Mike began his30-yearpitching career after following his brother Frank to pitch practice by playing with his neighborhood team the Lu-Ginksin the youth leaguesat Sayre, Riis, and Amundsen Parks. After high school, they began playing in the men’s leagues at Sayre, Shabonna, Merrimac, and Portage Parks. The pinnacle of the team’s successoccurred in the summers of …
Rich is the perfect example of a Holan Award winner due to his passion for the game as a player, organizer, manager, umpire, sponsor, HOF committee member, and ambassador of the sport since 1977. He even was one of the painters on Wally Filkins’s crew that painted the interior of the HOF Museum. He has …
Growing up near Hamilton Park on the south side of Chicago, Vince loved getting together with neighborhood friends to play pickup games of softball, learning the rules and regulations of the game at a young age. 55 years later, he considers himself fortunate to remain actively engaged in the game he loves. In 1964, he …
Dean Pritt began his softball career at the age of 18 when he and sev-en of his friends started playing on a team run by neighborhood legend Joe D’Argenio. After several successful seasons at Blackhawk Park, the younger players started their own team and kept the Traffic name. From 1986-2003, Dean managed the Traffic team …
The Frank C. Holan Award honors those who show passion for the game on and off the field. Passionate about the game of softball, or all other sports for that matter, is an understatement for Joe Mercadante. He grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball in Chicago; and his love for sports stayed with him …
Since 1992, Milan Stevanovich, better known as “Mr. Stats,” has been keeping stats for the Forest Park No-Glove Nationals 16-inch Softball Tournament . He is in charge of compiling and recording player and team stats for each game during the five – day event. Soon after each game, Mr. Stats posts the results of each …
Grace Kenney has been playing sixteen-inch softball in women’s leagues around Chicago for most of her adult life. She played for the team Beer Nuts for over thirty years in leagues at Monroe and Kennedy Park. They won the championship in both leagues. Grace started at the Park District of Forest Park as a …
Rich Catizone started playing softball when he was fourteen. He played on local teams with his friends on the playgrounds in Chicago. He was young and inexperienced and his teams lost most of their games, but he loved the game from the beginning. A few years later, Rich met Hall of Fame manager Nick …
There aren’t many sixteen-inch softball people who use the word passion to describe all aspects of the game, but John Reglein is one of those. John embodies the role of team sponsor, manager, player, friend, and successful business owner. His softball successes have come mainly from Iowa, but his business, The Graphic Edge is …
In August of 1970, Jack Olson started the Scrappers. They played their first game in the Ed Kelly Fall Classic Tournament held at Clarendon Park. They beat three “A” teams from Clarendon’s League and then lost 9-7 to the Dwarfs of Clarendon’s “A” League. Because of their success, they were asked to play in …
