Lanco Senior Softball

Thanks to Jim Hicks for the following information. In 1989, a team called Kids & Kubs from St Petersburg Florida did a 3 week tour. Their team was made up of players age 75 and older. Their tour included places like Willow Street, Harrisburg, Nazareth, Pittsburgh, Ohio and Kentucky. In 1989 4 brothers, Pat, Bill, Mike and Harry Rylee put together a team, age 60 and over, to play the Kids & Kubs when they came to Willow Street. There were over 1000 spectators. They also had a picnic and preliminary ceremonies that weekend. 

After that weekend in July, the brothers formed 2 teams for the 1990 season, Willow Street Red Ole Stars and Willow Street Blue Ole Stars were the 2 teams for that year. The Willow Street was their home field. They wore the same uniform, but different color hats. They played each other twice a week. The 2nd year, others heard about it and started to join the league. The league continued to grow over the years to what it is today.

Jim Hicks bought the property right next to the lower field on the east side, and moved into the area in 1965.  When he moved there, what now is our Willow Street fields, it was a swamp back then. Jim remember seeing muskrats in the swamp. Roy Garrett developed the ball fields. Here is a link to Bud (Roy) Garrett's Field of Dreams  http://www.garrettfields.com/history.html    Today the field is maintained and managed by Florence Fry, Roy's daughter.

Some of the early rules of the league, the teams could have one guy who was age 59, there was a 2nd home plate, you could run past any base. In the early years, if a team became dominant, they'd pick one of the better players and switch him in exchange for a weak players. They did this to keep the teams close to equal.

Thanks to Jim Hicks for the following information. In 1989, a team called Kids & Kubs from St Petersburg Florida did a 3 week tour. Their team was made up of players age 75 and older. Their tour included places like Willow Street, Harrisburg, Nazareth, Pittsburgh, Ohio and Kentucky. In 1989 4 brothers, Pat, Bill, Mike and Harry Rylee put together a team, age 60 and over, to play the Kids & Kubs when they came to Willow Street. There were over 1000 spectators. They also had a picnic and preliminary ceremonies that weekend. 

After that weekend in July, the brothers formed 2 teams for the 1990 season, Willow Street Red Ole Stars and Willow Street Blue Ole Stars were the 2 teams for that year. The Willow Street was their home field. They wore the same uniform, but different color hats. They played each other twice a week. The 2nd year, others heard about it and started to join the league. The league continued to grow over the years to what it is today.

Jim Hicks bought the property right next to the lower field on the east side, and moved into the area in 1965.  When he moved there, what now is our Willow Street fields, it was a swamp back then. Jim remember seeing muskrats in the swamp. Roy Garrett developed the ball fields. Here is a link to Bud (Roy) Garrett's Field of Dreams  http://www.garrettfields.com/history.html    Today the field is maintained and managed by Florence Fry, Roy's daughter.

Some of the early rules of the league, the teams could have one guy who was age 59, there was a 2nd home plate, you could run past any base. In the early years, if a team became dominant, they'd pick one of the better players and switch him in exchange for a weak players. They did this to keep the teams close to equal.