Marcia Hill, at one time or another over the past 23 years, has served in every position on the CMSA ( Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association ) board of directors. She's been the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, not to mention a participant and official.
She's back in charge as president, a role she previously held from 1984-'92. Hill took over July 10 when Peter Meyer did not run for re-election.
CMSA is the largest not-for-profit, all-volunteer gay and lesbian sports organization in the Midwest, with about 2,800 members—of which fewer than 300 play only one sport. 'There are a bunch of guys and girls who literally go from sport to sport to sport, hardly taking any time off,' Hill said.
Maybe it's softball, flag football, volleyball, bowling or the latest sport offering, outdoor soccer. CMSA is simply a sporting superstore, so to speak. Just consider these facts:
— It has the largest women's softball league in the nation.
— It has the largest men's softball league in the nation.
— It has LGBT soccer teams in the biggest city with a gay soccer league.
— Beach volleyball had more than 70 teams this summer, arguably the largest such LGBT league in the nation. There were more than 50 men's teams and 28 women's squads.
Windy City Times: Where is CMSA at heading into the fall of 2006?
Marcia Hill: We are in a better position than we were in two years ago when Peter made a bunch of improvements. We delegated more stuff to committees, and had the committees do the work rather than us trying to do it during a four-hour board meeting once-a-month. ( Meetings are now two hours. ) We've made improvements to our Web site; we're trying to do online registration, although there is a slight glitch to it right now. We're just trying to make it more efficient for sports directors to run their sports.
WCT: What is the state of the CMSA right now?
MH: We're doing really good. Our leagues are continuously growing.
WCT: What is the best thing going right now in CMSA and what is the worst thing?
MH: The best thing is [ that ] we're doing our best to serve Chicago's LGBT community, giving them a social atmosphere to play sports. The bad thing is, whenever you have a group, you cannot please everyone. We could please 99 percent of the people, but there's always that one percent that is complaining about something. That said, we certainly value feedback and if there's something we need to improve, we listen and respond but do the best we can, nonetheless.
WCT: How is CMSA changing with the times?
MH: We're developing online registration. Heck, I'm text [ messaging ] people who have questions about sports.
WCT: What impact did the Gay Games have on CMSA?
MH: They definitely helped because we always have been about inclusion and participation; we've never turned away anyone. Plus, there were a lot of people in the city of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs who just did not know there was an LGBT sports organization.
WCT: Soccer is the newest sport to join CMSA. Have there been discussions to add any other sports?
MH: Yes, such as golf and billiards, for instance.
WCT: Any chance CMSA will add basketball?
MH: Most likely, no. The Windy City Athletic Association does a great job running men's' and women's basketball leagues, so there's really no need for us to run a duplicate league.
WCT: Are there any sports in jeopardy of folding because of poor participation?
MH: No. Bowling has dropped to 24 teams and we're trying to get back to 36 teams. But 24 teams is still a lot. We're trying to get our bowling league back up to where it was a couple of years ago when it was held at Marigold in Boystown; when it was moved to Waveland ( Bowl ) , a bunch of people dropped out because it was not within walking distance.
[ With ] many of the other sports, on the other hand, we are almost at the point of having to cap the number of teams and participants, so we have able facilities to play. Football, for instance, might have to cap off at 24 teams. If I accept more than 24 teams, teams would have a bye week, and that's something we try not to do.
WCT: What about the WCAA? Is that competition? Friends? What?
MH: Fifteen years ago, they were our competitors because we competed in multiple sports. Basically, people now can play in both leagues, and people get along from both associations. It's much different now than it was in the 1980s, when people basically had to decide whether you were a member of CMSA or Windy City, not both.
WCT: What is the best CMSA sport competition-wise?
MH: Men's softball, mostly because many of the teams travel all over the country to different tournaments throughout the year.
WCT: That said, at the 2005 Gay World Series, the best Chicago could do was have a third-place finisher in D Division ( this year Jackhammer won the D Dvision ) . If we're the biggest and our teams are so competitive, why aren't we winning multiple first-place trophies?
MH: One reason is [ that ] the teams we're losing to are teams from California, Texas and Florida—teams that can play year-round. It's usually the warm-weather cities that win in softball. Plus, the luck of the draw comes into play [ at the Series ] .
WCT: What's been the most pleasant surprise?
MH: The fact that so many participants look at their teammates as their second family. And actually, many teammates are closer to their teammates than to their real families. There have been some really great friendships developed through CMSA sports.
WCT: What percent of the CMSA membership is straight?
MH: Probably three percent. We're inclusive; anyone can play. We've had straight players participate since the organization started in 1978-'79.
WCT: Who are some of the unsung heroes of CMSA?
MH: Wow, that's a tough question because there are a lot of people who do a lot of things to help CMSA, and they do it without much fanfare. But, I definitely would include Nancy MacKenzie, Shawn Albritton, Peter Meyer, Jack Nielsen, Mark Febonio, Lucas Wonn, Danny Lewandowski, Chipp Collins and Dan Shaver, among others.
WCT: The Gay Super Bowl is Oct. 6-8 in Dallas, and the Chicago Flames are the defending champion. What does that mean to Chicago to have the defending champions, not to mention the defending Super Bowl MVP [ quarterback Will Ward ] ?
MH: It's definitely brought name recognition to the Flames, but along those same lines, I know that the Flames were the one team that everyone wanted to beat in the pool-play round of the Gay Games. And I know when a team beat the Flames in the [ Games' ] medal round, they were thrilled to defeat the defending Gay Super Bowl champions.
Having the Gay Super Bowl champion in Chicago definitely kicks up the level of competition locally.
WCT: What about the CMSA Hall of Fame, which would be the nation's first LGBT sports Hall of Fame to encompass all sports, not just one?
MH: We're expecting to induct our first class in the spring of 2007. Depending on the number of nominations, we'll probably induct between 5-15 in the first year.
WCT: Obviously Chicago legends such as Peg Grey, Dick Uyvari, Sam Molinaro and Art Johnston are locks as first-ballot Hall of Famers, right?
MH: Most likely. I'm sure they're at the head of the class for the first induction.
See www.chicagomsa.com for more info.
