When Bud Lucchetti began umpiring softball, he was a member of the Umpires Protective Association Bud Lucchetti started his umpiring career when he noticed the lack of good umpires for the league he formed at Calumet Park. In his early days, he was a member of the Umpires Protective Association (U.P.A.) He later formed and was chief umpire of the Calumet Umpires Association. In 1964 he became an ASA umpire under Paul Leonard. Bud Lucchetti and the Calumet Umpires Association joined with Paul Leonard to form the Metro Umpires Alliance. In 1979 he joined with Leonard and Les Duncan to umpire in the USSSA. Besides working the USSSA, he also umpired with the ASA under Tom O’Neill and Terry Reilly. He primarily officiated at Calumet Park, but he also umpired at tournaments throughout the south suburbs. In his thirty-three years of umpiring, Bud Lucchetti officiated over three thousand games, including almost every game in the Blue Island Metro from 1975 to 1995. He also worked the Nationals twice in Harvey in 1980 and at Blue Island in 1981. Before Bud Lucchetti became an umpire, he played short center with DOBS social / athletic club in Bridgeport in the mid 1940s when he was sixteen years old at Bidwell and Thillen’s Stadium. In 1961 he organized a girls league in Calumet Park. This league produced some of the top female players during that and later eras. He also organized the DEBS traveling team in the 1970s. Bud worked the “A” league in Blue Island from 1979 to 1993, officiating almost every “A” tournaments in Blue Island and Harvey. During his many years behind the plate, coaches and players always felt their game was in good hands when Bud was in charge. Teams praised him for his consistency, his ability to remain impartial, and for his ability to always be in the right place to make a crucial call. And his calls were always emphatic, demonstrating his energy and his passion for the game. Bud Lucchetti retired as a food broker in 2004. He and his wife, Amelia, have two children, Linda Vivona and the late Timothy who died in 1998. He and his wife live in Chicago.
