In 1947, as a junior player on a senior dominated basketball team, Jack Lyman helped Tilden win the Public League Christmas Tournament. By that time, Lyman already had a year of softball under his belt, having started his career with DeVries Lumber in 1946 after his junior year of high school. He played with DeVries until 1953, then went on to play with some of the great 16″ players of the ’40’s, ’50’s and ’60’s. Beside DeVries, Lyman played with the Leo XIII Knights of Columbus (’47 to ’53), Collin’s 700 Club (’47 to ’48), Swift and Company (’47 to ’59), the Bobcats (’48 to ’51), and the 2-45 Club (’54 to ’60). During his tenure with these great teams, Jack contributed to many championships, including the 47th and Damen League championship in 1949 with the Bobcats, the Clearing Question Mark League in 1948 with Collins 700, eight straight championships at Gage Park with Swift, and a second place finish in the City of Chicago championship in 1949 and 1950 with the Leo XIII Knights of Columbus. In 1949, Swift and Co. took second place at Grant Park, and finished third in 1951. Jack Lyman worked for Swift and Company for 12 years and with the Chicago Board of Education for 35 years as a school engineer, retiring in 1993. He and his wife, Bonnie, have seven children and eighteen grandchildren.
