Pro Golfer, College Hockey Champion, and Police Detective Become First Women Enshrined in Little League Hall of Excellence
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Aug. 29, 2004) – Cathy Gerring, Krissy Wendell, and Nancy dosReis hail from varied athletic and professional backgrounds, but all have Little League in common. That bond brought them as the 2004 class of enshrinees to the Little League Hall of Excellence of the Peter J. McGovern Little League Museum.
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The first three women to be enshrined were honored before the Little
League Baseball World Series championship game today. The enshrinement
was part of Little League’s celebration of the 30th anniversary of its
decision to admit girls into the program.
“These women have all displayed great conviction and confidence in
their abilities, and have each achieved much as adults,” said Stephen
D. Keener, president and chief executive officer of Little League
Baseball and Softball. “As children, their parents felt participation
in the Little League program would play a vital part in that
development. To that end, it is with much pride and respect that we
welcome them into the Hall of Excellence.”
Cathy Gerring, 43, played Little League Softball for Times Corners
Little League in Fort Wayne, Ind. A former professional golfer on the
LPGA tour, with three tour victories to her credit, she has had to
overcome a 1992 accident that left her hands and arms severely burned,
and a fall in 2002, which caused a serious brain injury. She has
returned to playing competitive golf this season and hopes to once
again qualify for the LPGA tour.
Speaking on behalf of the enshrinees, Mrs. Gerring said, “First and
foremost we’d like to thank Little League Baseball for the tremendous
honor of being the first women inducted into Little League’s Hall of
Excellence. As little girls we were just kids with a dream and the
desire to play ball. I can’t begin to thank everyone who helped us
reach for our dreams.”
Krissy Wendell, 22, a member of the U.S. women’s ice hockey team in
2002, and the most outstanding player of the 2004 NCAA women’s hockey
tournament, was a catcher for Brooklyn Center American Little League
team from Brooklyn Park, Minn., that played in the 1994 Little League
World Series. In 2002, she won an Olympic silver medal in Salt Lake
City, and this year helped lead the University of Minnesota to the
school’s first national championship in women’s ice hockey.
Nancy dosReis, 37, a 14-year veteran of law enforcement, is a
detective with the Providence, R.I., police force. Prior to becoming a
detective five years ago, Mrs. dosReis was a member of the Providence
Police Department’s K-9 unit. It was during that time in 1996 when she
made national headlines as the arresting officer in the capture of an
escaped convicted murderer. She played Little League Softball in the
North Providence West Little League and was a member of the 1979
Little League Softball World Series world champions.
The Hall of Excellence enshrinement is the culmination of Little
League’s celebration of the fact that more than 5 million girls have
received the benefits of playing Little League in the past 30 years.
Coincidentally, the Hall of Excellence ceremony included Meghan Sims,
first baseman for the Great Lakes Region champion from Owensboro, Ky.,
and Alexandra Bellini, third baseman for the Canada Region champion of
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada – the 11th and 12th girls to play in the
Little League Baseball World Series. This was the first year that two
girls had played in the same World Series.
Since 1951, Little League rules had prohibited girls from playing.
Little League eventually admitted girls to the program in 1974 when
local Little Leagues in New Jersey were told they must allow girls to
try out. Little League not only allowed girls to play in its baseball
programs, but created a softball program for girls only. Today, nearly
500,000 girls play Little League Baseball and Softball.
Established in 1988, enshrinement in the Peter J. McGovern Little
League Museum Hall of Excellence is conducted annually for a Little
League graduate (or graduates) who have demonstrated a commitment to
excellence in their chosen profession and exemplify the values learned
as children in Little League Baseball. Hall of Excellence inductees
are selected through a defined voting system by the Peter J. McGovern
Little League Museum Advisory Board.
Mr. McGovern saw the need for a physical structure to tell the story
of Little League. To that end, he spearheaded the development of the
Little League Museum. Opened during the 1982 Little League World
Series, the museum is located on the Little League International
complex. It was renamed in Mr. McGovern’s honor upon his retirement in
1983.
Little League Baseball and Softball is the world’s largest organized
youth sports program, with nearly 2.7 million players and 1 million
adult volunteers in every U.S. state and scores of other countries.
