreme southwest corner of Sandburg School District (179th and Wolf Road, Mokena)
Early Education 1949-1957: Maue Grade School (grades 1-8) 2 room school house. Grades 1-4 in one room and grades 5-8 in the other room. When Tuffy graduated, he was the only one in that class!!
Sandburg HS 1957-1961: Received 3 Varsity letters in basketball, 2 Varsity letters in baseball and 2 Varsity letters in football. Senior year all-conference in baseball, basketball and football ( captain and All State in Football.
Played in Suburban/City All Star Baseball Game, Practiced at Wrigley Field and played the game at Comiskey Park.
When Darrell was at Sandburg, he was on the National Championship Corn Judging Team held in Chicago.
University: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM Received a full scholarship to UNM for football with the understanding to be able to play baseball, also. 2 Varsity letters in football 3 Varsity letters in baseball. Played against Sal Bando, Reggie Jackson, Rick Monday in baseball. Football trip to Hawaii.
Graduated with a degree in Secondary Education.
Work History: Upon graduation, started working for a company that contracted Hospital Cleaning services. Transferred from Albuquerque to St. Louis to Chicago to Phoenix and then to New England.
Turned down another transfer to Omaha and bought a residential cleaning and restoration franchise in Nashua, NH (Servpro)
Retired in 2020.
Coaching: While living in Nashua coached Babe Ruth (13-15) Baseball for 37 years. Won 7 city titles. Coached several All Star Teams. Name on a corner street sign at the Babe Ruth Field. Coached Nashua Catholic Junior HS baseball for 30 years. Coached Senior Babe Ruth team for 10 years. Coached and took a 12 year old team to Cooperstown Dreams Park annually for 10 years.(Concurrently)
Family: Married Beverly (Feeley) (Sandburg Eagle also) in 1963
3 Sons - Boyd (NH), Bryan (OR) and Neal (VT) 8 Grandchildren 5 Great grandsons