2023 — Hall of Honor Inductees — Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame

In the fall of 2000, Dave Shaff called Ken Adams to inquire about his interest in getting back into tournament softball at the USSSA B level. Dave had played for Ken’s HRI team in the 1990’s before leaving to play for Tom Posten’s Easton team. After some discussion about the players that Dave had committed, Ken told Dave to get a shortstop and a pitcher and then Ken would be in. Dave called back one week later to say he had commitments from Burgess Watts and Artie Reboletti. And KA Softball was launched!

From the beginning, the goal of KA was to be not only the best in Illinois, but to compete with the best USSSA B teams from the Great Lakes Division and nationally. Teams from Michigan, Ohio, and Minnesota had dominated for years, and KA set out to earn a place alongside the best— it was mostly about earning respect.

KA played an ambitious schedule of two NIT’s monthly. By the end of year one, KA faced the best at Expressway Park in Ohio, Liberty Park in Michigan and BeBop’s in Blaine, Minnesota and the teams came to understand that they had their hands full when they played KA. That first year culminated in a ninth-place finish at the USSSA B World and KA never finished lower than ninth place at any future USSSA B World.

The success KA enjoyed enabled the team to attract more talented players over the years, including this year’s 2023 class of inductees! Eighteen members of the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame have played for KA. Many of those players went on to compete at the USSSA A and Major levels.

One of the most satisfying years was 2004. KA had an open weekend in August and wanted to play in preparation for the USSSA Nationals. Since KA had been playing in Michigan once a month for years, Ken asked Tony DeDonatis, MI USSSA State Director if KA could participate in the Michigan B State Tournament. After poling the teams, they were allowed to play. KA won the MI B State. KA then played the USSSA B World in Euless, TX. KA fought back out of the loser’s bracket to finish second.

In 2005 KA was moved to A and competed in several Major NIT’s before petitioning back to B. KA won the USSSA B National in Joliet and appeared poised to pursue a USSSA World title, again. The team had amassed enough points to qualify for the Major World Series and were bumped up to A once more and participated in the Major World Series.

In 2006, KA once again played B, finishing the year with number one ranked USSSA B team in the country. KA also won the Michigan B State Tournament again. Unfortunately, KA was denied at the USSSA B World, finishing second, again.

The experiences during the KA Softball run boiled down to two important things. One, the respect we sought was earned over the years. Two instances come to mind that illustrate the respect earned. One was an overheard conversation at Liberty Park between a Michigan player and his wife. She asked how they did and was told they just won. He then said, “But now we have to play F’ing KA.” The second was a conversation with the manager of Great Lakes Telecom in which Ken stated that all we ever wanted was respect. The manager replied that KA had earned that!

Even more important is the camaraderie of the KA group. We were successful on the field, but we shared great friendships off the field, many of the group maintaining touch with each other to this day. As Tommy Seddon liked to say, “Ya just gotta’ have fun”. Our group had more fun than anybody should been allowed to have. We are proud of our on-field accomplishments but prouder of the relationships we established.

“A job well done KA! I was there when you played in the stadium at the Major World Series at Disney and at another two while participating at the B Worlds at Disney. Thank you for raising Illinois USSSA to another level.”
—Brenda Paulson, Former IL State Director