Greg Ziegler started playing softball at the age of Seventeen in leagues in Berwyn and Cicero and played until mid forties. After meeting his mentor and best friend, Lane Nieman, he played a bulk of his career with The Rizza Rockers in leagues from North Riverside to Mt. Prospect and won league championships in North […]
Fritz Zimmermann has sponsored and played on teams at the major level and at the neighborhood level since 1974. These teams include Splinter’s, March, Meadows, Stallions, Lumber Jacks, and others. His teams have won league championships in parks in Chicago, the surrounding suburbs, and at ASA and USSSA state and national tournaments. Besides being a
So what do you do during the summer when you’re the daughter of one of softball’s great players? Well, you go to a lot of softball games, of course. Jayne Zolna started attending her dad, Eddie’s, games when she was ten. She was the batgirl when her brother wasn’t there. When she got older, her
Teams that Fritz Zimmermann has sponsored (Splinter’s March, Meadows, Stallions, Lumber Jacks, and others) have competed in and have won league championships in parks in Chicago, the surrounding suburbs, and at national tournaments during the 80s and 90s. The first taste of victory came in 1983 when they won the Thillen’s Tournament. In 1987 they
Mike Zizzi started umpiring in 1982. Since then he has officiated over four thousand games, mainly in the North and Northwest sides of Chicago and suburbs. In 1998 he began umpiring ASA tournaments beyond the local level. He has officiated two Grant Park and Forest Park tournaments, five North / South competitions, eleven State and
Joel Zimberoff played softball for six decades – from the 1940s through the 1990s. He started playing ball at overnight camp when he was just six years old. He attended this camp for nine years and was voted the best player and athlete from ten to fourteen years of age. He played for the Dwarfs
A glance at Ron Ziemann’s career reveals a single truth – teams he played on won a lot of championships. Ziemann’s career began at sixteen in Des Plaines when he played in a high school league. He started pitching by default – no one wanted to pitch. Seduced by the lure of big time softball
“It is an honor to be selected to the Hall of Fame with all the other great players.” After playing with the Cadets for five years, Louis Zielinski and the Cadets learned a hard truth about 16”softball . George Morse at Clarendon would not let them play in the Majors (A League) until they won
Hank Zitnik began his 30 year 16” softball career in 1950 with Alpines in Harrison Park, helping them win that league five times. In 1957 he joined Kool Vent Awnings, one of the legendary teams of that or any other era. In 1959, he switched to Sports Bench, playing with them and other teams from1959
The only Chicago softball player ever inducted in the ASA Hall of Fame in Oklahoma, his Bobcat teams won 12 ASA National Titles including the very first ASA National Championship in 1964. In total Zolna played and directed teams to more wins and tournament victories in the history of the sport including several World Championships
