11th Annual Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame Induction Banquet

Left Carol Stack & Right Roger Belcher

Next up was Chaos from Aurora who won the 2006 USSSA Men's Class E Great Lakes national Tournament. No one from the Chaos ball club chose to speak so Fisher closed this part of the awards dinning by saying, "Congratulations to Chaos on an outstanding season and we look forward to more great things from them in the future."
Sonny Vercellotti from Joliet was inducted next with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Vercellotti help hatched the idea of building a softball field on the Grounds of the Stone City VFW Post and was that field's primary caretaker along with running all of its leagues. A USSSA director said this about Vercellotti, 'When I scheduled a tournament at Stone City, all I had to do was call Sonny with the games times and the tournament almost ran itself." Vercellotti was unable to attend for health reasons but Post Commander Joe Barello accepted on Vercellotti's behalf and said, "When we heard that this award was going to be given to Sonny, Jim Conroy, Wimpy Scmitt and my self went to the nursing home that had been his home for the past three years. Jim told him of the award and Sonny looked at him so Jim repeated it again so that he was sure that Sonny understood. Sonny head bowed down as his eyes filled with tears. He than raised his head and smiled at us before raising his eyes to the sky as he said 'Thank you lord'.
Paulson said while presenting Sonny Vercellotti's Hall of Fame plaque to
Barello, "Sonny, I wish we could have done this a little sooner, but I think he will know. Thank you so very much."
The 1981 Central Class B Divisional Champions Park Town Hall team was inducted into the Hall of Honor next as they were present one by one to all of those in attendance. In that magical season of 1981 playing in the title game in a field that was a sea of mud from the all night long rain Park Town Hall had rallied from a 5-1 deficit after four innings to take a 7-5 lead into the seventh inning.
With runners on first and third base and one out a double play hung two big out onto the score board as the lead was narrowed to a single run at 7-6 in favor of Park Town Hall. Park Town Hall got that final out for a 7-6 win in the championship game to claim the 1981 USSSA Central Divisional Class B title with a 6-0 record. Team sponsor Bob Parvin (2000 Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame, Umpire) spoke for the team saying, "It was a lot of fun and I'll never forget and I am so thankful to have these guys." He closed by saying, "These are all local boys and I am really proud of them. Thank you so very much."
John 'Stumpy Kramer was next to being inducted. His teams have won twelve Illinois USSSA state titles and his 1999 Kluever Snap-On ball club won the USSSA National B title with Kramer being named to the All-National tournament team his 2005 team; Ken Adams finished seconds at the USSSA World Tournament. Kramer's son Matthew introduced his father by saying, "My dad starting playing softball before I was born…several years ago he made the decision to step away from softball to help coach my teams. My dad has been teaching me to be a good hitter, a good fielder and a good teammate. It is great to have my dad as a coach because he is constantly talking to me about how to play the game of baseball." Matthew Kramer closed by saying, "Congratulations dad! I love you."
In accepting his place in the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame Kramer said, "I'd like to thank all of the sponsors I played for over the years." Kramer went on to name twelve of his former teammates that preceded him into the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame for what they did to help his career. He went on to thank all his brothers and sisters and closed by bring the house down when he said, "Thank you mom and dad for getting together about forty-four years ago."

Left Joe Barello & Right John Kramer

Left KA Softball & Right Choas

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