In tracking the history of
the Goddard Slow-Pitch Softball Association (GSPSA), one must go back to the
early 1960’s. Almost from the Center’s inception, Goddard employees were
playing softball – finding fields wherever possible within Prince George’s
County.
In 1962, a number of former
GSFC employees formed a fast-pitch softball team, and played in the D.C.
Recreational League on South Dakota Avenue. Some of the fast-pitch players that
went on to form and play in the initial GSFC Slo-Pitch Softball League were:
George Harris, George Smith, Bill Hall, Bob Synder, John Schiefele, Dick
Costa(?) and Bill Fortney.
In the fall of 1962, Bob
Synder and George Smith formed a 4-team Slo-Pitch League to start in April of
1963. Initially they used fields at Building 7, DuVal High School and a field
they built at the GSFC Recreation Center. The first four teams and their team
captains were:
1) Boosters – Walt Flournoy
2) T&E Terrors – George Smith
3) Particles – Sidney Jones
4) TBD ??? – Dale Fahnestock ???
In the Inside Goddard
article from May 27, 1963, Bob Snyder indicates that there are 12-teams playing
on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with about 200 Goddard and Contractor
employees participating.
The 12 team captains were:
1.
Walt Nagel
2.
Sid Jones
3.
Gene Humphrey
4.
Norm Goldman
5.
Jim Knapp
6.
Harry Montgomery
7.
Jim Murphy
8.
Walt Clark
9.
Walt Flournoy
10. Bob Wettingfeld
11. Lee Eisenhower
12. Al Newman
In the fall of 1963, after a
successful start to their inaugural season, Bob Snyder and George Smith
approached the Goddard Welfare Association Recreation Chairman Stuart Snyder
and asked if he could find some land that could be used for GSFC softball.
Stuart came back a few weeks later and took Bob and George to a place on Beaver
Dam Road known as the Antenna Range with two towers and weeds about 2-feet
high. Stuart told the fledgling softball league they could use the land, but
had to do so on their own with no help from the Center.
In 1964, Walt Flournoy was
named the first President of the GSFC Slo-Pitch Softball League. Assisting Walt
in tackling the challenges of the rapid growth of the league due to the
increasing popularity of slow-pitch softball were George Smith as Vice
President and Dale Fahnestock as Secretary/Treasurer. The once 4-team league,
now expanded to 12-teams, had quickly outgrown their available 3 fields.
Walt convinced the
“establishment” of the importance of this recreational outlet for the Goddard
employees and got management buy-in on the need for a Softball Complex.
Walt’s sound judgement and
persistence paid off.
The construction of the
initial three-field configuration was begun and completed in only 1-year.
Initially, only Fields 1, 2 and 3 existed, with all three being aligned as
Field 1 is today, with home plate towards the road. This alignment was
necessary because initially there were no metal fences, no center road, and no
parking between the antenna towers. All players parked on Beaver Dam Road.
Reversal of Fields 2 & 3 and construction of Fields 4 & 5 came later,
as well as the construction of the “Beer Shed”.
The early years of the new
Association were not easy.
There were field maintenance
problems, sanitation and safety headaches, league expansion and above all the
need for operating revenue.
During the latter 60’s, an
additional 10-team league was formed, an Executive Committee created, a formal
Constitution with a set of Rules & Regulations adopted, and an Umpire’s
Association was created.
Also a small Concession
Stand began to operate to help defray costs.
In the beginning, the
Concession Stand was essentially Jack and Joy Hoffman selling items out of the back
of his pick-up truck. Then later, Frank Greer and Dick Libby selling beer out
of “an aluminum shed”, where once the two kegs of cold beer that had been
delivered for the day were gone they shut down for the night. This seems to be
the source for the original name of the Concession Stand – the “Beer Shed”.
Into the early 70’s, a third
Men’s League was added and the introduction of Women’s softball made its debut.
To again provide the necessary operating revenue, the concept of team Franchise
Fees was adopted and a new larger Concession Stand was constructed by Gary
Vincent and Sam Willis.
With the ability to be
self-sustaining and make capitol improvements, the Association improved its
“sanitation facilities” (can’t imagine what they use to be), hired full-time
Field Maintenance, and installed chain-link fences in the outfield - which
greatly reduced the risk of injuries.
The Goddard Summer
Invitational Tournament became a tremendously successful event in the 1970’s.
Each year, teams from the tri-state area and the District of Columbia provided
the competition. At one point in time, the tournament became so popular that a
32-team double-elimination format was used to accommodate all the teams that
wanted to play.
According to Dale
Fahnestock, one of the Associations Founding Fathers, and Past Treasurer (first
4-years) and President(1969), that one of the early tournaments was so
successful that the NSA team (NSA Bombers ?) found themselves locked in and
decided to “ram the gate” with their car until the gate busted. As Dale
explains it from the phone call he got from the Center Director’s Office Monday
morning, it almost marked the end of Goddard Softball.
In the mid 1970’s, the
Goddard Softball Complex, its five fields, and organization were considered
among the area’s finest.
In the late 1970’s, the
Association added two more Men’s Leagues – for a total of 5 (we now have 6) and
Co-Ed Softball replaced the Women’s League. At its peak in the early 1980’s the
Co-Ed leagues “overflowed” their allotted two leagues with 24 teams playing on
Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 6:45 pm.
RECENT
PAST (Mid 80’s to
early 90’s – by Bill Guit)
The mid 1980’s saw further
expansion of the Men’s Leagues to 6 leagues ( 4 “badge” leagues at 5:30pm
Monday – Thursday and 2 “open” leagues at 6:45pm first on Mondays and
Thursdays, then Wednesdays and Thursdays). To facilitate this change – the 18
games in 15 weeks format had to be changed to 18 games in 18 weeks to create a
new “slot” to accommodate the expansion. First in 1992, this new league played
on Mondays at 6:45pm but in 1997 it moved to Wednesdays. This re-alignment had
a negative effect on the Co-Ed Leagues which shrank from 24 teams down to ~
16-18 teams.
The late 1980’s saw Jack
Thomson retiring as GSPSA President in 1986 to become GEWA Council Clubs
Chairman. Joe Eck took over the helm of the Softball Association for the 1987
and 1988 Seasons.
1986 was also the year that
Kendall Mitchell took over as Concession Stand Manager, a position he held
until his retirement in 2001.
In 1989, Walt Moleski took
over as the GSPSA President, a position he held until 1992. Walt is credited
with bringing the Association into the electronic era. He created electronic
copies of the Association’s Constitution, Rules and Regulations and first
Policy Book. Later Walt created the first web-page for the Association and
database of its membership. Walt was also instrumental in initiating
re-construction activities associated with improving the overall quality of
play.
The late 1980’s and early
1990’s saw steady growth in the number of teams playing “Men’s Softball” (even
though women were playing on some teams) until it peaked out in the early
1990’s.
This time frame also saw the
Softball Association’s experimentation with grass infields (to keep the dirt
from blowing away) and many new capital improvements (lower equipment shed, new
tractor,…)
PRESENT (Early 1990’s to present – by Bill Guit)
When Walt Moleski stepped
down from being the GSPSA President, after the 1992 Season, Bill Guit took over
on an “acting basis” in 1993. Bill had been the “second-in-command” for 9-years
as the V.P. of Scheduling. Of course, after getting voted in, in February 1994,
Bill’s still President today, which just goes to confirm what Jack Thomson told
Bill in 1984. When after 8 years as a player Bill finally joined the Executive
Committee, he asked Jack – “Jack for as long as I can remember you’ve been
President – how did you become President” – Jack just said he took over in 1970
and no one else as ever wanted the job. Jack lasted 16 years as President, so
it look’s like Bill’s only a little over half-way to retirement. Of course Bill
spent 9 years as V.P. of Scheduling, so who knows where that leaves him.
The early to mid 1990’s were
marked by constant challenges and major capitol improvements.
In the early 1990’s, major
field renovations were undertaken. Between 1992 and 1998, nearly $50,000 worth
of improvements were made to the fields. The work included; re-grading Field 3
and installing drain fields, incorporation of “professional quality” infield
mix soil for all the infields, installation of “artificial” batters boxes in
all home plate areas, installation of pitching area mats, and installing
“double” first-bases as a safety feature.
The early 1990’s, brought a
challenge to the Softball Association when its management style was brought
into question by some of the Association members.
The mid 1990’s, saw a 3-4
year effort to “re-negotiate” the Memorandum of Understanding on the Use of the
Antenna Test Range by GSFC Clubs. This agreement, which forms the basis for how
the facility is shared between the Goddard Model Airplane Club (GMAC) and the
GSPSA, had become out-dated since it was signed in 1978. Needless to say – many
“un-official” changes had crept in over the many years the original agreement
was in place – longer season, fall softball, and the desire to hold more
tournaments to name a few. Finally, in 1999, after many years of hard effort on
the part of both clubs, and under the guidance of the GEWA Council a new
agreement was signed.
The late 1990’s, saw the
initiation of the first all Goddard teams Post Season Invitational Tournament
(PSIT) in 1996 and a renewed emphasis placed on creating the safest environment
to play and watch softball. In 1999, the new backstop and out-of-play fences
were installed on Field 5 and the backstop moved back on Field 1 (the new
backstops meet the minimum recommended distance from home plate to the backstop
of 25 feet).
The next major safety
initiative was the installation of a home run catching net on Field 1 to
protect the spectators in the vicinity of the Concession Stand on Field 5 (that
are generally not paying attention to what’s happening on Field 1). This was an
$18,000 investment on the part of GEWA (1/2) and the GSPSA (1/2) to improve
safety at the Goddard Softball Complex.
FUTURE
(40th Anniversary
Season – by Bill Guit)
Although only in its early
planning stage by the GSPSA, the 40th Anniversary Season, which
occurs in 2002, marks a major milestone for the Association and for that matter
any GSFC Club.
Some plans being worked on
for the 40th Anniversary Season include:
Past President’s Plaque
Significant Contributor’s Plaque
Initiate the GSPSA Hall of
Fame (Walt Flournoy’s idea)
Selling GSPSA
related merchandise – Shirts, Hats,…
LONG-RANGE
PLANS (By Bill
Guit)
Curving the road – to slow
traffic – and allow
Moving the Backstops back on
Fields 2, 3 and 4
Installing more
“out-of-play” fences – and
Warning Tracks – and more
shade trees
Raising the outfield fences
to 12 – 18 feet
Building a Softball Complex
Pavilion (Jack T’s idea)
Re-locating the GMAC to open
up weekends