BIO:

Bill Jackson played with the premier teams in Greater Cincinnati during the 1970’s and 80’s, including Greater Cincinnati Sports, Bushelman Construction, M. W. Tribble and VIP. Jackson helped lead Greater Cincinnati Sports to a 3^rdplace finish in the USSSA Major World Series in 1979, but it was with VIP that Jackson would achieve his greatest accomplishments.  In 1985, he pitched VIP to the winners’ bracket finals and an eventual 3^rdplace finish in the USSSA A World.  Three years later in 1988, after spending the 1987 season with M. W. Tribble, Jackson would rejoin defending ASA Metro Champion VIP and help lead the team to the second of five consecutive Major Metro titles – the final one coming under the Greg Back Transport banner (1991).  That feat that has never been equaled.  Also that year, VIP was crowned USSSA A State and ASA Midwest Regional champions, and captured three invitational titles.  Then in 1989, after winning the prestigious Springfield Stroh’s National Invitational, VIP became the only Greater Cincinnati Men’s team to ever capture a USSSA Men’s A World Tournament, winning in Cocoa Beach, Fl., where Jackson was named the Most Valuable Player.  The team won six tournaments in all that season, and finished in the top three in ten events.  Jackson and VIP set more precedents in 1990, becoming the first Greater Cincinnati team to ever compete in the ASA Super Major Nationals and USSSA Men’s Major World Series in the same season.  A lifetime .525 hitter with hundreds of home runs to his credit, Jackson was named Greater Cincinnati Player of the Year in 1989, to the Greater Cincinnati All-Decade Team in 1990, and to the Greater Cincinnati All-Century Team in 2000.  He retired in 1993 after an 18-year career.

BIO:

Andy Larkins and his 16-year old website, cincysoftball.com, have transformed Greater Cincinnati softball over the past two decades.  Along with Andy’s Facebook page, cincysoftball.com has become the number one online resource for Greater Cincinnati parks, players, managers and fans to exchange softball information, with an audience of over 10,000 slow pitch enthusiasts.  Now possessing over 25 years of experience as a player, manager, sponsor, Andy first developed a passion for the game at Rumpke Park competing against many Hall of Fame players, while learning about the competitive opportunities available in Metro, State and World Tournaments.  A lifelong entrepreneur and partner in a website hosting company, Andy saw an opportunity to revolutionize the nation’s largest tournament, the Cincinnati Metro, by providing a website to streamline the ability to obtain game times and bracket information.  That idea took hold in 2003 when he registered cincysoftball.com, launching the site in 2004 after partnering with several parks, adding a message board, and archiving articles from the Cincinnati Softball News.  Almost instantly, the site became the best advertising spot for area softball league and tournament operators.  Eventually in 2010, cincysoftball.com became the exclusive platform for Cincinnati Softball News.  At its peak, the site topped out at over 2 million pageviews per year and this past year had over 2,000 unique IP visitors.  After Softball News publisher Mark Linnemann retired in 2014, Todd Sledge came on board and the site started leveraging Facebook. Cincysoftball.com can now quickly push video content and tournament results and announcements to over 5300 followers on that platform while maintaining the current site and message board.

BIO:

Jane Scheper Meier began her 15-year slow pitch softball career in 1964, competing in a Catholic Youth Organization League at the age of 13.  Two years later she joined Ducker’s to compete in the Friday Night Women’s League in Covington, where she would catch the eye of two eventual Hall of Fame coaches: Commie Currens and Merle Williams.  Jane joined Currens’ Burger Beer team for the 1971- ’72 seasons, then, after a season with the Cincinnati Cardinals, became the starting left-fielder and number two hitter for Williams’ legendary Sorrento’s Pizza teams.  Competing at the highest level of play over the next six years, Sorrento’s became one of the dominant teams in Women’s slow pitch softball, compiling a 483-68 won-lost record and an .877 winning percentage. Playing 90-plus games every summer, Sorrento’s collected numerous invitational titles, captured three Amateur Softball Association Metros and a Midwest Regional crown, and finished in the top ten in ASA National or USSSA World Tournament play in five of the next six seasons.  The team’s greatest achievement came in 1976 in Chattanooga, Tn. where they won ten games in a row to climb out of the losers’ bracket and stun the North Carolina Rubiotts in a double-finals to win the ASA Women’s Major National Championship. A .401 hitter during her six years with Sorrento’s, Jane was ultimately named to the Greater Cincinnati Women’s All-Century team in 2000.

Jane has also achieved extensive local, regional and national recognition, honors and awards for her expansive community involvement, contributions and service as a board and committee member, volunteer, speaker, teacher, coach and athletic director. She has been inducted into nine Halls of Fame and received five national awards for her leadership achievements.

During her a 31-year career as a coach and athletic director at Northern Kentucky University, Jane coached four eventual members of the Greater Cincinnati Softball Hall of Fame, including Brenda Ryan, Pam Patrus, Amy Flaugher and Tina May Tuck.

BIO:

Norm Stafford was involved in slow pitch softball in a managing, coaching and sponsoring role for 40 years before retiring in 2015. His powerhouse Senior and Men’s Major teams included an impressive list of names, including Planet Softball (1992-‘95) and Chase/Reece (1996-’02) at the Men’s Major level, and Stafford Sales (2002-‘05) and OKI (2010-‘15) in the Senior program.  Norm’s former players who have been inducted into local and national Hall of Fames is extensive.  His most exciting moment came in 2002 when his Chase/Reece team won the USSSA Super Major Championship in Sanford, Florida.  Norm continued his softball success at the 50 plus level, claiming an NSA 50 Major Plus World Championship with Stafford Sales in 2003 before collecting five more titles with OKI.  Those included three consecutive SPA 50 Major Plus World titles in 2011, ‘12 and ‘13, and back-to-back ISA 50 Major Plus World championships in 2011 and 2012.  In 2011, 2012 and 2013, Norm was named the SPA Manager of the Year.

BIO:

Under the Freeze Concrete banner, Jim Freeze sponsored local teams for over 20 years, including some of the premier Men’s Class B teams in Greater Cincinnati during the 1990’s and early 2000’s. It was a time when teams were required to win a National Invitational or National Tournament to qualify for World Tournament play. From 1996 to 2007 in NSA and USSSA play, Freeze Concrete teams won 52 National Invitational Tournaments, three City Slam titles, six B State Championships, four B National crowns, and a World Tournament. They also enjoyed a .600 winning percentage against A-AA teams, winning a pair of A-AA NIT’s, and finished ranked nationally as a top five team in the country for five consecutive years from 1999 to 2004. Jim also contributed to his team in the batting lineup, winning several all-tournament awards. In 2001 he batted .933 to lead Freeze to a USSSA B State title, and in 2004 when he was named the Outstanding Offensive Player in the USSSA B Nationals. With Jim’s induction, Freeze Concrete teams will have produced five members of the Sorrento’s Pizza-Greater Cincinnati Softball of Fame.

BIO:

Since becoming a slow pitch umpire in 1982 at the age of 19, Dave Maury’s life has been intricately connected to the game of softball in Greater Cincinnati for over three decades. In 1990 he became the Assistant Park Director at Rumpke Park, then in 2001 was named Park Director at what is now Mid-America Ball Yard, where he is currently the park’s Operations Manager. Dave’s trademark appearance – stained, dirty ball cap, Wrangler jeans and work boots – has been a familiar site to countless players and fans during the early morning and late evening hours now for over thirty years. During that time, he has also been active as a player, coach, sponsor and ASA Commissioner, and has served on many committees which have contributed to the betterment of the game. At Mid-America, he has overseen a staple of such premier events as the annual Bash for Cash, City Slam, Conference USSSA Men’s Major, and the Metro Tournament. Dave has unquestionably been responsible for the success and longevity of the Metro Tournament. Above all else, he treasures the many life-long friends he has made in the game. One of his most prized memories in softball is the time his dog and long-time sidekick, Max, ran across field number 1 at Rumpke Park during a Jay’s vs VIP Major Metro semi-finals game.

BIO:

During his 20-year playing career, Johnny Miller was best known for spending the bulk of those two decades batting leadoff and playing left field for EMR. He helped lead his teams to a pair of Major Metro championships (2000 and 2004) and eight top three Major Metro finishes. His teams have also captured a pair of USSSA B National titles and an NSA B and WSL C Midwest World Championship, and many other invitational and Metro tournament crowns. Johnny’s individual accomplishments include being named to the 1^st Team All-City Major division ten times and 1^st Team All-Decade in 2000. He was an eight-time 1^st Team All-Metro selection and a 2000 Major Metro MVP. Overall he has been picked to 19 All-Tournament teams, with five MVP awards. And in addition to many other awards, he has been named USSSA B All-State three times, and to an NSA B, USSSA B and WSL C All-World 1^st team. Known as a hitter who could “throw it around the yard” and hit for occasional power, Johnny owns a .660 lifetime batting average and has hit over 450 career home runs.

BIO:

From 1967-‘80, Michelle “Micki” O’Donnell played for some of the top women’s major teams in Greater Cincinnati, including 1968 ASA Women’s Open Major National Champion Escue Pontiac, ASA Metro and Regional Champion Cincinnati Cardinals, and the Cincinnati Blazers. But it was her participation in the Senior program that would ultimately elevate her into the Greater Cincinnati Softball Hall of Fame. With the Ohio Cardinals from 1999-2009, Micki captured numerous Senior World Series titles and Senior Olympics Medals. Primarily an outfielder during her 51-year career, her athleticism and versatility also enabled her to play shortstop. A lifetime .566 hitter, she batted in the 3-4-5 slot, and “made things happen” with her powerful swing. Despite all of these accomplishments, Micki proudly confesses that her biggest thrill was winning the 2004 Women’s Senior Softball World Series in Des Moines, Iowa, and getting to hold her son Noah in the team’s winning picture.

BIO:

Her managers and coaches and teammates all agree that they could not have asked for a better teammate than Carole “Baldy” Baldauf Replogle. Described as a dependable player and a base-running and defensive specialist in left and right centerfield, Carole simply out-worked and out-hustled the competition. When the game was on the line and a team needed a clutch play in a crucial part of the game, Carole was the player you wanted to have the ball hit to. During her 21-year career, during the height of women’s slow pitch softball, she was a mainstay on the roster of two National Championship teams, Rutenschroer Floral (1970) and Sorrento’s Pizza (1976). Many credit Carole with winning the 1970 National Championship after making a diving catch in the outfield behind another outfielder while doing what Carole always did, backing up a teammate. A lifetime .300 hitter, Carole also claims four ASA Metro Champions to her resume among some 49 tournament titles her teams collected.

BIO:

Steve Rogers has been playing softball for 49 years and is still going strong in the senior softball circuit. Steve’s resume of teams is extensive, including ASA Open Metro Champion and USSSA B World Champion Queen City Pattern, and two-time ASA Open Metro Champion Greater Cincinnati Sports. He also played with the Cincinnati Suds the year they compiled the best regular season record in the American Professional Slo-Pitch League. But it has been Steve’s play at the Senior level that has fashioned him into a Hall of Famer. Competing with teams like Riverside Paving, Stafford Sales, Travelodge, American Metals, Kinnco, and DeClaire Insurance, Steve has collected over 25 World titles in ASA, ISA, NSA, ISSSA, SPA and USSSA 50, 55 and 60-over play. And he has ammassed a staggering 250 league and 300 tournament titles. His personal accomplishments include nine MVP awards and more than two dozen All-Tournament selections in Invitational, State, Regional, National and World Tournament competition. And he was named to four All-City teams. A towering right-fielder, Steve boasts a lifetime batting average of .600-plus with over 1,500 home runs and 4,000 rbi’s.