Ray Prost started playing 16-inch softball in 1953 at Riis Park on Chicago’s Northwest side. Ray and his brother started a team called the Ball Busters that played in the Forest Park Tournament in 1960. Although he doesn’t play there anymore, Ray still has a permanent place outside the right field fence for every No Gloves Tournament. Shortly afterward he started working at O’Hare Airport and managed a team in The O’Hare Softball League. Soon his best friend Willie Simpson (HOF) came to work there and joined Ray’s team with others from the Bobcats. That year they won five championships, including the Las Vegas Airline Tournament in 1979, ’80, and ’81. In 1979, Ray began an association with Ed Zolna (HOF) when Ed asked him to help run the Old Style Bobcats in the first year of the Mt. Prospect Classic League. In 1982, the Cats won the last City of Chicago championship. It was played at Clarendon Park and was televised. Ray later supported many teams and helped start the North Stars and the Candlelight Shooters. He most remembers the years he played with the Levee Softball team from 1978 to 1997 and the boys of summer who came to play for Warren Johnson – Willie Simpson (HOF), Al Cech (HOF), Tom “Eggs” Czarnik (HOF), Rich Paul and the rest of the Levee team. May God bless them all. Ray and his wife, Renee, have been married for forty-eight years. They live in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. They have three married daughters and nine grandchildren. And now Ray spends all of his time trying to keep them happy.
