Cecil and Diane Roderick own Buck’s Pit Stop and M&R Wrecking. Besides being long-term owners of these businesses, they are also long-term supporters of sixteen-inch softball through their sponsorship of hundreds of teams over a twenty-year period. These sponsorships have included police and fire teams, recreational and industrial teams, girls and women’s team, “A” league teams, and major teams like Buck’s, Jynx, and the 45s. These teams have played at leagues in Westchester, Hodgkins, Pleasantdale, LaGrange, Lyons, and Mt. Prospect. Buck sponsored teams have dozens of league championships, six Forest Park No Glove Nationals titles, and five ASA Nationals titles. In addition to sponsoring teams, Buck has helped in other ways. In 1998 the Rodericks funded and built additional parking at the Hodgkin’s Park District ball fields to alleviate parking problems at its two fields. When the concession stands closed at the 2000 ASA Nationals in Joliet, Buck and Diane went purchased over one hundred hamburgers and cheeseburgers, cokes, and fries from McDonalds so that his players could eat before their games. He has never asked for a penny in return for these actions. Ask any member of the teams that Buck and Diane have sponsored and you will surely hear comments expressing their love for this charitable couple. Throughout their long association with softball, they have always been class acts. Their actions truly exemplify the spirit of the Mayor Daley Award.
