Don Carlile

Together with his brother Bob (Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2008), Don Carlile was the driving force in making the Liberal Bee Jays one of the top summer programs in the nation.

From 1955 until 1991, he held positions ranging from Chairman of the Board to General Manager of the Bee Jays. His primary contribution throughout those years was working with college coaches and major league scouts to get top talent to come to Liberal.

In 1984, he received the Jack Carlile Director of the Year Award, which was named after his father. Don was an active member of the American Baseball Coaches Association for over 30 years, attending their annual meetings on a regular basis. The National Baseball Congress awarded him the first Raymond “Hap” Dumont Award for an individual in the summer of 1985. 

In 1993, Don formed the Topeka Capitals with the assistance of Jim Callaway, then President of Southwestern Bell and a former Bee Jay.  Carlile was the director and president of the Jayhawk League for many years.

Don was very active in the Kansas Democratic Party. In 1961, he was President of the Kansas Young Democrat Party and was also treasurer of the party for many years. 

During his active years in Kansas politics, he worked in the successful gubernatorial campaigns for George Docking, Robert Docking, Joan Finney and Kathleen Sebelius. Governor Robert Docking appointed Don to the Water Resources Board in 1969, where he served as a director and ultimately became chairman until 1978. 

Don was an entrepreneur and owned several businesses in Liberal. In 1991, he moved to Topeka when Governor Finney appointed him as Director of Transportation of the Kansas Corporation Commission where he served for seven years.

Don continuously championed the needs of Western Kansas’ agriculture, highways, and oil and gas industries through his various associations with national, state and local political representatives. In addition, Don made the acquaintances of four US Presidents and was active in the campaigns of Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter.

Carlile died in 2010 in Topeka at the age of 82.