5th Annaul Illinois ASA Hall of Fame

Pat Mennenga with son Marty

Next to be inducted was Jeff 'Bubba' Bell a first basemen from Peoria.
Jeff Bradley, a teammate of Bell, introduced him with a story, "One night after a game I told Bubba that I did not like him very much when I played against him. Bubba said you didn't like me? And I said I actually kind a hated you. I didn't know what his response would be but he looked at me and said I love that! I love that you hated me." Bradley continued by saying "If he could get any edge on the softball field or if he could get under you skin he would do that but when he walked off the field he was the best friend you ever had." Bell's award was accepted by his two sons Nick and Nathan Bell who simply said 'Thank you."
Paul Tomazzoli, while presenting Finck said, "Nick is always willing to help a fellow umpire both on and or off the field." He went on to say, "Although a quite person his presents on the field were always professional and everyone knows Nick is in charge on the field." Tomazzoli closed by saying, "He is truly an umpire's umpire."
Accepting his place in the Hall of fame Finck said, "A.S.A. softball is a wonderful, wonderful sport. It is the best sport in the whole world and I am so happy that I can umpire it. It is great! Thanks everyone."
Charles Huston was inducted next in the umpire category with his son Neal presenting him. Neal Huston said, "Dana Ness who went to school with Charlie told me that he figured that Charlie would be a good umpire because he was always the best guesser in class."
Charles Huston said, "I want to thank the Illinois A.S.A. for this great honor. It really means a lot to me. I also want to thank the umpire's in blue, my friends."
Highland than introduced and accepted on his behalf for pitcher Jeff Novack from Decatur who could not attend the evening's festivities as the final individual inducted in the Class of 2007.
Highland than took the time to recognize all of the Illinois ASA Hall of Fame individual's in attendance at the banquet as they received a large and warm round of applause from those in attendance.
The program moved into the team induction portion with Highland saying,
"Three years ago we began induction teams and programs that have excelled and done the Illinois A.S.A. and their community's proud."
Highland accepted for the first team, Granite City Steel, who could not
attend this evening. Granite City Steel Men's Industrial and Men's Slow Pitch team with five state championships and numerous national tournament appearances.
Each team induction included a plaque honoring that particular organization plus a gold coin to each player honoring them as team members of an Illinois A.S.A. Hall of Fame team.
Jerry Stewart presented the Carbondale Cougars by saying, "In 2001 I got a call from the national tournament director in Alabama asking me 'What kind of team have you sent me?' 'I said, well, I sent you the best team we have." He said, 'I'll tell you one thing about them. They had more fun than anybody else at the national tournament. They livened it up." I said 'That doesn't surprise me at all.'
The 2001 A.S.A. National Champions, Carbondale Cougar's manager Barrett
Rochman said, "This was the most diverse, unusual, and crazy team that I have ever had in my life… Our infield had an average age of thirty-four years old and we played against the best of the best. We beat a team that finished second at the Major nationals. We beat the Canadian National Champions we beat teams with international experience we beat everybody we played accept in our first game when there were forty-four wild pitched thrown by our pitcher"

Continued: