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LEAGUE HISTORY
Phil Rose, League Commissioner
Some Tuesday and Thursday morning as you drive by Empie Park, Ogden park and veterans park in Wilmington you may have seen a bunch of guys old enough to be grandfathers playing softball. They are having a great time playing a game they have loved since they were kids .Many are former athletes from all walks of life but the thing that they have in common, besides age, is that they love to play ball.
Phil Rose, a former minor league baseball player moved to Wilmington, North Carolina in 1995 from Baldwin, New York ( Long Island ). He had played Senior Softball in Long Island and couldn't wait to play in Wilmington, however there was no Senior League. Phil contacted the Recreation department and the Senior Center to no avail. He decided to start a league for Seniors on his own.
He inquired about ball fields and found that Empie Park had two ball fields for adults to play on. Most of the fields were for children. Phil made up some flyers with his name and telephone number on it and started to put them all around town. Within a few weeks he received numerous inquiries. He was only able to get eleven men to come out and play ball because most of the callers said there days are taken up with playing golf. Tthat summer the twelve of them came out two days a week and hit the ball around. Phil found out that there was a team in Lockwood Folly (Brunswick County). Both teams started to play each other on a home and home basis.
Through a friend Phil was able to appear on television station WWAY-TV where he was interviewed by the sports announcer. This turned things around for Phil and his dream to startup a league. He received enough calls to field three teams. In 1996 a three team league was started. During the year he recruited the players to put flyers around which resulted in getting enough men to have a four team league in 1997.
Today there are ten teams in the league with 175 men from the age of 53 to 78. There are two divisions, The Atlantic Division has men from the age of 53 to 62 and the Coastal Division has men from 63 and older . All of the teams have acquired sponsors who have donated funds to buy equipment and uniforms. Teams compete for the State championship in Raleigh, NC.,as well as the National Senior Games which is held every other year. In 2005 it was in Pittsburgh .In 2007 it was in Louisville, and in 2009 it will be in San Fransisco and in 2011 in Houston.
Phil's dream of starting a softball league for seniors has come true. He is a player, Manager, and was the President for four years, and now is the Commissioner, as well as the founder of the Wilmington Senior Softball Association .
"Remember you don't stop playing because you grow old,
you grow old because you stop playing".