Growing up in the early 1960’s when you were associated with the parish you grew up in, neighborhood friends and classmates of St. Felicitas grade school moved on from the little league diamonds to the softball elds of Avalon Park. Thus began a bond that started during our school years and continued to grow as …
Better known as “P-Funk”, Kendall has commissioned over the Washing-ton Park Super Sunday League for 15 plus seasons. The league consists of over 30 teams playing games on 14 diamonds on Sundays from sunup to sunset. Under his leadership, several teams have been honored, in-cluding Steel Gold, Outcast, Young Guns, Pharaoh’s, Rack City, Dog-pound, Team …
Andrew (Bay Bay) Patterson was looking for a deterrent for the young men living in the Rockwell Gardens Housing community. In 1984, he decided to build a 16inch softball team. In collaboration with existing teams, 340 Invaders and Altgeld Invaders, created a team called California Gold. California Gold played competitively throughout the local park district …
As a young boy, Dennis traveled from park to park watching his Dad (Ron) play everynight. He and his brother Bob would run the bases after each game and slide into home plate just like their Dad. Although their Mom wasn’t thrilled with the dirty clothes, she knew they both loved this game! Fresh out …
Hank began his 16-inch Chicago-style softball career in 1977 in California when he and three colleagues (Rich Collins, Oren Cobb and Bob Gouveia) founded the OB Phils Softball Club and joined the Men’s A Division Ocean Beach Chicago Style Softball League. Hank was the primary starting pitcher for the team for over thirty –five years. …
In his early twenties, Glen Groebili started the SundownersI a team named for the company Glenn worked for. They played two years (1963 64) in the Riis Park Industrial League. In 1965, they moved from the Industrial League to the Melrose Park Men’s League; they played there until 1973 and dominated the Monday and Wednesdays …
Carey Goins was born on the South Side of Chicago. Like so many young people before him, he started playing 16-inch softball in the vacant lots, alleys, and schoolyards of his neighborhood. He graduated from Calumet High School in 1971 (where he was a drummer in the band and played football) and then attended Eastern …
Rosie was born in 1963 and had five brothers. She graduated from Oak Lawn High School in 1981. Senior year, she was co-captain of the volleyball and softball teams. Also, she was voted to the SICA All-Conference Team and was Oak Lawn High School’s Most Valuable Player in volleyball. She was also named to the …
Rick Gancarz’s journey into sixteen-inch softball began when he learned the game from his father, Richard Gancarz, while playing for the Troppists at Portage, Indian Road, and Riis Parks on the Northwest Side of Chicago. He was in high school and was competing against players significantly older and more experienced than he was. This mismatch …
The “Gashouse” was a group of Peoples Gas employees who primarily played at Grant Park in the Plaza League from the early 1960s until the early 2000s. They were a diverse mixture of young and old players who played with passion and had a lot of fun doing it. Although the bulk of players came …
