Larry Wolfe John Castro was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, but grew up in Chicago after his family moved there when he was just three years old. John graduated from Lane Tech High on the north side of Chicago where he was on the Indians baseball team. He also played Connie Mack baseball as a…
Larry Wolfe The season openers for our fall Senior Softball season took place on Oct. 29 at the Field of Dreams. We have two divisions with four teams in each division. We welcome a new team sponsor this year, Spooner Physical Therapy. Our seven returning team sponsors are A-1 Golf Carts, Brenden Financial Planning, Core Photography,…
By Larry Wolfe The summer softball season wrapped up in late September with the Core Photography team, managed by Rick Oien, and Brenden Financial Planning squad, managed by Ken Brenden, finishing their seasons in a virtual tie. The Photographers finished with a record of 21-13, while the Planners were 22-14. Due to an unbalanced schedule, the…
Larry Wolfe At press time, the Core Photography squad had “flashed” to a three-game lead over the second-place Brenden Financial Planning team in the Senior Softball Summer League. A month ago, those two teams were tied atop the standings with identical 9-5 records, but the Photographers, managed by Rick Oien, had won eight of their…
Larry Wolfe This article could have been entitled “Tales of the Hollywood Shoe Shine Boy,” because Tom Koshar could fill a book with stories about his teenage days as “shoe shine boy to the stars.” He worked on the set of various TV programs at Allied Artists, Columbia Pictures, and Paramount, among others, and shined…
Larry Wolfe “If the game involved a ball, I could play it,” says Tom Bersano. “My whole life has been devoted to sports and competition.” From his high school days in Lockport, Illinois, where he was a three-sport star at Lockport High, to today, Tom has been a “sports nut.” Although he was born in…
Larry Wolfe At press time, the Brenden Financial Planning team, managed by Ken Brenden, and the Core Photography squad, managed by Rick Oien, were tied for the top spot in the standings in our Summer League with identical 9-5 won-lost records. Brenden’s Tom Stephens was leading the league in batting average with an incredible .867…
Larry Wolfe Wayne Newman (no, not Wayne Newton!) is a native of the “Show Me State;” he was born in Trenton, Missouri, and graduated from Chillicothe (MO) High. (Both towns are located in northwest Missouri not far from the Iowa/Missouri state line.) Soon after graduating, he went to work for the Rock Island Railroad, but…
Larry Wolfe The temps are heating up and so is our Summer Softball League. This is the third year we’ve had an organized summer season. Previously, we just had a recreational program with batting practice and pick-up games. We still have rec programs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, but play league games on Tuesdays and…
Larry Wolfe The Sun Lakes Senior Softball Association Annual Awards were presented at the recent year-end Divisional Tournaments. (See two separate articles in this edition covering the tournament results.) In the Sun Division, the award winners were as follows: Top Five Batting Averages: Reyes Gonzales, Steve Hilby, Dan Melosi, Paul Gayer and Bob Wicks Rookie-of-the-Year:…