Current readers of the Chicago Tribune can find Mike Conkin as one of the co-authors of the INC column, but softball fans will remember Mike as the founder and author of “On Softball”, a weekly column in the Tribune during the 1970’s that many experts say revitalized 16″ softball in Chicago and the Midwest. As […]
Organizer, Player, Manager Organizer, Player, Manager Bob enjoyed the game of softball as a player, manager, teacher and businessman. He was a historian of the game and helped especially in the early stages of the Hall of Fame content. In 1961 Bob started the Buc’s, a young team that enjoyed success for three years at
Janet Carpenter’s lifelong interest in 16” softball began in 1977 when she was only thirteen. Joe Bertucci, the supervisor at Wilson Community Center in Chicago, asked her to play shortstop for the powerhouse Wilson C.C. team. They were so impressed by her defensive skills and talents on offense that they formed a long partnership. Wilson
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Connie Coster-Bruegmann’s softball career began with a bang at the age of twelve, in 1958. She received a special exemption to play shortstop in an adult women’s 12” fast pitch league. She went on to Thornton Fractional South High School, where she earned multiple awards and letters, culminating in her winning the prestigious Senior Athlete
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The signs of Del Cecchini – Centanni’s athletic skills were apparent from an early age when she started playing softball at six years old at Bell Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side. She would go on to play with some of the top women’s teams of her day and establish herself as one of the top
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From 1969 to 1974 Pat Caputo played softball with neighborhoods teams. In 1975 he started a 12-year partnership with the Pirates and also played with the Stompers (‘80 –‘85), the Lords (‘82 –‘84), and with the Stooges (‘88 –‘90). These teams won tournaments at Westchester, Broadview, LaGrange and many other Western and Northern suburban leagues.
Michael Coleman was eighteen when his father asked him to practice with his tavern team, Boss Larry’s Hustlers. It was during this run that Michael began to hone his softball skills and to prepare himself for his movement into softball’s “major” leagues. The Hustlers played money games against other lounges on the weekends and played
Ken Cooper’s twenty-year softball career began in 1975 when he started playing for his father and Hall of Fame member, Dick Cooper, on the Meadows Baptist Church team. In 1977 the Meadows moved up to the Rolling Meadows Park District league. After that, he played for the Taggers, the Straycats, Cooper’s Sporting Goods and Splinter’s
Mike Clifford grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Little Flower High School in 1972. He then went on to Illinois Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois where he played baseball. He began playing softball at the major level when he hooked up with Hall of Famer Sal Vasta and the Blues
Tom Czarnik began his major softball career in 1976 playing second base and pitching with Murderers Row in the Clarendon and Kelly Park leagues and with the Nocturnes at Kelly Park. Except for a brief stint with Mike McGovern’s Amalamonsters, the early 1980’s found Tom Czarnik joining some high school friends to play with the
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