Inaugural NSA BPA Hall of Fame Induction Banquet

Illinois NSA BPA Hall of Famers Ken Adams (left) & Rick Alderson (right)

Steve Endress from Kankakee was inducted as an umpire. In the early 1990's while still playing slow pitch Steve started working at the River Road Softball Complex as a slow pitch umpire two to three nights a week and was player-manager for his slow pitch team the other nights. Endress did not start working fast pitch games until 1996 when his
daughter was playing Division I college fast pitch. Steve started working NSA slow pitch in 1998 when the Kankakee started hosting NSA championship tournaments. Endress has worked almost all of the State, Regionals, NIT's and World Series that have been hosted at the Kankakee complex averaging about one hundred twenty slow pitch games each year. In 2002 Endress worked his first Slow Pitch Super World Tournament at the Men's D Super World Series in Muncie, Indiana and was selected to work the Championship game in his first trip to a Super. Endress has made two additional trips to a Men's Super Worlds 2005 and 2006. Endress was selected to work the Championship game each year and was named to work the plate in the 2005 Men's C Super World. Endress has been selected to work the Women's 23+ World Series in East Peoria, Illinois in 2005, 2006 and 2007 being selected each year to be in the championship game umpire crew. Endress 's dedication to the game and to the umpiring profession has be recognized at both the local and zone levels. Steve received the Northern Zone 110% award in 2002 and was awarded the 2004 Umpire Directors' Award of Excellence for the Kankakee area. Endress said, "If you enjoy your job, you will never work a day in your life and I enjoy working softball...Thanks a lot I appreciate the NSA ."
Chris Garner from Springfield was inducted as a director of softball. When Garner retired from softball in 2001, he was both NSA Southern Illinois Adult Slow-Pitch Director and NSA Girl's Fast-Pitch Director. In 1988, Garner started with NSA after being recruited by Roger Cook, Illinois state director to manage slow-pitch tournaments. Lonnie O'Haver
was the Illinois UIC. Garner soon purchased Four Seasons Recreational Park which had three diamonds and began to run men's, women's and coed leagues. Four Seasons won the NSA National Outstanding Park Award from 1988-2001. Mary O'Connor, Indiana Youth Director, convinced Chris to run girl's fast-pitch tournaments and he started running the Springfield Shootout in 1991. Chris became the first girl's fast-pitch director in Illinois in 1993. The first Illinois Girl's Fast-pitch State tournament was held in Springfield in 1993. The Illinois NSA girls fast-pitch state tournaments has blossomed from ninety teams in 1996 to two hundred twenty-eight teams in 2001. In 1998, the Chicago Tribune rated the
Illinois NSA Girl's fast-pitch tournament in Schaumburg as one of the best run tournaments in Illinois. Garner has instituted a $12,000 cash scholarship program for the state tournament and several activities which added a new dimension to the tournament. Garner has also received the NSA National Most Improved Director Award in 1999. He has received the Illinois NSA Area Director of the year 1991-1999. Garner said, "I love softball and I own a softball complex... the (Illinois) NSA has a good thing going...God bless."
Gerry Gund Illinois NSA State Director was inducted next. In 1980 Gund started "The Early Bird Classic", which had only six teams, playing on the high school field in St Anne. "The Early Bird Classic" started to grow as a fundraiser, gaining key sponsorships and became one of the best tournaments in the Midwest, attracting almost sixty teams per year
in four classes. In 1990, Gund was hired by the Kankakee Valley Park District as Recreation Director and started running more tournaments including an industrial state tournament and the Class B State tournament which had one hundred teams. He also started a 35 and over state tournament in 1993. In 1998 Gund was appointed Sports Director at the Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau. He brought numerous events to Kankakee County including the NIKE Triathlon, Trinity Irish Dancers and numerous softball tournaments. In 1998, Gerry was appointed NSA Illinois State Director, and started to build the NSA slow-pitch program, for the Men's A, B, C, D, women, coed, and masters with new tournaments, including world qualifiers super nits, super regional and state championships, sending teams to NSA World Series. Gund has been the tournament director for several Slow-pitch World Series tournaments. In 2004 Gund was on the Slow-Pitch Super World Series Committee directing the B in 2004 at Muncie, the C in 2005 at Indianapolis, the E in 2006 at Indy E and the D in 2007 at Owensboro. In 2000, Gund started his first fast-pitch tournament - The KGSSL Classic, as a fundraiser for the local girl's league. In 2003, he added the Xtreme Promotional, MPI, Holiday Inn Express and Decker girl's fast-pitch tournaments. In 2004, Gund added The Howling - a fundraiser
for cystic fibrosis, and the Land of Lincoln League All-Star championships. In 2006, the Firecracker classic was added and in 2007 the Big B Blast and Battle Royale were started by Gund. Gund was site tournament director for the NSA Girl's fast-pitch Illinois Class B state championship held in Kankakee County in 2003 and 2004. He was director for the Girls Fast-Pitch World Series in 2002 (Schaumburg), in 2005 (East Peoria) and in 2006 (Pekin.)

Illinois NSA BPA Hall of Famers Don Belcher, Jr (left) & Don Brinkley (right)

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