50+ SEASONS IN A CHICAGO SOFTBALL UNIFORM Red, a retired Sergeant with the Broadview Police Department, was a respected player with some of the cream of the neighborhood teams in Chicago Softball. The Bummers, Connectors, Irvings, class A Lettuce, and the Stooges all availed themselves of Red’s keen ability to put the ball on either line, hit behind the runner, and bring in fly balls, with his uncanny, unorthodox, punt receiving catches. From 1971 to October 25, 2025, Red has been in uniform as a player, manager, and coach. Fifty years of participating in one form or another in our game is surpassed by very few in the Chicagoland history of Softball. Red has been a part of many tournament championship teams. Additionally, they participated in the tough Broadview league, the Cicero-Clyde Park, Cicero Hawthorne tournament, the LaGrange tournament, the Grant Park tournament, and the West Suburban Police League. By popular opinion, Red was one of the best 16-inch players among all of our “Men in Blue”. His Broadview Police Department team won all 10 championships between 1980 and 1989. Astoundingly, the Broadview cop squad won four out of six years in the statewide “Police Olympics Tourney” with only 35 total officers competing against the 14,000 Chicago Police Department Besides playing in the ‘50 and over’ league with the Takers in Cicero, Red embarked on a stellar career as a coach with the Windy City, Signature, and Moneyline teams starting in 2012. Coaches are the most unsung guys in softball. Red excels at keeping the guys’ heads in the game, reminding them of game situations, playing for runs, and not letting an error or bad at-bat affect the next play. Red has helped lead Windy City and later Signature to two Forest Park, No Glove National Championships, as well as four SSA Major National Championships, two Tournament of Champions (TOC) in Westchester, two North/South championships, and one Chicagoland Tournament championship in Mount Prospect. Along the way in his softball life, Bill is a dad of two of Softball’s finest current players, Brian (41) and Eric (38). They learned how to play the game the right way and be on a selfish team from their father. Red’s induction would be the highlight of his 50-year career and would be accepted with much pride and humility from Red, his family, and teammates.
