The Phunky Buddhas started as a neighborhood co-ed team of friends and couples in 1996 at Wilson Park on the far northwest side of Chicago to honor a friend and fellow softball player who had passed from breast cancer. We were successful in winning championships 5 of 7 years that we played at Wilson Park. We helped start the co-ed league at Hiawatha Park where we continued to play for nearly 2 decades, of which we won 15 championships, 11 of them were consecutive wins. To build on our league success we began playing in co-ed tournaments in the late-2000s when co-ed tournaments started to become more popular and were equally as successful as we were in our leagues. All of our tournament play garnered us 1st or 2nd place. The Phunky Buddhas won the Chicago Park District 2020 co-ed tournament. Our team has played for nearly 3 decades and is even a multi-generational team, in that when players’ children came of age or older players retired, we brought on the children of teammates to fill positions or add to the roster.
