Chester Marburger had a unique voice.

It was one part booming and one part soothing. When those around him heard it, either on the baseball fields in Mars or over a loud speaker at Mars High School football games, it gave them a sense of comfort.

"Whenever you heard his voice, it reminded you of baseball," said Mike Sheehy, who played American Legion and Eagle County League baseball for Marburger.

"It was real warm and genuine. The bottom line was it was genuine. When you heard him on the loud speaker on opening day of Little League Baseball, you knew it was baseball season," he added.

For 50 years, Marburger was baseball in Mars and in Butler County.

In 1953, he founded the Butler County American Legion Baseball League. Five years later, the league was 10 teams strong.

"And it has continued like that since," said current Butler County American Legion president Dess Schnur.

Marburger died due to complications from diabetes in 1994 at the age of 69. He managed the Mars American Legion team during the summer before his death in October.

"Baseball was his life," Schnur said. "He managed it until the end."

Marburger did much more than merely play and manage baseball. His influence on baseball in the county continues today.

He also made contributions in other areas as well.

Marburger was mayor of Mars for eight years, was a member of the Mars Volunteer Fire Department, was a member of the Mars Planning and Zoning Committee and was a postmaster in the borough for 25 years.

He fought in World War II and was a founder and player on the Mars Legion and VFW semipro football team in the late 1940s.There wasn't much Marburger didn't do."He touched so many people's lives," Sheehy said. "Everyone loved him."But he was most at home on the baseball field, both as a player and as a coach, manager and father figure to a generations of players who came through his teams and organizations.Sheehy was particularly close to Marburger.As a stellar baseball player, Sheehy was drafted by the California Angels. When he was released in 1992, he returned to Butler County and played for Callery in the Eagle County League for one season.But in 1994, Sheehy returned to Mars and Marburger, and he took over the team in 1995 after Marburger's death."He knew the game. He knew talent," Sheehy said. "He pushed you to play baseball, but he was more concerned with the individual. He cared about the game, but looked beyond that."Chester was always there for you. He was always there for me."Marburger won an Eagle County League championship in 1969. Mars won it again in 1995, as Sheehy and his team dedicated the season to him."That was very special," Sheehy said. "We always kept him in our hearts. I was fortunate enough to be a pallbearer at his funeral. It was sad, but it was more a celebration of his life and all the people he touched. That's the way he would have wanted it."In the later years, Marburger was battling the ravaging affects of his diabetes. He lost one leg, then the other and made his way around the baseball fields with a walker and two wooded legs.But it didn't dampen his sense of humor.When Marburger and Schnur attended an appeal hearing in 1991 in Fayette to settle an American Legion baseball zoning issue, the committee was particularly harsh toward Marburger and Schnur when they made their presentation.On the way to the car after the hearing, Marburger turned to Schnur."He said to me, 'Dess, at that meeting today, they really stepped on my toes, and I don't even have any,'" Schnur said. "I will never forget that. He was never one to create issues. That was just the type of person he was."Marburger was thrown out of only one game for arguing with an umpire in all his years as manager and coach in both the American Legion and Eagle County leagues.Current Mars Legion manager Bob Steiner remembers that day well.He was in his first game on Marburger's coaching staff on the Legion team, and Steiner's 16-year-old son was just added to the active roster.His son was thrown out at the plate, setting off a chain of events."We were very dissatisfied with the call and the umpire eventually threw Ches out of the game," Steiner said. "It was my first game and it was my son involved in the play. He never let me forget that."It took him five minutes to get his stuff together, his walker, and get off the field."Steiner only got the chance to work with Marburger for one season, taking over the team the next year."He showed me the ropes," Steiner said. "He was just a great, great baseball man. He would do anything for the kids. He treated all the players like they were his sons."In a way, they were his only sons. When Marburger died, he left the Mars American Legion Baseball and Mars Baseball Association $56,000 in his will.Unfortunately, the two parties fought over the disbursement of the money for four years before a settlement was reached.What resulted was a refurbishment of Mars Borough Field, which is now Chester Marburger Field."It all worked out in the end," Steiner said. "It was certainly a long amount of time, but at the dedication, I'm sure he was looking down on us.""I always said Ches was rolling over in his grave," Schnur added.In 2002, the field was dedicated to Marburger on the Legion league's 50th birthday.It was a fitting tribute."One of the reasons I have remained is because of Ches," Schnur said. "I have a personal connection with him different than most."Schnur worked closely with Marburger for 15 years, helping him run the Legion league.The league was his family.Marburger never married. He never had children of his own."He married baseball," Schnur said.