• Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
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.
• Saturday, March 17th, 2018
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.
• Saturday, March 17th, 2018
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.
• Saturday, March 17th, 2018
BIO:
For 40-plus years, Wayne Rust positioned himself behind many a home plate and shared ballfields with countless players while umpiring over 35,000 games prior to passing away in 2007. Wayne worked as an ASA umpire for Queen City Umpire Association for twelve years prior to joining the Buckeye Umpire Association at Expressway Park. There Wayne officiated over 300 USSSA National Invitational Tournaments, 225 USSSA State Championships, 25 USSSA National Tournaments, six USSSA World Tournaments, and a USSSA Men’s Major World Series in 1996. Long time friend Bob Owens, Park Manager at Expressway Park where Wayne worked the lion’s share of his games, said Wayne relished working any game at any level, whether it be a league game or tournament game. Wayne never missed an umpire assignment, Owens added, and no one was ever a greater ambassador for the game. Owens also praised Rust for being a mentor, teacher and father figure to Expressway Park’s umpires, and for his unmatched knowledge of the playing rules. He attended twenty USSSA Divisional Umpire Clinics, and fifteen USSSA National Clinics. He served as Umpire-In-Chief for over 100 USSSA State Championships, over 300 National Invitationals, twelve USSSA National Championships, and four World Tournaments. Locally, Rust received 17 Buckeye Umpire Service Awards from 1982-2007, was named Buckeye Umpire Association “Umpire of the Year” six times, and was selected Greater Cincinnati USSSA “Umpire of the Year” twice. He was honored as the “Ohio USSSA State Umpire of the Year” in 1996, and in 2002 was presented the USSSA “National Director of Officials Award” – USSSA’s highest umpire award except for induction into the National Hall of Fame. Rust was also an accomplished player, competing with nationally ranked teams like Greater Cincinnati Sports and Bushelman Construction. He was named to nine All-City teams and won four ASA Metro titles and four ASA Regional crowns. Wayne was also a longtime Ohio High School basketball and football official, and is a member of the New Richmond High School basketball and baseball Hall of Fame. would work any game at any level whether it be a league game or tournament game. Wayne never missed an umpire assignment Owens said. Russ was also selected as umpire of the year multiple teams by mulitple slowpitch associations including USSSA National Director of Officials Award in 2002, one of USSSA’s highest umpire awards..
• Wednesday, February 01st, 2017
BIO
Before his softball career would reach its zenith in the Senior Program, Bill Brown had previously distinguished himself in Industrial ball and with Men’s B and C teams. He led his CWA 4400 team to a National Telephone Company Championship in 1982, drove in the winning run to lift F & C Athletic to the ASA Major Metro title in 1986, and captured a Kentucky State Championship with Nix Construction in 1989 and Rick’s AC in 2001. But Bill’s career catapulted to an unprecedented level when he turned 50 and began competing as a senior. From 2003 to 2008, he won 17 National titles and was named to 17 All-American or All-World teams with clubs like Riverside Paving, Direct Hire and Travelodge. He won MVP honors with Direct Hire in the 2004 SPA Major 50-Over Nationals, was Offensive MVP in the 2005 USSSA Major 50-Over World with Travelodge, and in 2004 batted .929 (38-42) to lead Direct Hire to a runner-up finish in the USSSA Major 50-Over World. Overall, Bill has won 7 State and 17 World and National crowns, and was named to 4 All-State, and 19 All-World or All-American teams. A versatile defensive player comfortable at any infield or outfield position, Bill is primarily a 3rd baseman. He carried a .690 batting average during his 40-year career. His matchless softball bloodline includes his father, the legendary “Whitey” Brown, an ASA All-American and first team Greater Cincinnati All-Century 2nd baseman, and his son Jason, a first team Greater Cincinnati All-Decade 2nd baseman and winner of three Metro Championships.
• Saturday, February 13th, 2016
BIO:
After capturing untold open, industrial, military, and church league and tournament titles during a thirteen-year fast pitch and thirty-one year slow pitch career, Jack Hatter turned his attention to the Senior program in 1987. During the next twenty-five years, until he retired in 2012, Jack amassed over thirty 50+, 55+, 65+, 70+, and 75+ ASA, NSA, SPA, NASCS, SSUSA, ISF, ISSA, and LVSSA National and World Tournament crowns – including at the Major or Major-Plus levels – with teams like Masters 12, Cain Run Stables, Tri-State Masters, Joseph Chevrolet, WOPAC, H & W Sports, Car Center, Center for Sight, Stafford Sales and Ohio Tile. Jack was player-manager for most of these teams, and was named SPA Manager of the Year in from 2008-2010 after winning Major-Plus titles all three seasons. Jack was a lifetime .500 hitter, whose primary position was 1st base. He has been inducted into five Hall of Fames during his career, including the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, Anderson Softball Hall of Fame, Ludlow High School Hall of Fame, National Senior Softball Hall of Fame and Hartland Hall of Fame.
• Friday, February 06th, 2015
BIO:
After a celebrated career playing industrial softball with the Cincinnati Firefighters from 1960-’75, Walt Shroyer returned to the game in 1992 to excel on the Senior Softball circuit for sixteen years. From 1992 through 2007, Shroyer starred with national powerhouses like Joseph Chevrolet, MVM, Wopac/Donato’s Pizza, Nothdurft, Papa John’s and Dayton Legends, winning fifteen national tournaments in ASA, SSUSA, and SPA sanctioned events. He has been named to a dozen All-American teams and was selected Most Valuable Player in numerous events, including the 65+ division of the SPA National Tournament in 2005. He was a member of the inaugural class inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 1996. A left-fielder who batted leadoff throughout most of his career, Shroyer has a career batting over of over .600, an on base average of over .800, and has belted over 200 home runs.
• Friday, February 06th, 2015
BIO:
Like most Senior players, Jan Worley’s 52-year softball career began at the “open” level. When she was only 13, Jan was already playing with national champion Rutenschroer Florist against some of the best competition in the nation. Rutenshroer won back-to-back ASA Metro titles in 1967 and ’68, and went on to place 3rd and 4th, respectively, in National Tournament play. After continuing her career with Riverside Ford, the Cardinals and Jake Sweeney in the seventies, and then Empress Chili in the eighties and nineties, Jan found her way onto the Ohio Cardinals senior team in 1999. Since that time, she has been part of over twenty World Championship teams and a Gold Medalist in five Senior Olympics. Her individual honors include six All-World selections and being named as the Outstanding Defensive Player in the 2011 SPA World Tournament. A 3rd baseman with a lifetime .550 average, Jan was named to the Greater Cincinnati All-Century team in 2000. In 2012 she was part of the Ohio Cardinal team that was inducted into the Ohio Senior Olympics Hall of Fame, and was also named Senior Sportswoman of the Year by the Women’s Sports Association.
• Tuesday, January 28th, 2014
BIO:
James A. “Jim” Spelbrink has been playing softball for 53 years, but it has been during the last 21 years, when he began playing in the Senior program, that his career really exploded. Since 1992, Spelbrink has played in 35 World Tournaments and won an incredible 26 of them while competing with Greater Cincinnati teams like the Tri-State Masters and Joseph Chevrolet, and national powerhouses like Nothdurft (Detroit, Mi.), Papa Johns (Louisville, Ky.), Dixie Gas (Miami, Fl.), and Suncoast Orthopedics (Venice, Fl.). Spelbrink spent much of his early career playing Industrial ball with the G. E. (General Electric) Jets, with whom he won eight plant championships from 1960-1970, and with the G. E. Aces, whom he helped power to an ASA Industrial Metro title in 1987. In between that time he won thirteen league titles with Bramble Inn and 43 Bar, and later captured eighteen tournament championships with The Hut Café. Spelbrink got his first taste of Senior ball in 1992, when his Tri-State Masters team captured an SPA National title, and Spelbrink was named to the All-American team. Since then he has been selected an All-American seventeen times. A solid infielder at any position, Spelbrink’s primary position is 3rd base. But he is best known as adept line-drive hitter and a run-producer, with a career batting average of over .675, and more than 250 home runs to his credit. Once while playing in the 2009 SPA National Tournament in Dalton, Ga., Spelbrink went 23-for-24 (.958) and was named a 1st team All-American. Spelbrink was one of thirteen individuals to be inducted into the inaugural Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 1996.
• Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013
BIO:
When Jeannine Bohn was named to the Greater Cincinnati All-Century Team in the year 2000 at the age of 63, one might have expected that honor would have been the exclamation point to wrap up her amazing career. But for Jeannine, it was just another milestone along the way. Since that time, she has shined on the Senior softball circuit with national powerhouses like the Michigan Miracles, Ohio Cardinals, the Sportaculars (Canada), the Great Lakers, and the Silver Buckeyes – just to name a few. Her teams have won senior titles in USSSA, LVSSA, and SSWC, and medaled in the Huntsman World Games, SPA, and Senior Olympics. And Jeannine has earned numerous individual honors, including All-World, All-American, Best Defensive Player, and Most Valuable Player. Primarily a shortstop during her sixty-year career and known as a solid contact hitter, Jeannine boasts a lifetime batting average of .638. She says that her greatest thrills in softball include pitching a no-hitter in fastpitch in 1962, being involved in a tournament winning 8-2 double play, completing a triple play in the Huntsman World Senior Games and winning a gold medal, and hitting for the cycle.
