Chapter 19 - Awards

Chapter 19

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

People participate in sport for many reasons. Players and coaches aim to win at the highest level. For other participants – especially the office bearers – their reward is knowing ‘they helped’. Most award recipients are surprised to be recognized for doing something they love.

Until the 1980s the highest accolade for softballers was selection in an Australian team. In the 1950s the consolation prize was to be named in The Rest, a team of equally talented players who competed against the Australian team in an exhibition match following the national championships. With the increasing number of international events and the need to continuously have athletes in training for them, the ASF now names Development Squads from which Australian teams are selected. There is now a well-established hierarchy of awards within softball ranging from the ISF, to the ASF, to State/Territory associations, to affiliates/regions to clubs. Outstanding individuals may also be recognized by generic national and State/Territory sports organizations such as the CAS (Sport Australia), its State counterpart such as the WA Sports Federation and even local government. In addition, some are held in such high regard that their sport will nominate them for national honours such as the former British honours system which was replaced by the Australian honours during the 1980s. The presentation of awards has progressed from special parts of the trophy ceremony at national championships, to specific dinners. In recent times, the awards and the events at which they are presented have become important public relations exercises.

INTERNATIONAL SOFTBALL FEDERATION AWARDS

Esther Deason was one of three people and the first Australian accepted into the ISF Hall of Fame in its inaugural year in 1981. In the same year she became a Member of the British Empire (MBE). Deason acknowledged in an interview in the women’s magazine, the New Idea,that ‘My association with softball has been a reciprocal thing … I think we’ve given each other a lot’.1 Former Fremantle and Western Australian, Midge Nelson, was the first player inducted into the ISF Hall of Fame in 1983. Player inductees had to play a minimum of six years in international competitions, at least two World Championships and been retired for at least four years. Nelson exceeded all of these with having played in the Test Series against South Africa in 1960 and every Australian team through until 1978 including four World Championships. She captained the team from 1973 to 1978.

ASF AWARDS

Numerous awards are presented by Softball Australia. They are in the order in which they were inaugurated: Life Member, Hall of Fame, Player awards at national championships, Service Awards and Awards of Excellence. National recognition may also come through Sport Australia awards. A very select group of individuals have qualified for a further honour by having the trophy or medal for a particular national championship named after them.
 

Life Members

The ASF Constitution states that ‘The Federation may confer Life Membership annually on any member, who in the opinion of the Council, has given exceptional service to softball at the Australian level for at least ten years’. The ASF inaugurated its Life Member awards in 1965. The first three inductees were Esther Deason, Merle Short and Marj Dwyer, who were instrumental in securing and conducting the First Women’s World Championship in Melbourne in 1965. Western Australia has one ASF Life Member. Shirley Schneider served on the National Coaching Committee and as an Australian selector along with coaching WA Senior women at 16 national championships. She became a Life member in 2000.
 

Hall of Fame

According to the ASF constitution ‘The Federation may induct into the Softball Australia Hall of Fame annually, any members who have made outstanding contribution to softball at the International level’. In 1985 the ASF inducted the whole of the victorious 1965 team into its inaugural Hall of Fame. WA’s sole representative, Nina Menner, attended the ceremony held in Melbourne after the South Pacific Championships. Given the outstanding level of success of the WA Senior men’s team, it is not surprising that they have seven representatives in the national Hall of Fame. Lindsay Anderson and Tony Bull were inducted in 2003 with Geoff Coultas, Bill Downing, Dave McKenzie, Darryl Rector and Russell Taylor joining them in 2008.

Player awards

In 1985 the ASF introduced two awards to be presented at the completion of the Senior women’s national championships. Each award honoured a member of the 1965 Australian team who had excelled in the position upon which the award focused. The Midge Nelson Medal is for the Most Outstanding Player (MVP) and the Lorraine Woolley Medal is for the top pitcher. In 1989 a third award was added, the Sybil Turner Medal for the most successful batter. The first recipient was WA’s Vicki Grant. Rookie of the Year awards were introduced to the Senior Men’s national championship in 1999 and to the women’s in 2000. Both honour long-serving President Rosemary Adey (SA).  awards for men’s softball commenced in 1987 with comparable trophies for Under 19 Women in 1986 and Under 19 Men and Under 16 Girls and Boys first awarded in 1993.  Despite WA men having been so successful at national championships, they have earned fewer individual awards than the ACT or NSW. The Senior Men’s team has had 17 award winners closely followed by the Under 19 Men with 16. On an individual basis Neal Delpero earned three successive awards as an Under 19 pitcher and followed up with an MVP in Senior men’s competition. Dave McKenzie won the Senior men’s pitching award on three occasions. Adam Humble has been the most successful in Under 19 and Senior levels with pitching and MVP awards. A full list of WA national awards appears in Table 19.1.

Table 19.1. WA Recipients of Awards at National Championships

Australian Softball Service Awards

The ASF presented its first Service Awards in 1992. According to the constitution these awards are for ‘any person who has, in the opinion of the Federation, rendered noteworthy service towards the ultimate good of softball in Australia’. Each year the State/ Territory associations nominate people they consider worthy of such awards which are confirmed at the Annual Council Meeting. As can be see in Table 19. 2 most of WA’s Service Awards have been to people who have given extensive service in administrative, coaching and umpiring and include contributors from WASA and the affiliates.

Table 19.2. WA recipients of Softball Australia Service Awards
 

Awards of Excellence

Helen Watson formulated the concept for these awards when she was the Public Relations Manager and they were first presented in Canberra in 2002. The purpose of the awards is to ‘recognise those athletes, coaches, officials and administrators who have contributed to our sport within a twelve-month period’. The presentation dinner provides Softball Australia with numerous public relations opportunities within softball and to the broader community and is held in a prestigious venue in a different capital city each year. The categories include: Australian Female Softballer of the Year, Australian Male Softballer of the Year, Young Australian Female Softballer of the Year, Young Australian Male Softballer of the Year, Australian Softball Coach of the Year, Australian Statistician of the Year, Australian Softball Spirit Award, Local Australian Softball Association of the Year, Vivienne Triplett Award – Australian Softball Umpire of the Year and Australian Softball Administrator of the Year. Terminology has varied slightly since the awards began. Sharon Bell became WA’s first recipient of an Award of Excellence when she won the Young Australian Female Softballer of the Year in 2005. Chelsea Forkin claimed the same title in 2007, as did Leigh Godfrey in 2008. Adam Humble was the 2008 Softball Australia Male Athlete of the Year. Dale Districts was the first WA affiliate to be recognized with the 2008 Softball Australia Local Association of the Year. Tyson Duncan from the Under 19 Men’s team was named Junior Athlete of the Year in 2009.

National trophies

Nox Bailey is the only West Australian to have a national trophy carry his name. It is for the Under 19 men’s national champions and recognizes his work in establishing men’s softball in WA and his role in the introduction of the Senior Men’s national championship in 1984.

WA’s other contribution to national trophies was the donation of the Esther Deason Shield for the Under 16 Girls’ national champions when it was first held in Perth in 1970.

WASA AWARDS

Player awards

When softball was first played in WA, the WAWSA gave the umpires the responsibility of nominating three players per match for the annual Best and Fairest awards in each grade. These awards have continued through until the present. Similar awards were also made at the State Championships. The most comprehensive and inclusive set of awards occurred in the State Softball League when it was at its prime in the 1990s. (See Chapter 6)
 

Life Members

So significant has been the contribution of the Life Members to the WASA that separate chapters are devoted to them. (See Chapters 20 and 21)
 

Hall of Fame

The WASA established its Hall of Fame in 2007 as one of its major initiatives marking 60 years of competitive softball in Western Australia. Inductees were recognized in one of three categories: player, official or association administrator. The criteria for inductees basically followed that set by the ASF for the Australian Hall of Fame. To be eligible players had to have represented WA in Senior/Open teams on at least 10 occasions and been retired from playing for at least 4 years. Officials and association administrators had to have served a minimum of eight years. However, the Committee was also permitted to use its discretion with people who had not attained the prescribed number of years but were deemed to have made an exceptional contribution to WA softball. The Hall of Fame Committee was guided by two further requirements seen to be critical to the inauguration of the first nominees into the Hall of Fame.3 First, the inductee’s contribution to softball in WA put the sport before self and club; and second, was dominant in terms of leadership and willingness to set and maintain standards. The Committee went one step further and indicated that the order of the inductees was important. At the presentation dinner, the Administration inductees were presented first because all had given far greater years of service than those set in the criteria and thus Shirley Schneider should be the first inductee.

Table 19.3. Members of the WA Softball Hall of Fame to 2024

Life Members of the WASA (See profiles in Chapter 21)

Of the Inaugural Hall of Fame members all but five are Life Members of the WASA. Summaries of their achievements are provided here.  

Norma Stone (nee Frost) was a State player from 1951 to 1958 and captained the team for five years during which time the team won three national championships (1952, 1953 and 1955). She played for Australia in the Test Series against New Zealand in Melbourne in 1954. As well, Stone served as Association Treasurer for three years and has been a volunteer at numerous national championships held in Perth. She revived her playing career in 1993 with Vets softball.
 

Lindsay Anderson began his softball career in New Zealand where he reached international standard. His arrival in Perth co-incided with the beginning of men’s competitive softball and much of WA’s success it the formative years was attributed to Anderson’s brilliance on the pitching plate. During his 10 years in the State team WA won seven titles. Anderson was captain for four years and playing coach for six years. He was a member of the first Australian team which finished seventh at the Seventh Men’s World Championships in 1988. Anderson was inducted into the Australian Hall of Fame in 2003.  Sadly he passed away in 2011.
 

Anthony (Tony) Bull played for WA for 10 years during which time it won 7 national titles. He captained the team for four years. Bull played for Australia in two Men’s World Championships in 1988 and 1992 as well an Australia-New Zealand Test Series in 1991. He became a member of the Australian Hall of Fame in 2003.
 

Russell Taylor played for WA for 10 years and contributed to 5 national titles for WA. His international experience included a series against New Zealand in 1988 and the Eighth Men’s world Championships in 1992. He was inducted into the ASF Hall of Fame in 2008.

Rose Knight began her State representation in 1984 as Statistician for the WA Senior Men’s team and held the position for 17 consecutive years during which time WA won numerous national titles. As an accredited scorer she contributed to clinics and served as Chief Statistician when needed for championships held in Perth.
 

Legends Award

In 2024 the Meritorious Awards Committee conferred the Legends Award to recognise.  The inaugural recipient was Shirley Schneider fr her 60 plau years of continuous service as player, coach, administrator, volunt

Trophies and medals

Trophies and medals at major events have been named in honour of outstanding WA softballers. Some are shown below in Table 19.4.

Table 19.4. Trophies and medals honouring outstanding WA softballers.

Principal trophies in State Softball League

         Women’s Premiers                           Val Johnson Shield

         Men’s Premiers                                Reg Page Shield

         Women’s MVP in Grand Final        Shirley Schneider Medal

         Men’s MVP in Grand Final            Dave Cosson Medal
 

Veterans’ competition medals

        Women’s                                           Lorraine Page

        Men’s Division 1                              Geoff Bennett

        Men’s Division 2                              Val Johnson
 

Australian Sports Medal (ASM)

In the year 2000 the Australian government struck a special one-off medallion – the Australian Sports Medal – to coincide with the Sydney Olympic Games. Approximately 4,500 medals were awarded nationally across all sports based on nominations from SSOs and NSOs. The WASA took the opportunity to nominate 33 of its hardest workers who are listed in Table 19.5. Albert Dumaresq donated a special plaque for display in the function centre at Mirrabooka.

Table 19.5. Australian Sports Medal.

Special Awards

When Reg and Laurie Page first retired from softball in 1997, the WASA took the unusual step of naming the pavilion at the State Softball Centre at Mirrabooka after them. Reg had been instrumental in securing the funding and driving the construction of the Centre while Lorraine had dedicated many hours to working in the canteens at Yokine Reserve and Mirrabooka to raise funds for it.
 

WA State Awards

Each year the WASA has nominated players and officials for various awards conducted by broad-based sports organizations in WA such as the Sportsman of the Year Award run by the WA Division of the Sportsman’s Association of Australia, the Sportswoman of the year hosted initially by the WA Division of the Sportswomen’s Association of Australia and later by the Women’s Sport Foundation of WA (Womensport West). Shirley Schneider brought softball administration to the fore when she won the Skilled Service to Sport Award hosted by the WA Sports Federation in 2004.

The State government department responsible for sport and recreation has also made awards at various times. Lorraine Malcolm received a volunteer’s award.
 

Local government awards

Some local governments pay special attention to the dedication of the volunteers in the ranks of their ratepayers. Among the softballers to gain attention have been Shirley Schneider and Laurie Prior in the City of Stirling. Pat Grice dedication to sport in the Fremantle area earned her a place on Fremantle’s Sporting Wall of Fame.
 

Patron

While not strictly an award the appointment of a Patron was significant recognition by the WAWSA/WASA of important allies. Initially the WAWSA sought to have prominent West Australians as Patron to bring prestige to the Association. The Lady Mayoress and the wife of the State Governor usually held the largely ceremonial position.  At times, however, the association appointed a Patron to specifically recognise an important contribution by an individual. Noel Symington, the Liberal candidate for the seat of Nedlands in the State Parliament was so honoured in 1953 when he donated a washing machine to the association to raffle as part of its fund raising for its trip to the national championships in Brisbane. From 1980 to 1988 Alf Bunting was the Patron in appreciation of his support with finance and labour to set up the new facility at Yokine Reserve.

During the 1990s and 2000s Councillor June Copley of the City of Stirling was Patron. She was a stalwart of softball in its liaisons with the Council during the establishment of Mirrabooka.

Awards of Excellence