Blue Island resident Paul Leonard made his transition from a 16″ softball player to an umpire early in his career for a simple reason – he needed money after getting married. In 31 years behind the plate, Leonard would approach each game as if it was the most important of his umpiring career. In […]
James Gemskie began his softball career in 1949, playing around Chicago’s Northside. From 1949 through 1953, Gemskie also played football for DePaul Academy, winning All State Honorable Mention. He then went on to play football for three years at St. Ambrose, earning a degree in Political Science. After a knee injury later ended his softball
Pete Schmit holds an interesting first in the annals of high school football; he’s the first football player from St. George High School to be selected to an All-State football team. During the 1939-40 season, he and two other players from Mt. Carmel High School were the only players from the Chicago area to be
Baseball, not softball, was Wally Pecs’ game after graduating from Roosevelt High School. But that changed after several unsuccessful major league try-outs led Wally to look to softball as an alternative outlet for his talents,so at age nineteen he started the Tappers. Two years later he left Tappers to join the Road Runners, a top
In its sixteen year history, the team known collectively as the Dwarfs / Amalgamonsters / Monsters, accumulated a record 1,322 wins against 333 losses, for a 799 winning percentage. As a player coach, Mike McGovern was an integral part of that impressive record. A graduate of Lane Tech High School and the University of Illinois
From umpiring games between the guards and inmates at 26th and California, to using hand signals to call a game in the Hearing Impaired League, John Malloy�s forty plus year umpiring career has seen some of the greatest matches in modern softball history. Malloy especially remembers umpiring for $6.00 at the great money games between
It’s been said that great umpires were once great players, and John Hie is no exception. He began his softball playing career at Clarendon Park in 1951. While continuing at Clarendon, his team started the money league at Chicago and Kedzie in the early 50s. John played at Clarendon until 1974, when he switched to
A graduate of St. Rita High School and Lewis University where he played basketball, Ken Hansen began his 16″ softball career with the Lazy 10 and the Sabers at Lindbloom, Pasteur, and Lawler Parks where they won numerous championships. As a centerfielder and shortstop, Hansen was known as a long ball hitter who maintained a
Without its organizers, 16″ softball would never have gained the heights of popularity that it now enjoys. With his colorful antics and legendary methods of recruiting and retaining players, Braasch must rank as one of the top organizers of all time. One time he gave a player a repossessed 21- inch TV – stereo combination
Ron “Beetlebomb” Braasch Read More »
“When the ten dollar bet on the game was your last ten dollars, that’s pressure.” So begins Les Messinger’s commentary on softball in the 60s and 70s, an era that many softball historians consider the highest quality and most competitive softball era in Chicago history. Competing against such softball icons as the Bobcats, Sobies, Rogues,
