Illinois ASA Hall of Fame Dinner

April 4th at the Decatur Conference Center & Hotel

2009 Guest Speaker current ASA National President, Joey Rich from Missouri

Decatur: The Illinois ASA Hall of Fame Induction Banquet was held on April 4th, 2009 at the Decatur Conference Center and Hotel with six individuals and four teams being inducted into this honored hall. More than two hundred seventy people were on hand to celebrated the evening with this years inductee’s. ASA Commissioner Ken Hancock led the gathering with an invocation before a buffet style dinner was served before the evening festivities began.

ASA Commissioner Dan Highland served as the programs ‘Master of Ceremony’ and he kept things moving at a good pace all night long. ASA Commissioners Jim Nichol and Jerry Stewart who both head the Illinois ASA Hall of Fame selection committee assisted with the program to keep it running smoothly.

Don Brewer the ASA State Commissioner opened the program by recognizing all the past Illinois ASA Hall of Fame inductees that were in attendance and they were greeted warmly with a nice round of applause. Brewer went on to introduce his Illinois ASA Executive Staff members who total service time adds up to over four hundred years of being Illinois ASA Commissioners and they were also warmly treated with a round of applause. Brewer also recognized all the local ASA Commissioners attending the festivities.

Highland than introduced the current ASA National President Joey Rich from Missouri. During his remarks Rich said, “You don’t always control every situation in your life, but what you decide to do about it and that lesson if your learn it will go with you for the rest of your life.” Rich went on to say, “There are two kinds of people in the world. There are whiners and there are complainers. A complainer is somebody who says we need to do something differently and they go about trying to come up with a way to do it better or differently. A whiners says we need to change what we are doing and that is all that they do whine, whine, whine.”

Rich’s second point the tried to make was to share your passion of the game of softball. He said, “Everyone in this room has a great deal of passion for umpiring, playing or all the other things that need to be done, coaching and it is incumbent of each of you to take that passion to the next generation. It is up to you to get them to understand why you are so passionate about the game of softball. it’s a great sport and I hope you love it as much as I do.”

Rich’s final point of the evening was to ask each individual present to take the time to mentor the youth of America. Not only in softball but in other aspects of life itself.

Rich closed by adding his personal graduations to all the evenings inductee’s.

Continued: