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 | | Hal and Granddaughter Kayla |  |
Monday, July 9
Hal Fullman, EPFSL Statistician
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The EPFSL lost a great man last month when our league statistician passed away while on vacation in Virginia at the age of 60.
Hal, who served both the East Penn Men's Fastpitch League and the Blue Mountain baseball league (over 10 years), was a well-liked figure who made his mark as a creative, ethusiastic and dedicated statistical guru and PR man.
Hal and his wife Maryanne were married for 29 years. They were married in 1978 and Hal had already been involved with the Bethlehem Cardinals and the Blue Mountain League.
He started singing with a local band, the Mudflaps around the time of his wedding and as it took 2-4 days a week, he started to ween away from the BM League and finally had to give it up totally.
He got back into sports with both St. Peter’s Church (coached various youth teams) and also the Lehigh Little League with his then 11-year old son Zach. As Zach progressed in baseball, and then softball, Hal was right there with him.
Zach,who originally got his SB start as a ballboy with the St. Peters team of the LV Church League, has blossomed into one of the best FP players in the region. He currently is playing with Stooges in the EPFSL and with Ormrod and Hoffman Rise in tournaments.
Hal got back into SB stats with Jordan AC, the forerunner of Stooges.
'After being unanimously elected as the league's stat guy in January, Hal started right off the bat coming up with ideas on getting people interested and involved and things we could do stat-wise for the league,' said EPFSL president Jean-Pierre Caravan. 'He was an incredibly positive person and once he started to work on something he hated to stop. A lot of what this league Web site has become is thanks to Hal. We will greatly miss him.'
Hal loved life, sports (Philly pro teams- especially the Phillies and Eagles), and his family (especially his granddaughter Kayla).
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Friday, March 16
Herb Dudley Dead at 87
OKLAHOMA CITY – Herb Dudley, who had a fast-pitch softball career that defied imagination, passed away early Friday morning, March 16th, of congestive heart failure at Lynchburg General Hospital in Lynchburg, Va. Dudley was 87 years-old.
Dudley’s career in fast pitch spanned five decades, starting in 1940 and ending in 1981. Ironically, he started and ended his career with the same team—the Clearwater Bombers of Clearwater, Fla., who won 10-ASA national championships. In addition to the Bombers, Dudley played for teams in Atlanta, Ga., Ashland, Ohio, Levittown, N.Y., Long Island, N.Y., Fort Wayne, Ind., Miami, Fla., Mountain View, Calif., Rising Sun, Md., and here in Allentown for the Patriots.
It is estimated Dudley won more than 1,000 games during his career and compiled a record of 28-9 in 16 ASA national championships. Five times he earned ASA All-America honors and was named as the most valuable player in the 1949 and 1957 ASA National Championships.
In 1949 he established the ASA national tourney single-game strikeout record when he fanned 55 batters in 21 innings against Okmulgee, Okla., in the ASA National Championship in Little Rock, Ark. After beating Okmulgee, 1-0, Dudley hurled the next game, fanning 12 more batters in a 4-0 win against Mercedes, Texas. During the six games Dudley hurled in the tournament, he fanned 130 batters, including 89 in 46 innings the last two nights.
That season was part of a five-year period in which Dudley won 142 games and lost only 10 for the Bombers, striking out 2,475 batters, hurling 110 shutouts and 45 no-hitters. He hurled more than 100 no-hitters during his career. Dudley was so well respected by the Amateur Softball Association, the National Governing Body of Softball, that each year at the conclusion of the ASA Men’s Major Fast Pitch National Championship the Herb Dudley Outstanding Pitching Award is given to the tournaments most outstanding pitcher.
After retiring as an active player, Dudley worked for the Dudley Sports Company (no relation) until 1995 and was employed by the Clearwater Senior High School for 30 years as a teacher. He also gave pitching clinics throughout the United States during the summers.
Dudley, who was born December 19, 1919, was inducted into the ASA National Softball Hall of Fame in 1986 in the men’s fast pitch category. He has also been enshrined in the Stetson University Sports Hall of Fame, Indianapolis Indiana Hall of Fame and the Florida Sports Writers and Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Dudley is survived by his wife, Lucille, two sons, David and Tommy, three daughters, Susan, Becky and Sharon, 15 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held March 23, 2007 at the Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park and Funeral Home in Clearwater, Fla.
 | | The King | |
Saturday, February 10
Eddie Feigner Dead At 81. Long Live The King
Eddie Feigner, the hard-throwing softball showman who barnstormed for more than 50 years with "The King and His Court" four-man team, died Friday. He was 81.
Feigner, the former Marine known for his trademark crewcut and bulging right arm, died in Huntsville, Ala., from a respiratory ailment related to dementia, wife Anne Marie Feigner said Friday night.
With a fastball once clocked at 104 mph, The King threw 930 no-hitters, 238 perfect games and struck out 141,517 batters while playing more than 10,000 games. He was inducted into the National Senior Softball Hall of Fame in 2000.
A stroke in 2000 -- a day after he threw out the first pitch before the women's softball competition in the Sydney Olympics -- ended his playing career at age 75. He left the team for medical reasons last summer, and lived in Trenton, Tenn., for the last several years until recently moving to Huntsville.
Feigner, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, visited more than 300 military installations around the world during his long career, including a stop in Cuba last summer.
Feigner not only pitched from the standard mound, 46 feet from home plate, but also from second base, behind his back, on his knees, between his legs, from center field and blindfolded. In a nationally televised exhibition against major leaguers at Dodger Stadium in 1964, he struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Maury Wills, Harmon Killebrew, Roberto Clemente and Brooks Robinson in order
Feigner began "The King and His Court" in 1946 on a dare in his hometown of Walla Walla, Wash. He had just thrown a shutout in his nine-man team's rout of a team from Pendleton, Ore., and the Oregon team challenged him to another game. Backed by just a catcher, first baseman and shortstop, Feigner pitched a perfect game, winning 7-0.
At the height of Feigner's popularity, the team played at major league ballparks, including Yankee Stadium, and he appeared on numerous national television shows, including The Today Show, I've Got a Secret, What's My Line? and CBS Sports Spectacular. On the Tonight Show, he pitched blindfolded to Johnny Carson, who loosely held a bat over a home plate. Feigner hit Carson's bat on his first pitch.
"On the field, a master showman, brilliant pitcher, creator of the most popular softball attraction in history," said Jack Knight, a longtime friend and teammate. "And off the field, one tough son of a gun. He was a former Marine, everything was by the numbers. He made millions, and was generous to a fault."
In addition to wife, Feigner is survived by son Eddie Jr., who played with the team for 25 years; daughters Shirley, Carol and Debbie; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
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