Our History

Volunteer League Presidents

1956 Bert Hartman 1969-1972 Fred Henderson

1957 Earl Wood 1973 Bill Dyke

1958
Gard Thompson
1974 -1975 Marc Reminga

1959 -1960 Earl Pierce 1976-1979 Jerry Ray

1961 Walter Gamble 1980 Marshall Chavez

1962-1963;1966-1968
C.W. "Bud" Dezwaan 1981-1986 Carl Paganelli

1964-1965 Darwin Christensen 1987-2008 John Edgerle

League History

In 1952 National Headquarters franchised the teams from Pinery Park with teams from Grandville under the name "South Suburban Little League". Games were played at Pinery Park, Grandville and Cutlerville with participating teams being the Grandville Bankers, Chic's Paints, Home Acres, and Cutlerville. In 1952 the Grandville Bankers won the very first Class "A" city championship.
              In 1953 the South Suburban Little League was made up of the Grandville Bankers, Home Acres, Chic's Paints and two new teams, Lee Rotary and Hudsonville Lions Club. The games were played at Pinery Park and Grandville. The boys from Hudsonville won the championship in 1953.
             In 1954 Hudsonville dropped out of the league but was replaced by teams from Newhall and Rogers. The six-team league played all their games at Pinery Park, and once again the Grandville Bankers won the championship.
             The Granville Jaycees replaced the Rogers club in 1955. The excellent Grandville Bankers team won their 3rd championship in 4 years. That years All Star team co-managed by John Bennick and Jim Hoffman lost in the state semi-finals to Hamtramck in Midland. The Hamtramck team went to the national championship finals in Williamsport PA. In the game against Hamtramck, Pinery Park's Jim VandeVelte was called on in relief in the 1st inning and went on to finish the game. He gave up a single run in his 5+ innings, to keep the All Stars close.
            1956 saw the South Suburban Little League split into the Pinery Park Little League and the Grandville Little League. Pinery Park had 4 teams that year sponsored by Chic's Paints, Lee Rotary, Fred's Trading Post and the Chicago Drive Merchants. Bert Hartman was the first President, John Bennick the Vice-President and Lee Rotary Pinery's first champions. Lee Rotary beat Chic's Paints 2 games to 1 in a playoff.
            The Roger's Fathers Club and the Wyoming Kiwanis joined the league in 1957 to make a six-team league. The next change occurred in 1959 when Coles Laundry and Town Talk replaced Rogers and the Kiwanis as sponsors. Also in 1959, four minor league teams began play. The league raised money for the minor league by a special newspaper sale. In 1960 each of the minor league teams had sponsors, Community Bakeries, Gordon Chevrolet, Kaste Steel and Bultma Brothers Excavating.
            Pinery Park played the next 5 years with 10 teams (6 Majors & 4 Minors). Then in 1966, expansion occurred with the adding of 4 teams in the Senior Division. This division was solely supported by the Women's Auxiliary, which had been formed in 1965. See Below
           In 1967 the minor division grew to 6 teams. Two years later in 1969 with a tremendous fund raising effort by the women's auxiliary, the Pee Wee Division was born. In 1971 a fifth Senior team was added to the league. In 1972 Pinery Park Little League had grown to 6 Pee Wee teams, 6 Minor teams, and 6 Senior teams. The operating costs in 1972 were just over $6000 and there were no registration fees. Over 360 boys were playing ball from ages 8 to 15. In 20 yeas participation had increased from the 60 boys of 1952.

Parent Boosters History

               Pinery Park Little League launched a active parent organization in 1965. Darwin Christensen was the first President. His wife Mickey championed the starting of a Women's Auxiliary. About 25 mothers met at Godfrey School and elected officers. Charlene Fouty was elected the first President. Plans were made to operate a mobile concession stand that year. Mickey and Darwin hauled the concession stand to and from the park every night. A red and white canopy was added to keep folks cool. The trailer was a real site coming down DeHoop loaded with pop, chips and candy nightly.
             In 1967 a concession stand was build with an announcers booth on the top. It served the league well until vandals took their toll and the building was torn down in the winter of 1971. Another much larger and more secure concession stand was biult in the spring of 1971. Running water and attached toilet facilities made this a state of the art facility. Bob Poll, the owner of Johnson Construction did a marvelous job building the unit.
            Besides operating the concession stand, the Women’s' Auxiliary (Changed name to Parents Boosters in 1970) held bake sales, rummage sales, operated a booth at the Wyoming Rodeo and had several raffles. The raffles proved to be the best way to raise funds for the children.
            The funds raised through the Parent Boosters made possible many improvements in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The growth in the number of teams and children served is a direct result of the Parent Boosters commitment to their children and fund raising efforts. The park added 2 fields, six dugouts and fencing with the time and effort of the Parent Boosters.

Past Presidents of the Pinery Park Little League women's Auxiliary and Parent Boosters were:

Beginning in 1965 and 1966 Charlene Fouty was President. After serving for 2 years she was followed by Mickey Christensen in 1967, Jerry Mullennix in 1968. In 1969 Charlene was again selected President. Carol Humphrey followed her in 1970 and 1971. Charlene returned to lead the Parent Boosters in 1972.

A quick look back at 1971

Seniors

      The high point of 1971 for Pinery Park Little League was the state championship won by the Senior All-Stars and their trip to Iowa for the regional playoffs.

            In regular league action, Johnson Construction took the first half crown while Kum Bak Hamburgers won the 2^nd half. Kum Bak’s momentum carried them past Johnson Construction in the playoffs and they claimed the title. There were many close games during the season, especially when Kum Bak and Johnson played. Johnson’s stars were Jack Spaans, Mike Martini,Rog Haan and Brain Symington. Leading Kum Bak team were Jim Russo, Mark and Matt Niewiadomski, Kevin McLellan and Rick Heuvelman. Other big contributors during the season were Chuck Van Linden and Bob Westdorp for Pfeffers, Tom Rossein and Jeff Haugen for DeKorver and Dan Wiers for Spoelstra.

Majors

            The Major All-Stars had a go showing. Mike Kettner was the pitching hero and Mike Paul the batting hero in the first game against Northwestern Little League. Kettner held the Northwestern All-Stars at bay after the first inning and Mike Paul hit a big last inning Home Run for the victory. In the 2^nd game Duke Doorn shut out Georgetown and Mike Paul hit another long Home Run. Southwest silenced Pinery’s bats and won the next game eliminated our Major All-Star team.

            Jerry Foods won both halves and finished with an 18-2 record. They won for the 2^nd consecutive year. Jerry’s was lead by Mike Kettner, Brad Baker, Bruce Haan and Tom Kittner. Industrial Disposal handed Jerry’s their two losses and was lead by Duke Doorn, Larry Merlinga and Rick Ponstine. Craig Fredenburg, Dan Maynard and Bob Ketterman played very well for a fine Lee Rotary team. Chicago Drive Merchants had an excellent pair of players in Craig Oosterhouse and David Carrel. G.R. Printing had a lot of hitting and carrying the big sticks were Craig Nollar, Doug Chappel, Ken Traxinger and John Figueroa. Mike Paul was a bright spot for Kayo Oil.

Minors

            While Turn-Style won the first half, they eventually lost the championship to Bultema Brothers, the second half winners, in the playoffs.

Pee Wee

            Stone Shoes fought all season with Kolderman Reality for the title and won it the last week of the season.