{"id":21498,"date":"2013-07-16T10:47:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-16T17:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21498"},"modified":"2013-07-16T10:50:46","modified_gmt":"2013-07-16T17:50:46","slug":"tourney-celebrates-larry-h-millers-love-of-softball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/?p=21498","title":{"rendered":"Pioneer Days Tourney celebrates Larry H. Miller\u2019s love of softball"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>
Click logo to view original news story.<\/figcaption><\/figure>By Kurt Kragthorpe, Salt Lake Tribune<\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason the number 9 is displayed on the banner honoring former Jazz owner Larry H. Miller in the rafters of EnergySolutions Arena. The same number adorns his locker in a corner of the room where the players dress.<\/p>\n

It has nothing \u2014 or everything \u2014 to do with basketball. Long before the Jazz came into his life, Miller was obsessed with softball. And to understand Miller\u2019s competitiveness and how that translates in a meaningful way to this upcoming Jazz season, you have to know his softball background.<\/p>\n

After an 11-year absence, the revival of a formerly world-class event will celebrate Miller\u2019s passion for the game. The 2013 Larry H. Miller Memorial Pioneer Days Men\u2019s Fastpitch Tournament will be staged Friday through Sunday at the softball complex on 13th East that now bears his name.<\/p>\n

Ken Hackmeister, a longtime softball administrator and former Miller Toyota player, brought back the tournament he directed for 28 years. The event is a tribute to Miller, who pitched successfully and sponsored elite-level teams for much of his life.<\/p>\n

\"Larry<\/a><\/p>\n

“He championed fastpitch softball, to the max,” said Marc Amicone, a former teammate who\u2019s now the general manager of the Salt Lake Bees pro baseball team that Miller owned.<\/p>\n

An entire chapter of Miller\u2019s autobiography is devoted to softball. The players from California, Idaho and Colorado competing against three Salt Lake City teams this weekend can relate to the stories of how Miller would pile his family into the car and drive to tournaments, and how he once pitched nine games in less than 24 hours, winning seven of them and being named the tournament MVP in Pueblo, Colo.<\/p>\n

“My arm was a limp rag hanging at my side at the end of that last night,” Miller wrote in “Driven.” And then he went back to work Monday at the auto dealership that employed him in Denver.<\/p>\n

Softball was “a great outlet for my emotional and competitive nature,” Miller wrote. “I was intense, as I was everything in did.”<\/p>\n

Oh, yeah. “Extremely competitive,” Amicone said. “He had your back no matter what, if he was your teammate. He once told me that whatever he was involved in, he wanted to compete at the highest possible level, in sports or business or whatever it was.”<\/p>\n

Miller played aggressively, no surprise there. “If he needed to knock you down as a pitcher, he would knock you down \u2014 that was never a problem,” said Amicone, who played with him on the Engh Floral team when Miller moved back to Salt Lake City in 1979. He later sponsored the Miller Toyota club that would compete favorably in national and world tournaments.<\/p>\n

\n

At a glance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Men\u2019s Fastpitch Tournament<\/p>\n

Pool A \u00bb California A\u2019s, Bakersfield; Boise River Dogs; Lacey (Wash.) A\u2019s; Granite Bakery, Salt Lake City<\/p>\n

Pool B \u00bb Cal State Builders, San Mateo; Pueblo (Colo.) Bandits; Page Brake, Salt Lake City; Wasatch Properties, Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

Schedule \u00bb Round-robin play Friday night and Saturday; championship game 1 p.m. Sunday.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Utah Softball Hall of Fame inductees<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Utah Softball Hall of Fame will induct 14 new members at 4 p.m. Friday: Tommy Bahan, Park City; Mark Baldwin, Wellsville; Debbie Butler, Erda; Arnold \u201cAJ\u201d Christensen, Wellsville; Ivan Christensen, Providence; Lynn Christensen, Washington; Terry Jordan, Price; Leonard \u201cOdell\u201d Kirk, Layton; Mel Moon, Salt Lake City; Ron Nelson, Willard; Lisa Parker, Murray; Jim Peacock, St. George; Carma Pedersen, Salt Lake City; Sharon Seppi, Taylorsville.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kurt Kragthorpe, Salt Lake Tribune There\u2019s a reason the number 9 is displayed on the banner honoring former Jazz owner Larry H. Miller in the rafters of EnergySolutions Arena. The same number adorns his locker in a corner of the room where the players dress. It has nothing \u2014 or everything \u2014 to do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21499,"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":[10,23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-isc","8":"category-tournaments","9":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21498","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=21498"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21504,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21498\/revisions\/21504"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fastpitchwest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}