Dennis Andritsis started playing lineball on the streets of Chicago when he was eleven. He played baseball and football at Morton West High School. In 1963 when Dennis was nineteen, legendary coach Gene Pingatore recruited him to play sixteen-inch softball for Triners Lounge in Cicero. In 1966, Triners became Sobies Sports Tap and later the
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Vada Primous grew up on the South Side of Chicago at 59th and Prairie and 73rd and South Shore. He attended Senn High School on the North Side of Chicago where he played football and baseball. He was named Most Athletic his senior year. After high school, he attended Triton Junior College, leaving after one
Before moving behind the plate to call balls and strikes, Tom McClelland played with some of the top teams of sixteen-inch softball. He grew up in the Norwood Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side. He started playing sixteen-inch softball in seventh grade at Immaculate Conception Elementary School. He played outfield and pitched for the Bobcats
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Sylvester McKinnon played with the Ironmen for 1961 to 1971. In 1961, they took second place in the Grant Park Major Tournament. From 1972 to 1979, he played with the Flamingos. In 1974, they took third place at the nationals held in Dalton, Georgia. In 1976, they played in the nationals in Sioux Falls, South
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Stan Patek started managing sixteen-inch softball at the Major level in 1996 when he started as assistant manager with Sportschannel. He managed the Gamblers in 1997 and then moved to Puglise from 1998 to 2002. He then managed Bucks (2002), Bucketheads (2003 and 2004), Impact (2005 through 2007 and 2010 to 2014). He was assistant
During the late ‘60s and ‘70s, the Shooters were considered to be one of the five best teams in Chicago. The North Side had the Shooters, the Dwarfs, and the 45s and the South Side had the Bobcats, the Rogues, and the Sobies. The team members came from Senn, Sullivan, Mather, Roosevelt, Von Steuben, and
Roger Babilla has been involved in sixteen-inch softball for thirty-six years as a player, coach, and sponsor. He grew up in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago. Like many Chicagoans before him, he played softball first in the street and then moved to a more organized level at many parks, including Lincoln, Hamlin, Horner, River,
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Co-Founder: Jim Dorgan Co-Founder: Emil Smicklas Managers Jim Dorgan (1968-1989) Emil Smicklas (1968- 1986) Paul Rowan (1982-1993) Tim Daniher (1989-1993) In the summer of 1968, after playing mostly pick-up games on the Southwest Side of Chicago at a local park, Graver Park, Jim Dorgan and Emil Smicklas decided to form a team and
Ray Warren played for the Safari Tigers from 1974 to 1993. In 1984 and 1985, they finished second in the ASA Major Tournament. In 1993, they won the Illinois title in Blue Island. He coached the B Athletes when they won the ASA title for Illinois. They placed fifth in the ASA Major Nationals in
Paul Wukach has been involved in sixteen-inch softball for forty-five years as a player (having pitched four official and documented no-hitters) and as a manager, and organizer. He started playing softball because of the influence of his uncle Wally “Stormy” Dazur. “Unc” organized “pickup” games at Palmer Square in the Logan Square neighborhood. The kids
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