Ken Muhlbeier Every winter in upstate New York, the freezing of the local ponds in Elmira would signal the start of another season of neighborhood hockey games for Ron Carpenter and his brothers. Combined with various other sports such as baseball, football, and volleyball, friends and neighbors joined together to enjoy a kind of neighborhood Olympics.…
Ken Muhlbeier The Robson Ranch (RR) Softball Club has experienced a membership surge the last nine months. Among the new members are several females who have made their presence known in dramatic fashion and these ladies are impacting the way softball is being played. While there is a history of female softball players at RR, it is…
Ken Muhlbeier Born in Appleton, Wis., Keith Uhlenbrauch lost his father at an early age, but there was no lack of discipline, as his mother enrolled him in a Catholic grade school. “The nuns had us toe the line,” says Keith. “I can remember getting hit by the ruler more than once.” Keith first started…
Ken Muhlbeier Few people are aware that the Tilt-a-Whirl carnival ride was invented in Faribault, Minn. Even fewer people were able to enjoy sitting in the deteriorated ride seats outside the boarded-up plant with Ron Hunt and his little league team-mates after practice. With his dad coaching, Ron endured the oversized, all wool uniforms and…
Ken Muhlbeier With the winter softball season just completed, the Robson Softball Club is proud to say they were, once again, well represented in the Palm Creek League. With all teams and players participating under COVID protocols, the Robson softball teams played for the league championship at both the B and C levels. Although both…
Ken Muhlbeier Before he was honored as an Honorable Mention All American linebacker, and before he was named to the All-Century Team at the University of North Dakota, Greg Schneider was a concession boy carrying a cooler and selling ice cream sandwiches at his father’s softball games in Grand Rapids, N.D. “The problem was, I owed…
Ken Muhlbeier Winning the city softball title at McKinley Elementary School in Tacoma Washington with only one loss on the season was an important first step for their third baseman Ray Horn. Even though his favorite team was the Brooklyn Dodgers, the sixth grader tried to match his swing to that of Ted Williams. “Although…
Ken Muhlbeier Trying to profile what Artie Wachter accomplished as a soccer player in 500 words is nearly impossible, not to mention his years of refereeing and coaching at the international and professional level. Once you add tennis, bowling, pickleball, golf, and over 30 years of softball, you begin to realize what a remarkable man we…
Ken Muhlbeier As a youngster growing up in La Palma, Calif., Clark Fletcher was first exposed to baseball by shagging balls for his older brother and attending his games, and listening to his dad give him instructions on fielding and hitting. As soon as he was old enough to play, Clark had the unenviable task of…
Bill Schaible With everything that is going on in the country regarding COVID-19, we weren’t sure we would have a softball season this fall. With hard work from the softball club and the HOA, an agreement was made on how we could play softball this fall under CDC guidelines. Our traditional fall league began on Nov. 3…