Danny Brichetto started playing softball in the late 70’s on the North Side of Chicago at Kelvyn, Kosciuszko, Indian Rd., and Portage Parks. He was a center fielder who could hit to the gaps with power. Playing in a Sunday league at Kelvyn Park, the umpire, Al Hensel, asked him to play on his team …
Ron Amazzalorso grew up at 96th and Avenue N, a street referred to as “Goat Street” because goats were once raised there. Avenue M was referred to as “Cow Street” for the same reason. Many discussions at local bars debated which of these nicknamed streets produced the better athletes. Ron and his friends were gym …
Hank began his 16-inch Chicago-style softball career in 1977 in California when he and three colleagues (Rich Collins, Oren Cobb and Bob Gouveia) founded the OB Phils Softball Club and joined the Men’s A Division Ocean Beach Chicago Style Softball League. Hank was the primary starting pitcher for the team for over thirty –five years. …
James was born on August 23, 1936. He grew up on the South and West Sides of Chicago, attended Emerson Grade School, and graduated from Manley High School where he was an outstanding basketball and baseball player. He attended Crane Junior College until he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After his military service, he …
In his early twenties, Glen Groebili started the SundownersI a team named for the company Glenn worked for. They played two years (1963 64) in the Riis Park Industrial League. In 1965, they moved from the Industrial League to the Melrose Park Men’s League; they played there until 1973 and dominated the Monday and Wednesdays …
Carey Goins was born on the South Side of Chicago. Like so many young people before him, he started playing 16-inch softball in the vacant lots, alleys, and schoolyards of his neighborhood. He graduated from Calumet High School in 1971 (where he was a drummer in the band and played football) and then attended Eastern …
John Westermayer was raised in Des Plaines next to Tomahawk Park, a park that influenced his desire to play softball and baseball because he would listen to the sounds of baseball being played during the summer months. Additionally, the local 16-inch softball “Metros” were played over countless summers in his youth at Tomahawk. There was …
Bobby Russ Jr. started his sixteen-inch softball career in the late 1980s with two Northwest Side neighborhood teams – the Levee and the Jackmen. Both teams had a number of HOF players on their roster. He played baseball and basketball at Weber High School from 1981 to 1985. He received a scholarship to play baseball …
Larry Downes’s softball journey began at Grant Park about 1968 where his Dad’s Continental Bank team played hundreds of games during his childhood. His Mom would take him downtown on the CTA bus to watch. He would watch them play in the ‘Pit’ at Grant Park. While the games were going on, he would pitch …
As a first baseman for Sulky Inn, Beth performed flawlessly for many years and was named by the Sun-Standard Newspaper as one of the best “first-sackers” in the league who is “wiry and can dig’em out of the dirt with the best of them. As a batter, she was known for her timely hitting and …
