Up until 1983, the Northern Trust Bank’s corporate softball team had limited success. About every other year, the team finished second in their Grant Park league, which qualified them to play in the GP Industrial Tournament. Once in the tournament, however, success was fleeting. They would maybe win their first game, but rarely would go …
Tommy Thompson was a Local One Ironworker and very proud of it. He was so proud of it that in1982 he started and founded the Dollars for Diabetes Union Yes Softball Tournament, a tournament sponsored by the Chicago and Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council. Unions affiliated with the Council had been collecting money …
James Tencza has been involved in sixteen-inch softball as a player and coach for forty-five years. He started playing softball in 1964 at McKinley Park on Chicago’s South Side. He also played at Mark White Park (now McGuane Park). He started out playing centerfield but switched to shortstop after a knee injury. After his fifth …
Traffic is a classic neighborhood softball team from the Riis Park area that evolved into a consistent top- fifteen team. They started playing in a Sunday league at Riis Park in 1986. In 2011, they took second in the Westchester Tournament of Champions and finished fifth in the Forest Park No Gloves Nationals in …
The Miller 45s dominated the softball world during their peak years: 2001 to 2009. The foundation for that sustained excellence began in 1988, the birth year of the Bud 45s. The Bud 45’s struggled through their early years in the Mt. Prospect Classic League and Des Plaines Power League, the top talent leagues on the …
The Safari Tigers 16-inch softball team was formed in April 1969 by Hall of Fame coach Claude Rhodes. The team was formed to counter the negative influences that prevailed in the Washington Park and Grand Crossing neighborhoods of Chicago. Today, this influence is even more necessary and meaningful. In the early 1970s, the Tigers played …
When Jim Taylor, Len Smith and Terry Bell formed Hometown Distributing in 1983, they immediately threw their support behind 16″ softball on the South Side of Chicago, supporting many teams at Washington, Kelly, Grant, and Forest Parks. In the mid 1980s, the Touch and Jim realized their dream when Touch won the National Championship in …
Mel created the Northtown softball field at Devon and Kedzie that everyone could enjoy in 1938. It was due to a suggestion by his brother Ferdy because there were no fields safe to play this popular sport. He added lights (oldest in Chicago) and his diamond became the site of the best men and women …
When Cheryl was about nine years old, she and her sister Cathy, along with the neighborhood boys started playing baseball in the streets of Oak Lawn using the sewer covers as bases. When the Oak Lawn Park District decided to form a girl’s softball league, Cheryl and her sister Cathy joined and their mother Mary …
