WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Nov. 12, 2004) – Stephen D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League Baseball and Softball announced today that Timothy J. Hughes of Williamsport, Pa., was elected chairman of the Little League International Board of Directors.

A member of the Little League International Board of Directors for eight years, Mr. Hughes has served as chairman-elect since 2001. He succeeds W. Dwight Raiford of Harlem, N.Y., who will remain on the board of directors.

“Tim has served Little League in several capacities for many years and done so with great vigor and respect for the program,” said Mr. Keener. “Through his guidance and leadership as chairman, the Little League Board of Directors has a resource rich in knowledge, and dedication to the future direction of our program.”

Mr. Hughes has acted as speaker of the Little League International Congress on five occasions, and held the positions of assistant director of the Eastern Region, Little League International public relations director, and assistant to the president and vice president of operations. He has been director of international congresses in Tampa, Fla., and Anaheim, Calif. Mr. Hughes, and his wife Chris, have one son, and are the former owners of Hughes’ Rare and Early Newspapers in Williamsport.

Mr. Hughes is the first chairman of the Little League International Board of Directors to have graduated from Little League. As a boy, he played in the Little Mountaineer Little League in South Williamsport.

“Living in Williamsport, and being a part of Little League for several years, has given me an appreciation of the program’s roots,” said Mr. Hughes. “My experience has allowed me to understand the unique place Little League has in the lives of millions of children and volunteers world-wide. As chairman, I welcome the responsibility of helping to continue moving the program forward.”

At the meeting, nine new members of the board of directors were elected. They are: James Ada of Saipan, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands (District 1); Frank Bergfield of Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (District 1); Danny Cavallo of Syracuse, N.Y. (District 8); Jim Chavez of Auburn, Wash. (District 10); Val Domingue, Jr. of Lafayette, La. (District 1); Bob Gibson of Dunedin, Fla. (District 12); James Joseph of Burlington, Wis. (District 1); Felix M. Rivera of Arroyo, Puerto Rico (District 13), and Marc St. Pierre of Quebec, Ontario, Canada (District 4).

The nine new members were nominated by their fellow district administrators at the Little League International Congress in Virginia Beach, Va., last April.

Also at the meeting, the board heard presentations on Little League International’s newly created league development department and electronic newsletter. The league development department will take a more pro-active approach to inquiries from potential new leagues. The “Little Leaguer E-Newsletter” will be sent electronically to more than 250,000 adult volunteers and players each month.

Little League Baseball, founded in 1939, is the world’s largest organized youth sports program, with nearly 2.7 million participants and 1 million volunteers in all 50 U.S. states and 66 other countries. The Little League International Board of Directors, a volunteer board, is responsible for the management of the property and affairs of Little League.

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