T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON RICH DONNELLY, retired MLB coach of Steubenville, congratulates retired executive director Dorothy Powell during the Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce’s Fall Dinner on Thursday at the Martins Ferry Recreation Center.

MARTINS FERRY — The Martins Ferry Chamber of Commerce honored retired executive director Dorothy Powell and heard a heartfelt speech from retired MLB coach Rich Donnelly during its Fall Dinner on Thursday.

Powell received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the chamber for her 43 years of service. Before giving her the award, chamber President Paul Stecker said Powell made the chamber what it is today, noting there likely would not even be a chamber without her work.

Powell quipped that the chamber dinner was the most enjoyable one she had participated in because she didn’t have to work during it.

“It was so wonderful,” she added. “I want to thank all of you people and all the businesses in town and everywhere for giving me the opportunity to serve the chamber of commerce and the city of Martins Ferry. They’re both very dear to me, and I miss that.”

Powell thanked her family for always helping her in the past, including volunteering to work at past chamber events.

“Forty-three years went quickly. I wish all of you the best,” she said, adding it has been a difficult time recently because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Powell said she believed strongly that the chamber would be brought back to where it was several years ago.

“I hope to see all of you around town doing your thing,” she noted.

The chamber’s new director, Alisha Hill, also introduced herself during the dinner. She said she was grateful for the opportunity to serve Martins Ferry and help grow businesses. Hill noted she has lived in Martins Ferry with her husband since 2014, and they have two sons together.

Donnelly was introduced by Doug Huff, retired sports editor of The Intelligencer, who described Donnelly as an “everywhere man” who is “still a valley guy.”

“He still has a home in Steubenville. No matter where he is, he is a valley guy through and through,” Huff said.

Donnelly grew up in Steubenville, practicing baseball and dreaming of one day making it to the big leagues. He did — and spent 52 years in the sport — first as a player and then as coach for several different teams including the Pittsburgh Pirates. Donnelly, now 75 years old, said when he finally became a Pirate it was like a dream come true, as when he was a kid he used to pretend to be Pirate great Bill Mazeroski.

Donnelly in recent years has also gained more notoriety for a book about his life, baseball and losing his teenage daughter Amy to cancer, titled “The Chicken Runs at Midnight,” written by Tom Friend.

Donnelly said he learned his daughter had cancer in 1992 when she called him while he was on the road.

“She said, ‘I have a brain tumor and I’m sorry.’ She apologized because she knew it would bother me,” Donnelly said.

Amy had surgery, but the doctors said she would only have nine months to live, he said.

“I didn’t know who to blame. Why her? Why not me? She’s 17 and in the prime of her life,” Donnelly said.

During the course of her treatment Amy remained upbeat, rooting for her dad during his games. During one visit on the road while everyone was talking and laughing, Amy blurted out, “The chicken runs at midnight.” Donnelly and his sons all were perplexed by the statement as was Amy, who laughed out loud about her own statement.

The phrase became a running joke for them all and then a family motto of sorts. And when Amy died in 1993, they decided to put it on her gravestone because she would have wanted it that way, Donnelly said.

That same phrase would have even deeper meaning during the 1997 World Series between Donnelly’s Marlins and the Cleveland Indians. The Marlins’ Craig Counsell scored the winning run at midnight. He received the chicken moniker from Donnelly’s son, Tim.

Donnelly said he knew it was a miracle and that Amy was there with them. He noted that while his children were growing up, he spent a lot of time away from home.

“It was about me, not my kids,” he said.

Donnelly said it was Amy who helped wave him back home, much like a third-base coach who waves runners into home plate.

In 2018, Donnelly’s family suffered another tragedy. His son Michael was killed on a highway while helping a woman whose car needed to be moved off the road. Michael sacrificed himself to save the woman who was there. He pulled her out of the way of an oncoming car and took the head-on hit himself. He was killed instantly, Donnelly said.

Donnelly said the woman he saved has called him at least 300 times over the years, telling him that his son is a hero and that he saved her life. During one call she informed him that her new baby would be named Michael Donnelly Ramirez, he said, after his son.

In 2017, his two daughters were at the concert in Las Vegas that turned into the site of a mass shooting. They helped a woman who had been shot instead of running away with the rest of the crowd. They stayed with her for 15 minutes while the shooting continued until paramedics arrived, he said.

“You’re supposed to be a hero to your kids. My heroes were my kids and what they did,” he said.

The dinner, held at the Martins Ferry Rec Center, was catered by Mehlman’s Cafeteria and by Last Call bartending.