{"id":15016,"date":"2011-10-15T02:27:17","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T09:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=15016"},"modified":"2011-10-15T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T21:09:56","slug":"passing-of-isc-commissioner-lee-isenhart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=15016","title":{"rendered":"Passing of ISC Commissioner Lee Isenhart (Midland News Article added)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee Isenhart Passes<\/strong>
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lee Isenhart<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\nLee Isenhart long time ISC commissioner passed away tonight (Thursday Oct
\n13th ) at 8:50, There will be a service this coming Sunday afternoon in
\nMidland, Michigan. <\/p>\n

Viewing is Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 5-7 pm and the service at 7pm.<\/p>\n

Ware-Smith Funeral Home
\n1200 West Wheeler St
\nMidland, Michigan
\n989-631-2292<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.waresmithwoolever.com\/<\/a>
\n.
\n.
\n.
\nIsenhart leaves legacy of passion for fastpitch softball<\/strong>
\n

\"\"<\/a>
Click logo for original news story at the Midland Daily News<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

By Dan Chalk, Midland Daily News<\/em>
\nKnown as an enthusiastic man who knew how to make things happen, Lee Isenhart had a passion for the game of fastpitch softball in Midland and beyond.<\/p>\n

Isenhart, who died Thursday at age 79 after a long illness, was one of the founders of the Midland Explorers’ men’s fastpitch softball program and for the past 20 years was the Michigan commissioner of the International Softball Congress, the governing body of fastpitch.<\/p>\n

“He’s pretty synonymous with the Explorers,” said Kyle Beane, who has played for the team since 1996, which was the year he first met Isenhart. “If it wasn’t for him, it certainly wouldn’t be the team that it is today, carrying on after almost 25 years. … There wouldn’t be an Explorers without Lee.” <\/span><\/p>\n

Isenhart, along with Lefty Bartos and others, helped to found the Explorers — a team that competes at the highest level of fastpitch — in 1986. For many years Isenhart was also the president of the Explorers’ Booster Club, which raises funds for the team and which also oversees the Lady Explorers, a girls’ travel softball program.<\/p>\n

Isenhart, a former fastpitch player himself, was also part of the committee that brought the ISC World Tournament to Midland in 2010 for the first time. The tournament is also scheduled to be held in Midland again next year.<\/p>\n

“He was certainly the driving force in getting the tournament here last year,” said Jack Starling, a longtime former fastpitch player who was also involved with the Explorers.
\nBeane said Isenhart was involved with every aspect of the team.<\/p>\n

“There was a number of years when Lee traveled to every tournament,” Beane said. “Whether it was organizing umpires, getting the game balls, helping shut down the park at night, Lee did it all. And we’re going to miss him immensely. … He was as much a part of the team as any of the players.”<\/p>\n

One of Isenhart’s sons, Eric, was a standout player for the Explorers for several years in the 1980s and ’90s.<\/p>\n

Nels Cronkright, a former fastpitch player and longtime softball and baseball supporter in Midland, said Isenhart was an ambassador for the game of fastpitch and was content to work in the background.<\/p>\n

“He was a terrific guy that didn’t want any accolades,” Cronkright said. “He was happy to just stay in the background and get things done.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lee Isenhart Passes Lee Isenhart long time ISC commissioner passed away tonight (Thursday Oct 13th ) at 8:50, There will be a service this coming Sunday afternoon in Midland, Michigan. Viewing is Sunday, October 16, 2011 at 5-7 pm and the service at 7pm. Ware-Smith Funeral Home 1200 West Wheeler St Midland, Michigan 989-631-2292 http:\/\/www.waresmithwoolever.com\/ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,22],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-isc","8":"category-people","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15016"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15057,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15016\/revisions\/15057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}