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

Friends and colleagues of Dick Uyvari, a longtime Chicago resident who impacted the worldwide LGBT community, particularly through bowling and his support of the quadrennial Gay Games, remember his contributions after his sudden death Sept. 2.

"Chicago and the entire world has lost an icon, mentor, legend. Dick made an impact not only in Chicago, but throughout the U.S., and even the world," said Marcia Hill of Chicago, who has known Uyvari since 1984. The two were on the main board for the predominantly gay Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association (CMSA) decades ago, "and he was a valuable mentor to me as I learned the ropes in CMSA and what needed to [be done] to work within our community," she said

"He was a titan in our community, particularly to/for the Gay Games movement," said former Chicago resident Paul Oostenbrug, who now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"Chicago lost a longtime leader who for many years has been actively involved in building sports leagues, community groups and neighborhood associations. His many contributions will be long remembered," said state Rep. Greg Harris, friends with Uyvari since the late 1980s.

"He was always very nice and clearly passionate about bowling," said Jason Kallen of Chicago. "The Chicago gay bowling community has lost an icon."

Juana Judson knew Uyvari for 12 years, dating back to the time when the local league was held at now-closed Marigold Bowl. "Age and time never diminished his love for the sport of bowling," she said. "I most recently saw him throwing his ball at Waveland [Bowl] this past June. [He] definitely [looked] much older and [was] a lot slower, but still loving the game.

"He's probably up there [in heaven] somewhere right now, lacing up his shoes and raring to go."

David S. Hackett, of Chicago, said Uyvari's impact on the local LGBT community, particularly the sports movement, cannot be totally, and truly, calculated. "His generous contributions over the decades included various scholarship programs for athletes, [plus] attending and participating in the Gay Games."

Uyvari was a critical part of the Chicago sports scene starting in the 1970s. He also played a role in the national gay bowling movement, helping host the 1983 International Gay Bowling Organization (IGBO) tournament in Chicago, and he played in most of their tournaments. The 1983 event featured 576 bowlers from the U.S. and Canada, and was held at Waveland Bowl.

Uyvari had been president, secretary and treasurer of more than a dozen Lincoln Park Lagooners and Metropolitan Sports Association (now known as the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association, CMSA) bowling leagues and he served on the boards of the Lagooners, CMSA and IGBO.

In recent years Uyvari has still played in the Friday night gay bowling league, held at Waveland Bowl.

In 1988, he founded the Chicago Pride Invitational bowling tournament. From 1983 to 1992, he co-founded and co-chaired Strike Against AIDS, which raised about $500,000 for AIDS-related agencies through bowling events.

Uyvari in recent years also has organized and ran the annual Celebrity Bowling Tournament to benefit the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. He asked some to donate for the event, perhaps $100—and said he'd match the amount they donated. The event "was instrumental in keeping this non-profit organization up and running," Hackett said. Israel Wright added that Uyvari's Celebrity Bowl "is one of the most profitable fundraisers" for the Hall of Fame.

"His continued philanthropy over his lifetime impacted so many and will be felt for years to come. His legacy looms large and I will miss him very much," Wright said.

"Dick left an incredible legacy in the fight against HIV in Chicago by fundraising for services for people with HIV and by building caring communities of bowlers and Gay Games athletes who welcomed everyone, regardless of HIV status. His impact on the LGBT community in Chicago is immeasurable," said John Peller, president of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC).

Uyvari was inducted into the CMSA Hall of Fame in 2007 and joined the HOF committee in 2008. "He was a leading and vocal advocate protecting and advancing the integrity of the selection process as he served on the committee under Rob Terranova, Doug Malm and me," Hill said. "As a sports director within CMSA, he promoted our bowling leagues and was the founder of the Strike Against AIDS bowling tournament fundraiser and the Athletes Against AIDS, raising over a half a million dollars to go towards AIDS research.

"Not sure where our bowling leagues would have been, if Dick wasn't involved."

Uyvari also was honored by IGBO in 2009. The IGBO Fellowship is the organization's highest honor, which recognizes individuals who excel in living and promoting IGBO's ideals of unity, communication and fellowship on a local, regional and/or international level.

To date, the IGBO Fellowship has been given to 66 individuals who are members of IGBO. Uyvari received this honor in 2009.

"The one distinct honor that always comes to mind when I hear Dick's name is that he and fellow IGBO member Ray Nastasi from Dallas, Texas, are the only two members of the organization that have attended all 35 of our annual conference/tournaments that are held the five days prior to Memorial Day," said IGBO vice-president Mark MacBain.

Uyvari participated in almost every Gay Games as a bowler, dating back to the inaugural event in 1982 in San Francisco, and also the most recent—held in Cleveland in 2014, "even though he had fallen, injuring himself severely," Wright said.

Uyvari was, without question, all about the Games. Simply stated, Uyvari had "so much dedication," Wright said.

Sure, he medaled in the Games over the years, winning a gold, a bronze, and two silver medals as bowling team captain, but his greatest Games legacy might be off the fields of play—or bowling lanes, as it was. For one, he helped run the bowling tournament at Gay Games VII in Chicago in 2006. Uyvari and his partner were key donors to the Gay Games in Chicago, particularly after the Games ended, when local organizers were determined and striving for at least a break-even Games, not one that was a financial loss.

After the 2006 Games ended with some remaining debt, the couple pledged a $125,000 match to other funds raised, helping the Gay Games in Chicago break even on expenses.

"The loss of Dick Uyvari is a major one," said Doug Litwin, a member of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG).

Kurt Dahl, FGG Co-President, said Uyvari's passing is a "big loss" for gay sports overall, particularly Team Chicago, which Uyvari and the late Peg Grey were the first co-chairs for in 1985, prior to Gay Games II in 1986.

"For as long as I've known him, there's never been a time when he wasn't trying to raise money for one LGBT cause or another, mainly sports-related," Dahl said.

Uyvari and his late, longtime partner, LaPat, sponsored a soccer team from South Africa, so it could attend and participated in the Games in Chicago. "They basically adopted a whole team," Dahl said.

Uyvari also financially supported participants in Cologne, Germany in 2010, and in Cleveland in 2014, Dahl said.

"He was a big advocate for those who wanted to attend the Games, but couldn't [financially]," Dahl said.

Oostenbrug said Uyvari and La Pat "were responsible for the success of the first iteration of the Federation of Gay Games initiative with the host city (Chicago Games Inc.) of the Gay Games Scholarship Program. Their donations made the 2006 program possible."

In 2006 Uyvari and LaPat formed special relationships with many of the scholarship recipients, particularly the South African lesbian football/soccer team, the Chosen FEW, Oostenbrug said. "Dick provided funds to allow the Chosen FEW, with a different roster of competitors [than in 2006] to attend Gay Games VIII in Cologne Germany in 2010. Dick again helped underwrite the Gay Games Scholarship Program in 2010 in Cleveland and Akron.

"Olympian and Gay Games Ambassador Leigh-Ann Naidoo and I were privileged to spend time with Dick following the closing ceremony and at the scholarship program wrap-up reception. Dick will be greatly missed."

Dahl speculated that Uyvari and LaPat donated "easily well in the six-figures" to the Games, thus, they will go down as two of the largest financial donors to the Games ever.

Kelly Gillespie, who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa sent "love and condolences" via Facebook when she heard of Uyvari's passing. "We'll never forget the generosity of Joe and Dick to the Black lesbian athletes they so importantly brought to the Gay Games. We salute them for their solidarity," she posted.

Gillespie, married to Leigh-Ann Naidoo, who is a Gay Games Ambassador, said via email that they were "touched and humbled by Dick and Joe's solidarity with queers from a very different part of the world, whose lives they could not have imagined before their meeting in Chicago."

The team that came to Chicago "were transformed by the experience," Gillespie and Naidoo said in a joint statement, "Their horizons were altered, and their understanding of the world broadened. Most importantly, they returned to South Africa not just as bronze medalists, but as activists, many still a powerful part of the LGBTI movement in South Africa. Dick and Joe, through their generosity and solidarity, were instrumental in helping to build the movement against homophobia in South Africa. For that, we salute them."

Dahl said Uyvari "was almost a living historian. There was stuff that I learned talking with him that I never would have learned in a book."

Dahl said Uyvari will be recognized next month at the FGG's annual meeting in Limerick, Ireland.

"We are going to miss him immensely; he did a lot," Dahl said.

"Dick Uyvari helped build the foundation for LGBT bowling since the Gay Games inception in 1982," said Sara Waddell Lewinstein, a lesbian athlete who with Gay Games founder, Dr. Tom Waddell, had a child, Jessica. "We were great friends, and encouraged many men and women to assist with building the great game of bowling within the gay community.

"Whenever we had questions about bowling in many of the Games, we relied on each other, to talk through any decisions, to better the game, and the relationships between men and women competing as a whole. Dick organized the funding for the remembrance of the Tom Waddell plaque in Chicago [in Lakeview, as part of The Legacy Project's Legacy Walk]. If it wasn't for his pursuit of this, it would never have happened. We were just with him in Cleveland for the Games, and will cherish our memories. He will be greatly missed, what a wonderful human being and mentor for all."

In 2009, when the FGG announced that Cleveland was selected as the host city for the 2014 event, it was Uyvari who was selected to make the formal announcement.

Uyvari also will be honored at the next Games—in Paris, France, in 2018, Dahl said, though details and specifics are of course too soon to announce.

"Some people may not know and realize all that he's done throughout the years," Dahl said. "His passion was bowling, but he did a whole lot" more than just that sport.

Oostenbrug was on Uyvari's Chicago bowling team as a substitute one year. "Dick was such an intense competitor, [and] that competitiveness served him well in life, allowing him and Joe to have a successful real estate business. Which in turn allowed them to do many great things for Chicago—and the world's—LGBT community. He will be greatly missed," Oostenbrug said.

Rob Smitherman, a Chicago resident who has worked in key, behind-the-scenes jobs at the past three Gay Games, said Uyvari was a "cornerstone of the Chicago gay sports scene."

"He had a great passion for bowling and understood how important good organization was for a bowling league or event," Smitherman said. "He was part of the bowling tournament organization at the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago and assisted with many other tournaments, including the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland and Akron.

"More importantly, Dick and his [late] partner Joe were passionate about LGBT rights in the United States and throughout the world. They showed their commitment by supporting LGBT causes, including the 2006 Gay Games. Without their generosity the Chicago Gay Games would not have been a financial success. Dick's support of international LGBT athletes, including a scholarship for the South African women's soccer team, changed the lives of those athletes.

"Dick Uyvari touched and improved the lives of so many people. His death is a big loss to the Chicago gay sports community, but also to the LGBT community as a whole."

Modesto "Tico" Valle, CEO of the Center on Halsted in Chicago, added, "Dick was a pioneer in supporting gay and lesbian sports—his and Joe's financial support and leadership help to realize the [success of the] Gay Games in Chicago. You could always count on them supporting a variety of sports teams.

"Dick was compassionate, kind and generous; he touched the lives of many and helped to advance the work of so many organizations, especially Center on Halsted. He will be missed."

Tom Chiola of Chicago said Uyvari was "the consummate competitor," but always was available to help people improve their bowling skills, even those on opposing teams. "He wanted to win, but he wanted to win against the best competition, and if he could raise everybody's game in the process then he was the happiest," Chiola said.

"Dick was devastated when Joe died. Talk about two guys who were dedicated to each other for life. It was the very definition of 'marriage' that so-called Christians aspire to—'for better and for worse, in sickness and in health, until death did they part,'" Chiola said.

Art Johnston, the co-owner of Sidetrack in Lakeview, was friends with Uyvari since the late 1970s, when Uyvari was "a persistent promoter of everything related to bowling," Johnston said. "Although he also enjoyed softball and tried out other sports, bowling was always Dick's focus. He participated in as many leagues as he could sign up for and was always the first to volunteer to organize and run a small local tournament of a few hundred participants or the massive annual event of the International Gay Bowling Organization."

Johnston added: "From the first moment he bowled in the Gay Games, Dick was infused with the Games' ideals of participation and sportsmanship; thereafter he worked tirelessly to organize and run the Chicago bowling contingent in multiple Gay Games and became an important member of the Chicago campaign to bring the Games here."

"Chicago's [now]-vibrant, multi-faceted GLBT sports scene of 2015 owes much to the work of Dick Uyvari."

Kevin Boyer of Chicago headed up marking and PR for the 2006 Games in Chicago—and that's when and where he first met Uyvari, who he tagged as "an amazing supporter" of those Games.

"Many have talked about he and Joe's financial support of the Scholarship Program and help after the Gay Games were done in paying off the final bills. But he also managed the bowling competition from the sports headquarters [in] downtown [Chicago]," Boyer said. "I still remember piling into my car with him one night to rush to North End Sports Bar in Lakeview. We needed a copy of the posted bowling results so we could bring them back to the Hilton Downtown, where anxious bowlers needed to know the next day's schedule. He took charge and brought the same commitment to every project undertook."

About 600 bowlers participated in the 2006 Games in Chicago.

"Dick was a good friend, and financially supported many of the big-dream projects I was involved with," said Tracy Baim, Windy City Times publisher and co-vice chair of Gay Games VII. "I covered his fundraising efforts since 1984, and while he was often behind the scenes managing the minute details of every event he ran, he really stepped into the spotlight in 2006 for the Gay Games in Chicago. One of the highlights of my life will be watching the South African women's soccer team sing a tribute to Dick and Joe at the special scholarship reception July 15, 2006, the opening day of the Games. Dick and Joe were beaming, realizing they had touched the hearts and souls of women from across the world."

Related article and more photos at the link: www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/PASSAGES-Chicago-athlete-philanthropist-Dick-Uyvari-dies-/52694.html .