Ed was born in 1942 to Jim and Louise Walz on the Southside of Chicago in Bridgeport. He started his softball career at seven years old. He first played with the older boys in the neighborhood at Healy schoolyard across the street from his house. He would continue to play softball with a few of …
It did not take long for Tim to fall in love with the game when he started playing 16-inch softball in the Marshalltown, Iowa area with many of his high school friends. He played his first major National Tournament in 1987 with the Des Moines Merchants in Mt. Prospect. In order to compete at a …
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 …
Mayfair Park in Westchester has been the host site for sixteen-inch softball leagues and tournaments for over fifty years. The Suburban Life Classic was was one of the first tournaments to be played on them. Recently Westchester hosted baseball tournaments, state police softball tournaments, IHSA twelve-inch state tournaments, ASA sixteen-inch and twelve-inch ASA qualifying tournaments, …
Located on Chicago’s South Side, Washington Park was named for President George Washington and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Du Sable Museum of African-American History, the Lorado Taft Sculpture, the Fountain of Time, and The architecturally significant Richard L. Jones National Guard armory are all located inside the park’s boundaries. …
Craig “Duck” Wente played, managed, and sponsored sixteen-inch softball teams for forty-two years. He started playing at eighteen with Durty Nellies and Runyon’s. He was an excellent second baseman and always betted over .500. As he matured, he became one of the top defensive pitchers in the game. He managed and sponsored Wente Trucking, later …
Bill Wadington grew up in the Jefferson Park neighborhood on the Northwest side of Chicago at a time when you went outside and played sports – pinners on the front step until your dad told you to cut it out, running bases, hockey on the North Branch of the Chicago River (when it still froze …
“If I got asked, I played. Anytime. Anywhere.” This simple approach to playing the game of softball defined Jimmy Walsh’s 25-year career. Walsh was known throughout Chicagoland as one of the top utility players of his era because he could contribute not only with his bad but with his ability to play every position …
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 …
