Al Maag

Al Maag was named Man of Year by the HOF in 1996….for his untireing efforts to organize the HOF with Tony Reibel and it’s first awards dinner and display at Hawthorne Park. He was inducted into the HOF as an organizer of the game in 2004. See his full biography there. Besides his talents as an organizer, Al Maag�s other talents have benefited 16inch softball.  He was art director for four years of Windy City Softball, an ASA award-winning magazine.  In 1993 he released videotape on the history of softball. Maag researched, wrote, produced, and filmed what is the first and only video history of Chicago’s great game with Tom Tillisch.  Because of this effort, Al is known as a historian on softball and has been interviewed by WTTW and Sports Illustrated on questions about softball.   Al greatest accomplishment, however, might have occurred in 1995 when he co-founded the 16 inch Softball Hall of Fame.  The Hall of Fame is dedicated to honoring the great players of the past and in spreading the word of this great game to the next generation of players.  Al organized and marketed the first awards dinner, getting together in one room some great sports marketers and some of the great players of all time.   Along with Mike North, Maag is also responsible for convincing the Chicago Public Schools to add 16inch softball as a competitive high school sport. He also was key in the creation of this website. He was instrumental in getting Forest Park as the site for the HOF location in 2008. Since moving to Phoenix in 1998 Al has now added Arizona to his bag of tricks. Responsible for the Avnet B2B Desert Classic which attracts over 30 teams since 2002. The finals are on local TV.