From the Union Democrat, Tuolumne County, CA

Softball Hall of Fame has returned

Written by Kevin Sauls, The Union Democrat September 30, 2009 05:31 pm
The Tuolumne County Softball Hall of Fame is back.

A hall of fame committee is seeking community input toward making the first inductions in 15 years.

“We’re looking for nominees and we do not want to forget any deserving person who meets the criteria,” said Elaine Wolfgang, a committee member and herself a notable longtime women’s slowpitch player.
The criteria for nominees are three:

1. Must have played in Tuolumne County Recreation Department or ACOR leagues for a substantial amount of time.

2. Must have contributed to the softball programs with an encouraging, positive attitude and good sportsmanship.

3. Must have made a significant contribution to softball in Tuolumne County.

“Our idea,” said committee member, veteran fastpitch player and manager, and former county softball director Jon Abernathy, “is basically to throw it open to the public and let everyone run with it.”

Nominees can be players, umpires, managers, teams or sponsors.

Nominations can be made within the next two weeks by calling 532-2917.

The hall began in 1988 with the induction of Bud Castle, a men’s fastpitch ace in from the 1940s into the 1980s, and Barbara Persson, a longtime women’s fastpitch and slowpitch star.

Sarah Kiriluk of women’s fastpitch and slowpitch, Bummy Keefe of men’s fastpitch and Stan Cross of men’s slowpitch were added in 1990; Erline Heldstab of women’s slowpitch, Bob Buck of men’s fastpitch, umpire Slim Day and umpire and men’s slowpitch player Louis Castner were inducted in 1991; umpire and men’s slowpitch player Vic Day and men’s fastpitch hurler Bob Pedro were honored in 1993; and the last inductee was the late Wally Berry, a men’s fastpitch ace known as the “Slingin’ Sheriff,” in 1994.

A monument to Berry stands behind the first-base dugout on Field 4 at Standard Park, home of the county softball program since 1983.

“Our thought is to have two (inductees) each year for the 15 years we missed and then continue on with one or two annually,” Wolfgang said. “Our main idea, or first considerations, will be the ‘old-time players,’ those who started playing in the 1970s or before, and then move up from there.”

Abernathy said the experiences and recollections of the committee members only go back so far.

“We have a pretty good cross-section of people who go back to the 1970s, or maybe the ’60s, but there are a lot of deserving people who came before then that we don’t know about,” Abernathy said.

New inductees will have their names inscribed on a perpetual plaque which will be on display at Standard.

Jim Schultz, who managed a number of powerful men’s slowpitch teams in bygone days and now is on the hall of fame committee, said, “We just need to put some names on the plaque so they can put it out at the ballpark.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.