His sports resume is loaded, to put it mildly. Shawn Albritton plays softball, flag football, soccer, tennis, indoor and beach volleyball and dodgeball.
And now he's the head honcho for the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association ( CMSA ) —the predominantly gay sports organization. Albritton was named the CMSA President in July, replacing Marcia Hill, who held the position for five years.
"I am a bit overwhelmed," Albritton said when asked about his new position. "I'm excited to continue doing all I can in making CMSA great, but also tempered with the responsibility to lead responsibly."
Albritton, 35, who lives in Rogers Park, is a business analyst. Originally from Tampa, Fla., he has been living in Chicago for 10 years.
"I want to continue CMSA's standing as one of the best gay sports organizations," Albritton said. "CMSA has given a lot to my life and most people I have met here in Chicago were through CMSA.
"I participate in just about every CMSA league, and officiate in [ men's and ] women's leagues. I think it's important that the president represent all leagues as best possible. Everyone deserves a voice."
Also at the mid-July CMSA elections, Hill and Brian Kupersmit were named vice presidents; Jason Dove the secretary; Gary Taylor the treasurer; Greg Place and Jackie Schmit were named to the CMSA Board.
"Our current seven officers served in the previous term and bring a wide array of viewpoints. We intend to fill the rest of the board positions with four more officers [ as ] 11 is a full committee," Albritton said.
The biggest issues now facing CMSA, Albritton said, include the fact that it is now at, or near, capacity in many of sports, "so it will be a continuing challenge to acquire field space so we can accommodate everyone who wants to play in CMSA."
He added: "We're no longer a small community group. At 4,500 members and growing, we need to re-think the way we do business. I believe that will be one of the major tasks we have ahead of us in the next few years—organizing ourselves to better serve our growing membership."
Albritton said CMSA's biggest strength is that it still is a not-for-profit organization and that the board and sports directors are unpaid volunteers.
"Also, I think the fact our capacity issue speaks for itself. We are one the largest gay sports organizations in the world," he said.
Albritton is specific on his goals as president. He said:
—Oversee and help foster growth in sports leagues, especially our newest leagues, such as women's soccer, women's basketball and fall softball ( both open division and women's ) .
—Continue efforts to develop senior leagues, as the membership demographic is changing. "We need to provide the same healthy environment, social and athletic, to our more mature members."
—Provide more social opportunities that span the spectrum of our membership. "I'd like to see a family friendly event, since some of our members are proud parents. Also provide events that are more geared to our women's leagues."
—Continue improvements and functionality of the CMSA website.
—Assist leagues with formalizing their own bylaws/procedure manuals that will be shared with league members via the CMSA website. "Our members feel better when they sense that the league is open and transparent."
Albritton's first CMSA league was open division softball in 2001, playing for the Equality Illinois team in Division 5 ( current D2 division ) . That same year, he captained a flag football team, also Equality Illinois. He captained variations of this team for the next seven years.
Albritton managed Little Dog Properties JV in 2002 ( D2 Division team ) , and that team became the first CMSA team to win the NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series in 20 years, in the very first D-Division for NAGAAA.
In 2003, Albritton was a member of the Charlie's Cougars team, which won the C-Division NAGAAA World Series.
Albritton co-founded the CMSA Thursday Night Softball League in 2003 with Mike Gaudreau. He also founded the CMSA Fall Softball League in 2003.
In addition to playing, Albritton officiates flag football and softball.
And he was the commissioner of the men's flag football league from 2004-2008.
Albritton was a key CMSA member to help start the annual Chicago Pride Bowl flag football tournament, and was the head referee this year.
Albritton first joined the CMSA Board of Directors in 2003, and he was elected by national delegates this year to the National Gay Flag Football League ( NGFFL ) Board of Directors.
So what are your CMSA highlights?
"There's been so many," Albritton said. "I have two that come to mind, though: The time Marcia Hill dragged me on stage at Spyner's while the players in the women's flag football league sang Happy Birthday to me at the end-of-season party.
"The second one would be when I first moved here and was at the 25th CMSA Anniversary party at the Metro. I was in the bathroom while my name was called out as being the Grand Prize winner for a roundtrip airfare courtesy of Orbitz. I had my Christine Lahti moment when I ran out of the bathroom while my good friend Brian Kettner's name was drawn after my no-show. We showed up on stage at the same time and instantly agreed to split the prize. And then we had a few beers together."
Hill leaves the president's chair after a successful five-year run, highlighted by a more efficient website for commissioners to use, better registration system, centralized tracking system to see how many people played each sport, and more.
Hill has been a key member of the CMSA Hall of Fame—and an honoree.
"By choosing to step aside and be vice president in my last year as an elected CMSA official, it is an opportunity to mentor Shawn as he steps forward to be your CMSA president," Hill said. "Shawn is someone who is as passionate about CMSA that I have been for over 27 years. [ He is ] someone who understands almost every aspect from being a member, player, coach, team manager, official, league director, national tournament director [ and ] board director, and hopefully will continue on our path that we need to take care of our average athlete, not just the athletes who travel to tournaments. Our recreational divisions are just as important as our competitive divisions, that our men and women are equal in sports.
"There is a tremendous need to start archiving the history of CMSA in one place. As chair of the HOF committee, I am going to start working on this process. We have lost several key people who were very knowledgeable about our organizational history and we need to act now to preserve it for those in the future to view."
Albritton added: "I have some big shoes to fill. Marcia's term as president saw tremendous growth in the leagues and her patient leadership and dedication to CMSA made the league a much better organization."
