ASA/USA Softball honors members in OKC at Wilson Sporting Goods Luncheon
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OKLAHOMA CITY — The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America, the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, and USA Softball recognized members and tournament hosts during the Wilson Sporting Goods sponsored luncheon at the 82nd Annual Governing Council Meeting on Wednesday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Awards were given in three categories: years of service to ASA/USA Softball, registration increases and excellence in conducting ASA/USA National Championships in 2013.
A complete list of award winners is included at the end of this release. Photos from the luncheon are available on the official Facebook page of ASA and USA Softball: Click here
The first awards given out Wednesday were the James Farrell Certificates and Awards of Excellence for excellence in conducting ASA/USA National Championships. To attain the James Farrell Award of Excellence, named in honor of former St. Louis ASA commissioner and national office staff member James Farrell, cities must do an outstanding job of hosting ASA/USA National Championship Tournaments. The host city must receive an overall rating 95 percent from the ASA Representative, Umpire-In-Chief and National Office. An additional eight cities were given a James Farrell Certificate of Excellence for obtaining a 90-94 percent rating. Lastly, ASA/USA also recognized five additional cities who hosted National Championship tournaments in 2013 with Certificates of Appreciation.
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2013 Award Recipents
eight of the highest rated tournaments
Burlington, North Carolina
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four of the highest rated tournaments
Ridgeland, Mississippi
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three of the highest rated tournaments
Salem, Oregon
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two of the highest rated tournaments
Bloomington, Indiana • Bowling Green, Kentucky • Canton, Ohio • Findlay, Ohio • Medford, Oregon • Prescott, Arizona • Rochester, Minnesota • Rolla, Missouri • Roseville, California • St. Joseph, Missouri • Sterling, Virginia • York, Pennsylvania
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one of the highest rated tournaments
Andover, Minnesota • Bakersfield, California • Bismarck, North Dakota • Chattanooga, Tennessee • Clearwater, Florida • College Station, Texas • Columbus, Georgia • Cumming, Georgia • Johnson City, Tennessee • Kaysville, Utah • Kent, Washington • LaPlata, Maryland • Montgomery, Alabama • Nevada, Iowa • Normal, Illinois • Pekin, Illinois • Port Huron, Michigan • Salem, Virginia • San Diego, California • South Bend, Indiana • Springfield, Missouri • Sunnyvale, California • Tallahassee, Florida • Virginia Beach, Virginia
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James Farrell certificate of excellence
Cedar Rapids, Iowa • Bloomington, Indiana • North Mankato, Minnesota • Overland Park, Kansas • Spokane, Washington • St. Joseph, Missouri • Stockton, California • Tupelo, Mississippi
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James Farrell certificate of excellence
Columbus, Ohio • Lawton, Oklahoma • Liberty, Missouri • North Mankato, Minnesota • Peoria, Arizona
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Twenty-one ASA/USA local associations were given benchmark awards for increases in the registering of adult and youth teams and umpires. The local associations receiving awards had to have an increase of at least 10 percent and/or an increase of more than 100 teams or umpires over five years of registrations to get an award.Â
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CENTRAL VIRGINIA ASA (Henry Pollard)
CHICAGO ASA (Tom O’Neill)
CINCINNATI ASA (Dave Maury)
Florida ASA (Carlton Benton)
FORT WORTH ASA (Brenda Grubbs)
GREATER SAN JOAQUIN ASA (Matt Pfeifer)
HAWAII ASA (Don Meinel)
HOUSTON ASA (Stoney Burke)
KENTUCKY ASA (Bill Bollinger)
MONTANA ASA (Bob Rowling)
NEWARK ASA (Angelo Frannicola)
OAKLAND ASA (John Gouveia)
PIEDMONT VIRGINIA ASA (Andy Dooley)
PORTLAND ASA (Ron Boley)
RHODE ISLAND ASA (Beverly Wiley)
SAN ANTONIO ASA (Herman Garza)
SOUTH CAROLINA ASA (Gerald McDonald)
SOUTHERN NEW YORK ASA (Glen Payne Sr.)
ST. LOUIS ASA (Mel Pinkley)
UTAH ASA (Steve Rollins)
WEST VIRGINIA ASA (Andy Dooley)
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double play - Increases in TWO OF THE THREE CATEGORIES: adult teams, youth teams and umpires Hawaii ASA (Don Meinel)
Houston ASA (Stoney Burke)
pIEDMONT vIRGINIA ASA (Andy Dooley)
wEST vIRGINIA ASA (Andy Dooley)
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Most total registrations
9,277
Pennsylvania ASA (Andy Loechner Jr.)
Most youth team registrations
6,423
Southern California ASA (Phil Gutierrez)
Most adult team registrations
4,044
Pennsylvania ASA (Andy Loechner Jr.)
Most umpire registrations
1,947
Pennsylvania ASA (Andy Loechner Jr.)
The final awards of the afternoon were the service awards. In the service award category, 40 members were given the awards for their five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 years of service to the organization.
five years
Clovis Unified School District, Allied Member
Jim Fanning, Massachusetts ASA
Wayne Funderburke, Florida ASA
Alfred Macias, Texas ASA
Joe Robinson, Arizona ASA
Bill Robison, Pennsylvania ASA
Salem (OR) Parks & Rec., Allied Member
Special Olympics Oregon, Allied Member
Special Olympics Int’l, Allied Member
Tualatin Hills Park & Rec., Allied Member
U.S. Navy, Allied Member
David Weeks, Oklahoma ASA
10 years
Kristi Allen, Southern California ASA
Darrin Duistermars, Michigan ASA
Mike Dunavant, Memphis ASA
Patrick Faretta , Greater San Joaquin ASA
Ron Merritt, Wyoming ASA
Mel Pinkley, St. Louis ASA
Henry Pollard, Central Virginia ASA
Bill Silves, Seattle ASA
Tony Walsh, Memphis ASA
Drew Wells, Texas ASA
Joe Pavone, Chicago ASA
Don Fishel, Arizona ASA
15 years
Carlton Benton, Florida ASA
Jim McDonald, Philadelphia ASA
JoAnn McGuire, Oklahoma ASA
Richard McLaughlin, Northern California ASA
Doug Parker, Texas ASA
20 years
Alabama Parks and Rec., Allied Member
Fuzzy Buckenberger Jr., Spokane ASA
Dick Gulmon, North Dakota ASA
Cindy Inman, Indiana ASA
Michigan Parks & Rec., Allied Member
NFCA, Allied Member
Carol Pipgras, South Dakota ASA
25 years
Norm Davis, Maine ASA
James Ellis, Tennessee ASA
Robert Farrell, New York ASA
30 years
Clyde Brewer, Dayton ASA
Andy Dooley, Piedmont Virginia ASA
Dave Epperson, Kansas ASA
Bob Rowling, Montana ASA
35 years
Louis De Saro, Dayton ASA
40 years
Thomas E. Beck, Central Virginia ASA
John Phillips, Dallas ASA
Bert Weeks, North Carolina ASA
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45 years
Ferris Reid, Chicago ASA
Howard Honaker, Ohio ASA
About ASA The Amateur Softball Association, founded in 1933, is the National Governing Body of softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The ASA has become one of the nation’s largest sports organizations and now sanctions competition in every state through a network of 76 local associations. The ASA has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 200,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than three million. For more information on the ASA, visit http://www.asasoftball.com/.  About USA Softball USA Softball is the brand created, operated and owned by the ASA that links the USA Men’s, Women’s, Junior Boys’ and Junior Girls’ National Team programs together. USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting these four National Teams to compete in international and domestic competitions. The USA Softball Women’s National Team is one of only two women’s sports involved in the Olympic movement to capture three consecutive gold medals at the Olympic Games since 1996. The U.S. women have also won nine World Championship titles as well as claimed six World Cup of Softball titles. For more information about USA Softball, please visit http://www.usasoftball.com/.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steven Embree | ASA/USA Softball
Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications 2801 NE 50th | Oklahoma City, OK 73111 Work: 405-425-3422 | Cell: 405-207-1004 E-mail: sembree@softball.org | Web: www.usasoftball.com