When the final out is called on 16” softball and the rankings are made, Bill King admittedly will not rank near the top as a player or a manager, but his devotion to the game and sponsorship are legendary. Bill does, however, enjoy memories of Chicago’s game – the success of the Splinters in the […]
Every softball player has a great story about being late to a game due to a traffic jam or arriving at a game and changing in the car. Well, this year’s Holan Award winner was a great player who also became one of the greatest statisticians of softball. The catch? He never drove a car
Having brothers who play softball means that you too will probably follow in their footsteps. For Tom Kelleher that came true in 1963 when he was fourteen and started playing left field with his older brother Bob and the Strikers at Foster Park and other parks on the southside. The Strikers later joined with Mike
Gary began playing softball with his when he was seventeen in his hometown of Brookfield, Illinois. He quickly developed a love for the competitiveness of the game and was picked to play on many teams throughout Chicago and the suburbs. He played first and third base for the Lords and the Squires in leagues throughout
Richard “Richie” Klein began organizing softball games with the three other grammar schools in his hometown in third grade in 1958. His organizing efforts continued in1978, after his boss and the senior office-leasing executive from a rival firm engaged in some trash talking. A challenge was made and Richard was put in charge of organizing
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Bill Kohl graduated from Morton East in 1969 where he played football. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1973. He started his career in parks and recreation after coaching basketball teams to four titles in five years at Clyde Park, including two undefeated seasons. These teams included ability levels from sixteenand-
Steve Kashul serves as the pregame, halftime, and post-game host for the Chicago Bulls, working alongside the play-by-play team of Chuck Swirsky and Bill Wennington on the Chicago Bulls Radio Network. He is co-owner of Channel Fore, Inc, a media production company that produces the Golf Scene for television and radio. He serves as the
Ron Kubicki started his career in 1972 in church leagues, followed by a stint with Touch of Class and Barrel of Fun. In 1988, Kubicki and fellow Hall of Famer Wally Filkins wrote a new page in softball history when they began to organize and coach the defending National Champion Sportstation team. From that point
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Born in Chicago in 1924 and raised in the area now known as Cabrini-Green, Ed Kelly began his Chicago Park District career as a teacher at a local park and worked his way up to General Superintendent in 1973. For over a decade Ed Kelly managed the parks and its thousands of employees with the
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The fourth of five children, Betty Kollar grew up on the Northwestside of Chicago in the Hermosa neighborhood. There she played whiffle ball, league ball, and softball with the kids on the block. But for someone who was destined to become one of the top female softball players of her time, it was important that
