Larry Wolfe Unlike Bad, Bad Leroy Brown who was from the south side of Chicago, Harry “Hoot” Gibson is a proud north sider from Libertyville. That explains his affinity for everything about the Chicago Cubs, but it doesn’t explain his nickname. Known as “Hoot” since he was four years old, his nickname apparently was derived…
-Larry Wolfe If there ever was someone who met the definition of a softball enthusiast, it’s Gene Granquist. Who else umpires over 500 games per year and plays another 60 plus in our senior league? Gene currently umpires slow pitch games in Casa Grande, Chandler and Maricopa city leagues and also umps fast pitch games…
Larry Wolfe “Almost” a native Arizonan, Kim Whitney has lived in the Phoenix area nearly his entire life. He was born in Wichita, Kansas, but his family moved to Arizona when he was two. He remembers that their home near 20th and Bethany Home Road was considered to be out in the country and was…
Larry Wolfe A Michigan native, Dave Martin was born in Detroit and grew up in nearby Royal Oak where he graduated from Kimball High School. He was a three-sport star for the Kimball Knights as a member of their football, track and baseball teams. Shortly after graduating, Dave was drafted into the Army and served…
Larry Wolfe When you think California native, you envision someone from the land of palm trees, beaches and high-priced houses, but Bill Stanick is a different type of California native. You see Bill grew up in a four-room shack (his description!) on the Monongahela River in California, Pennsylvania in the land of steel mills and…
Larry Wolfe A native of Miller, South Dakota (a small town in the east-central part of the state), Jim Leckner spent many days working on his grandparents’ farm as a youngster. He was on Miller High’s baseball and wrestling teams and was a member of the Rustlers’ state champion boxing squad. Jim actually made the…
Larry Wolfe “She doesn’t throw like a girl!” That’s an accurate description of the way Terry Finley plays ball. She also doesn’t field or hit like a girl! Thanks to her brothers, she learned how to play ball just like them. She’s had plenty of practice since she started playing as a nine-year-old in the…
Larry Wolfe A native of Methuen, Massachusetts (about 30 miles north of Boston), Dave Rinaldo graduated from Central Catholic High in nearby Lawrence where he played football for the Raiders. He then attended Lowell Technological Institute, graduating with a degree in Civil Engineering. Lowell is now a part of the University of Massachusetts system. While…
Larry Wolfe Nearly 10 years ago, I began this series of profiling members of the Sun Lakes Senior Softball Association. The purpose of the articles was to allow our members the opportunity to learn something about their fellow players’ off-the-field life and accomplishments. This is article number 100, so I thought it would be interesting…
Larry Wolfe No, this is not a profile of that Randy Newman, the singer-songwriter most famous for the song Short People. This story features Randy Neumann, native of Minnesota and current Sun Lakes snowbird and softball player. A graduate of Burnsville High School, Randy played JV hockey for the Braves and also played youth baseball…