14th Annual Chicago 16" Hall of Fame Banquet
January 23, 2010 At The Hawthorne Race Course
In Cicero
Irv Porter & Bill Wadington
Chicago Sixteen Inch Hall of Fame - Class of
2009
Cicero: More
than 430 people gathered at the Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero
on January 23rd to honor seventeen individuals and three teams
being inducted into the Chicago Sixteen -inch Hall of Fame. Master
of Ceremonies George Bliss opened the program by playing a video
created by Hall of Fame Co-founder Al Maag's son, Zach, highlighting
the opening of the Hall of Fame's Outdoor Park in Forest Park
during July, 2009.
Bliss then brought up the new president
of the Hall of Fame, Ron Kubicki, who welcomed everyone to the
evening banquet and presented the outgoing president Gary Thorsen
with an award for his long service to the Hall. Kubicki said,
"We would be remiss if we didn't say thank you for all the
hard work you have done for us." Thorsen, accepting this
award, said,"To be able to rub elbows with the men who have
made this game what it is has been an honor for me."
Kubicki went on to announce that
the Hall of Fame would sponsor a Sixteen -inch World Series Tournament
in September at Forest Park, a youth tournament at Forest Park's
complex, and the unveiling of this year's inductee plaques on
Sunday, July 25 at the Outdoor Inductee Park in Forest Park. That
day the Second Annual Hall of Fame North VS South charity game
will also be played. Kubicki closed his remarks by thanking the
volunteers and the key people for all their hard work on behalf
of the Hall of Fame. He also encouraged everyone to remember the
Hall of Famers that have departed us to play the game in heaven
Taft High School - 2009 Chicago
City Sixteen Inch Champions
John Hie presented Ed Curry from
the Chicago Public Schools and the 2009 Chicago Public League
City Champions Taft High School. Curry spoke about Taft High School
winning the city title. Taft High School's sixteen-inch head coach
Kirk Vidas said, "I am not only the coach at Taft High School
I am also a PE teacher. I have to tell you that sixteen- inch
softball is alive and well at Taft High School any day that we
have that allows us to play sixteen-inch softball we are playing
sixteen-inch softball."
Bliss took a time out at this point
to dedicate this evening to Sheila Raines who came out of the
stands to administer CPR to Steve Heinol at the 2009 ASA Class
A National Tournament in Iowa, an act that quite possibly saved
his life.
After the rest of the inductions
were completed, Bliss on acknowledged Flashback for winning the
ASA Major Nationals, Traffic for winning the ASA Class A Nationals,
Mutiny for winning the NSA Class A Nationals, Miller Forty-fives
for winning the Forest park No Glove title, and Windy City twice
for winning both the North / South Championship in Berwyn and
the Tournament of Champions in Westchester.
The evening's program was concluded
by the Chicago Sixteen- inch Hall of Fame Co-founder Tony Reibel
who said, "First and foremost I want to congratulate all
the inductees tonight and I'd like to recognize all the past inductees
that are here tonight. Reibel went on to thank the people at Hawthorne
Race Course for all their help. He also thanked all the unacknowledged
people who did a lot of work behind the scenes. He closed by saying,
"All I can say is it has been another successful night. See
you next year,"
