Ed Serdar died in March of this year.
Ed played men's fastpich in Aurora, Illinois. Aurora had a vibrant men's fastpitch league in the 1960s. There was even a fastpich stadium in Aurora, similar in size to the stadiums at Alabama or Arizona. The dominant team was the Sealmasters...who were the best team in the fastpitch world for several years. Ed was a pitcher, but never played for the Sealmasters. He said, "They asked me to play with them, but Harvey Sterkel was the best pitcher in the world. All I would have done is sat on the bench. I wanted to play."
When men's fastpitch started to decline, Ed started coaching at University of St. Francis in Joliet. He also started one of the first girls softball teams in Illinois...the Whiteford Sharks. While he stopped coaching at St. Francis after 4 years, he continued coaching the Sharks for another 20+ years. Back in the day, the Sharks were one of the few teams east of the MIssissippi that could go seven innings against the good SoCal TB teams.
I first talked to Ed in 1983. I was trying to get pitching lessons for my DD. I asked over and over again, and Ed always had an excuse why my DD shouldn't pitch. He said, "No, your DD's too old." When he saw my DD pitch, he said,, "She can't pitch.. You are wasting your time." According to Ed, my DD was better suited to mopping floors than softball.
But, I was persistent, and he finally relented. At our first lesson, I found out that Ed had computer problems. I offered to help him out, and drove over to his house and fixed his computer. From then on, I went over to his house about once a week for 3 years fixing his computer, working on spread sheets, drinking beer, watching sports, and talking softball.
If you were to talk casually to Ed, you would think he was a bigoted SOB. Maybe he was. He certainly made LGBQT softball jokes by the boat load.
Yet, he was light years ahead of everyone. He created a girls travel softball team before Illinois recognized softball as a high school sport. He had African Americans on his team long before it was acceptable. When it came to softball, he didn't care about sexual orientation or skin color. He cared about performance, teamwork and honesty (in that order). He got scholarships left and right for kids.
Pitching lessons with Ed were a treat. He would regularly berate my DD, but always with a twinkle in his eye. He called her "Slerk", for "Spioiled Little Rich Kid." My DD didn't care. She thought he was funny, and was a little proud that she had a special, albeit insulting, nickname.
As my DD progressed, his favorite drill was to have my DD pitch and "just throw strikes". He would stand next to her and tell her she sucked, and that she was a poor excuse for a pitcher. He would go through a litany of insults. He always won, until the last lesson. He went after my DD for about 15 minutes, and she didn't crack. She had learned how to shut him off, and how to turn off the anxiety and nervousness when she pitched.
When it came to softball, he wasn't any more polite with me.
My DD got a scholarship at a juco in El Paso. She pitched the team to two consecutive appears at the JuCo World Series. Before she started her D1 career, she went and pitched for Ed, hoping to get some pointers. Ed watched her and said, "Not bad, Wood." He then walked off. That was the closest to a compliment she ever got from him.
I asked Ed about why he rode the kids. He said, "I want the ones who want to throw the ball 70MPH. Those kids care about what I teach, not what I call them."
Some of Ed's quotes that I can print:
"You've seen chicken droppings. You know what that little white dot is on the top is? It is chicken sh**."
While coaching third base: "Don't roll your eyes at me over the umpire's call. Hell, you just swung at a pitch at your eyes. He has better judgment than you do."
While coaching third base: "What were you doing swinging? You missed the sign. Let me simplify this for you: BUNT. "
"Wood, you're as tough as whipped cream. No...that is an overstatement. You are more like air."
"In softball, only the names change."
After a loss: "Too bad, too bad."
"The kids are never the problem. It is always the parents. They are all crazy."
In response to the question, "What kind of kids do you want for your softball teams?" Ed would say, "Orphans. That way, there would be no parents."
Ed had health problems for many years. He almost died three times. His joke was that he wasn't going to heaven, and that the Devil didn't want him because he would raise to much Hell.
I last talked to him about six months ago. I told him (again) that I appreciated everything he did for my DD. He said, as he said before, "I didn't do anything. She did it all."
Ed played men's fastpich in Aurora, Illinois. Aurora had a vibrant men's fastpitch league in the 1960s. There was even a fastpich stadium in Aurora, similar in size to the stadiums at Alabama or Arizona. The dominant team was the Sealmasters...who were the best team in the fastpitch world for several years. Ed was a pitcher, but never played for the Sealmasters. He said, "They asked me to play with them, but Harvey Sterkel was the best pitcher in the world. All I would have done is sat on the bench. I wanted to play."
When men's fastpitch started to decline, Ed started coaching at University of St. Francis in Joliet. He also started one of the first girls softball teams in Illinois...the Whiteford Sharks. While he stopped coaching at St. Francis after 4 years, he continued coaching the Sharks for another 20+ years. Back in the day, the Sharks were one of the few teams east of the MIssissippi that could go seven innings against the good SoCal TB teams.
I first talked to Ed in 1983. I was trying to get pitching lessons for my DD. I asked over and over again, and Ed always had an excuse why my DD shouldn't pitch. He said, "No, your DD's too old." When he saw my DD pitch, he said,, "She can't pitch.. You are wasting your time." According to Ed, my DD was better suited to mopping floors than softball.
But, I was persistent, and he finally relented. At our first lesson, I found out that Ed had computer problems. I offered to help him out, and drove over to his house and fixed his computer. From then on, I went over to his house about once a week for 3 years fixing his computer, working on spread sheets, drinking beer, watching sports, and talking softball.
If you were to talk casually to Ed, you would think he was a bigoted SOB. Maybe he was. He certainly made LGBQT softball jokes by the boat load.
Yet, he was light years ahead of everyone. He created a girls travel softball team before Illinois recognized softball as a high school sport. He had African Americans on his team long before it was acceptable. When it came to softball, he didn't care about sexual orientation or skin color. He cared about performance, teamwork and honesty (in that order). He got scholarships left and right for kids.
Pitching lessons with Ed were a treat. He would regularly berate my DD, but always with a twinkle in his eye. He called her "Slerk", for "Spioiled Little Rich Kid." My DD didn't care. She thought he was funny, and was a little proud that she had a special, albeit insulting, nickname.
As my DD progressed, his favorite drill was to have my DD pitch and "just throw strikes". He would stand next to her and tell her she sucked, and that she was a poor excuse for a pitcher. He would go through a litany of insults. He always won, until the last lesson. He went after my DD for about 15 minutes, and she didn't crack. She had learned how to shut him off, and how to turn off the anxiety and nervousness when she pitched.
When it came to softball, he wasn't any more polite with me.
My DD got a scholarship at a juco in El Paso. She pitched the team to two consecutive appears at the JuCo World Series. Before she started her D1 career, she went and pitched for Ed, hoping to get some pointers. Ed watched her and said, "Not bad, Wood." He then walked off. That was the closest to a compliment she ever got from him.
I asked Ed about why he rode the kids. He said, "I want the ones who want to throw the ball 70MPH. Those kids care about what I teach, not what I call them."
Some of Ed's quotes that I can print:
"You've seen chicken droppings. You know what that little white dot is on the top is? It is chicken sh**."
While coaching third base: "Don't roll your eyes at me over the umpire's call. Hell, you just swung at a pitch at your eyes. He has better judgment than you do."
While coaching third base: "What were you doing swinging? You missed the sign. Let me simplify this for you: BUNT. "
"Wood, you're as tough as whipped cream. No...that is an overstatement. You are more like air."
"In softball, only the names change."
After a loss: "Too bad, too bad."
"The kids are never the problem. It is always the parents. They are all crazy."
In response to the question, "What kind of kids do you want for your softball teams?" Ed would say, "Orphans. That way, there would be no parents."
Ed had health problems for many years. He almost died three times. His joke was that he wasn't going to heaven, and that the Devil didn't want him because he would raise to much Hell.
I last talked to him about six months ago. I told him (again) that I appreciated everything he did for my DD. He said, as he said before, "I didn't do anything. She did it all."
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