Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Bases loaded: 1985 sports memories, locally and nationally
Windy City Times 30th anniversary issue
by Ross Forman, Windy City Times
2015-09-23

This article shared 6123 times since Wed Sep 23, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Bob Knight whipped a chair across the basketball court at Indiana University, where he was the beloved, longtime men's basketball coach.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson battled for supremacy in the NBA, and it was the Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers who claimed the championship in six games.

The upstart USFL ended its run, while the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins in January after the 1984 season. And by September, the 1985 NFL season was all Chicago, as the city's beloved Bears shuffled to a Super Bowl title, won in January, 1986.

The baseball world met a Doc, aka, Dwight Gooden, the power pitcher for the New York Mets—and it was the Kansas City Royals who toppled their intra-state rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, in seven games to claim the World Series championship.

Hulkamania was running wild, as Hulk Hogan was the WWF World Heavyweight Champion—and a Sports Illustrated cover boy in July.

Olympic sensations Michael Phelps and Sarah Hughes ... well, they were born in 1985.

Welcome back in time, 30 years. For the record, Sept. 23, 1985 was 10,957 days ago from when this issue was printed—that's 1,565 weeks and two days. During that stretch, it's spanned 262,968 hours—and countless sporting memories. Some good, some really good. Some bad, some really bad. And everything in between.

As far as out LGBT professional athletes nationally, there were very few. That list included football's Dave Kopay; tennis stars Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Renee Richards; and baseball's Glenn Burke. Former Olympic athlete Dr. Tom Waddell also was out, and founded the Gay Games in San Francisco in 1982.

What was happening with other noteworthy LGBT athletes and officials? Let's see:

—Billy Bean didn't make his Major League Baseball debut until April 25, 1987.

—Brittney Griner and Michael Sam were both born in 1990.

—Rosie Jones finished second in the 1984 U.S. Women's Open.

—Greg Louganis captured gold medals at both the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics, but came out in 1996.

—Baseball umpire Dave Pallone was the home plate umpire in 1985 when Pete Rose tied Ty Cobb for the most hits ( 4192 ).

—Baseball umpire Dale Scott made his Major League Baseball debut on Aug. 19, 1985—and is still calling balls and strikes this season.

—Olympian Blake Skjellerup was born in 1985—and he's now happily married.

Chicago's LGBT sports scene, meanwhile, was so much different 30 years ago from what it is today. The most organized sports were softball, volleyball and bowling. Softball then was the 16-inch, no-glove, Chicago-tradition style, though the women also had 12-inch leagues. Bowling was a five night-a-week event, including a mid-week afternoon league for local bartenders.

"It's hard to believe it was 30 years ago," Marcia Hill said, reflecting on the local sporting scene of 1985. "Heck, I founded the women's football league in 1988—before many of today's players were even born."

Men's flag football didn't arrive here for another 10 years or so.

Hill, now 57, is one of the strongest links to history, particularly Chicago's LGBT sporting scene, then dominated by the Gay Athletic Association ( GAA ). It wasn't until 1986 that the Metropolitan Sports Association ( MSA ) was found—and it is now a wildly successful, popular, ever-expanding organization of multiple sports, leagues, legends and more, known as the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association ( CMSA ).

Hill is now just a referee in flag football and a softball umpire.

Bobby Nicholson also is a softball umpire now—and he too is a tie to gay softball games of the mid-1980s. He is even one of 14 members of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance ( NAGAAA ) Hall of Fame with ties to Chicago softball of the 1980s.

NAGAAA runs the annual Gay Softball World Series, which dates back to 1977.

Others from that illustrious list of 14 who had ties to the Chicago softball scene of the 1980s include Jack McGowan, elected in 1997; Jim Flint ( class of 2000 ), Frank Bostic ( 2001 ), John Cieplak ( 2001 ) and Don Welsh ( 2002 ). Art Johnston of Sidetrack fame was elected to the NAGAAA Hall of Fame in 2003, while Buck Bachman entered in 2005 and Will Hartman in 2007.

Nicholson was elected in 2009, alongside fellow Chicagoans Sam Coady and Phil Runions.

Runions, who is straight, is still a CMSA softball umpire and others from his family play in the predominantly gay league, including his daughter, who also is straight.

Peter Meyer was honored by NAGAAA in 2010; Mike Travers was elected in 2011; John Skoubis went in in 2012.

Gay softball nowadays is played with gloves and 12-inch balls.

"A lot of guys were afraid of breaking their fingers [in 1985], and a lot of guys did break their fingers," Hill said with a laugh. "There were some really good players [back then] and there were some really bad players."

In 1985, there were eight women's softball teams and about 10 men's softball teams. There were about 20 volleyball teams—eight women and 12 men.

Bowling was king then, anchored by the late Dick Uyvari.

"The big thing in bowling at the time was, making sure you had a good scorekeeper," Hill said, reflecting on the technology changes that have spanned 30 years.

At the time, for instance, players and potential players had to go to the gay bars to see flyers, to learn what was going on. The gay weekly newspapers were vital at the time, Hill said. League commissioners would call in their sports scores and standings every Monday morning to Windy City Times.

Today, in comparison, athletes can—and do—update the world seconds after a softball at-bat whether they smacked a home run or struck out. Welcome to Twitter, Facebook and the rest of the social media scene.

The competition level then was high, for all sports, Hill said. "There were some good athletes then," Hill said. "We really cared if we won a game."

Hill, Uyvari, Flint and Johnston were local sporting legends from that era, and certainly Sam Molinaro, too. In 1979, Molinaro was named the first president when the Gay Athletic Association ( GAA ) was incorporated. The rich history in gay Chicago sports, circa 1985, also includes the late Peg Grey, Rich Essig, Jackie Fabbri and others.

MSA back in the day produced a quarterly newsletter, which Molinaro would print. He'd then fold the newsletter, stuff into envelopes, and he and his mom would address envelopes, add stamps and then mail.

Notes at GAA/MSA meetings were done by hand at the time. The association's secretary then would go home and make copies of those notes. They'd mail out the minutes from meetings for approval before the next meeting.

The Windy City Athletic Association ( now the Athletic Alliance of Chicago ), founded in 1979, also was a prominent player on the gay sports scene in 1985. Flint, best known as the owner of the Baton Show Lounge, was one of the founding members of the WCAA and was its commissioner on multiple occasions. Flint was involved in softball, basketball, volleyball, darts, bowling, and hockey over the years.

WCAA and GAA/MSA feuded off and on, each wanting to reign supreme on the scene.

Pre-dating those leagues, and still on the scene today, are the Lincoln Park Lagooners, which offered both sports as well as recreational efforts. They launched in the 1970s.

In 1982, after the success of an event called the Gay and Lesbian Pride Run, a local chapter of the international Frontrunners group was launched by Peg Grey, Rob Williams and Jim White. The Frontrunners/Frontwalkers group is still going strong today; since the 1990s they have operated the Proud to Run race that Grey founded.

There have been other leagues that have come and gone, such as the Women's Sports Association, and many organizations formed to focus on a specific sport, such as rowing or rugby. And certainly some of the women's sports teams that played in mainstream leagues, including rugby, have always have had a strong participation from lesbians.

"It was a time of great growth and excitement [in 1985] as more and more people became involved [in gay sports], particularly softball," Johnston said.

Also in 1985, Chicagoans were planning for Gay Games II, which was to be held in August 1996 in San Francisco. The week-long event was twice as large as the inaugural Games in 1982, attracting about 3,500 athletes from 17 countries for 18 sports.

Chicagoans went to the 1986 Games for softball, volleyball and bowlers mostly.

"That was the first Gay Games that a lot of [Chicagoans] participated in," Hill said.

Another memory from 1985, seen in photos from those days, was … the back of people's heads. Yep, to disguise who they were since many were not out, they'd take pictures facing away from the camera. "We had to watch who you took pictures with because people could lose their jobs," for being gay, Hill said. "A lot of Catholic school teachers, and others, were afraid of losing their jobs."


This article shared 6123 times since Wed Sep 23, 2015
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Chicago History Museum announces "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s - 70s exhibition 2024-03-14
--From a press release - CHICAGO (March 14, 2024) — The Chicago History Museum is thrilled to announce its upcoming exhibition, "Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s—70s." Set to open on Saturday, May 18, 2024, this exhibition is ...


Gay News

Women's History Month doesn't do enough to lift up Black lesbians 2024-03-12
- Fifty years ago, in 1974, the Combahee River Collective (CRC) was founded in Boston by several lesbian and feminist women of African descent. As a sisterhood, they understood that their acts of protest were shouldered by ...


Gay News

SAVOR Eldridge Williams talks new concepts, Beyonce, making history 2024-03-08
- One restaurant would be enough for most people to handle. However, this year Eldridge Williams is opening two new concepts—including one that will be the first Black-owned country-and-western bar in the Midwest. Williams, an ally of ...


Gay News

SAVOR Let's Talk Womxn's 'More Than March'; Adobo Grill's tequila dinner 2024-03-06
- I was fortunate enough to be invited to a culinary event that celebrates the achievement of women—and, fittingly, it happened during Women's History Month. On March 1, Let's Talk Womxn Chicago held its annual "More Than ...


Gay News

Without compromise: Holly Baggett explores lives of iconoclasts Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap 2024-03-04
- Jane Heap (1883-1964) and Margaret Anderson (1886-1973), each of them a native Midwesterner, woman of letters and iconoclast, had a profound influence on literary culture in both America and Europe in the early 20th Century. Heap ...


Gay News

Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican McConnell to step down from leading U.S. Senate 2024-02-29
- U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) will step down from Senate leadership in November, having served in that capacity longer than any senator in history, The Advocate noted. McConnell has been a senator since 1985 and has ...


Gay News

ELECTIONS 2024 Raymond Lopez talks congressional run, Chuy Garcia, migrant crisis 2024-02-26
- Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez has been a member of City Council since 2015, representing the 15th Ward and making history as one of the city's first LGBTQ+ Latine alderman. Now, he is setting his sights on ...


Gay News

Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams's violin stylings help COH mark Black History Month 2024-02-23
- As part of its celebration of Black History Month, Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., presented a solo jazz performance by violinist Samuel Savoir-Faire Williams on Feb. 21. The two-hour long performance presented a showcase ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Raven-Symone, women's sports, Wayne Brady, Jinkx Monsoon, British Vogue 2024-02-09
- In celebration of Black History Month, the LA LGBT Center announced that lesbian entertainer Raven-Symone will be presented with the Center's Bayard Rustin Award at its new event, Highly Favored, per a press release. She joins ...


Gay News

On 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Mayor Brandon Johnson reaffirms commitment to reproductive rights 2024-01-22
--From a press release - CHICAGO — Today marks the 51st anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, which preserved the constitutional right to choose. Chicago has a long history of advocating for women's rights and is considered ...


Gay News

Chicago Red Stars sign Mallory Swanson to historic contract 2024-01-16
- CHICAGO (January 16, 2024) — The Chicago Red Stars have signed Mallory Swanson to a historic long-term contract, making it the most lucrative agreement in the history of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and seeing ...


Gay News

Gay political trailblazer Ken Sherrill passes away at age 81 2023-12-30
- Kenneth Sherrill—a pioneering political scientist who was also the first out gay elected official in New York history—died in early December at age 81 from surgical complications, Gay City News reported. He is survived by his ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Alex Newell, Joe Locke, 'Bad Together,' Raven-Symone, Limelight club 2023-12-14
- Alex Newell—who made history as one of the first two out nonbinary Tony Award winners—was named Time's Breakthrough of the Year for 2023, The Advocate reported. Newell won the Tony this year as Best Featured Actor ...


Gay News

Bradley Cooper conducts a symphony of queer history in Maestro 2023-12-13
- Composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein was one of the most important musicians of his time, receiving many accolades—the Kennedy Center Honor among them, in 1981—before passing away in 1990. Behind the scenes ...


Gay News

Santos voted out of Congress 2023-12-01
- Now-former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-New York) was voted out of Congress on Dec. 1. Santos is the sixth House member in U.S. history to be booted from Congress, and the third since the Civil War, ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.