UPDATE: Memorial Service information:

Richard “Dick” Christensen Funeral
Monday January 11, 2010 2:00 PM in the Chapel
Greenwood Funeral Home
350 Monroe Avenue
Renton, WA 98056
Phone 425-255-1511

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Fastpitch star Dick Christensen dies at 70

Richard Lee “Dick” Christensen, one of the country’s best pitchers during the glory days of fastpitch softball, died suddenly on Jan. 1 in Puerto Rico while on vacation. He was 70.

By Don Shelton
Seattle Times sports editor

Dick Christensen
Richard Lee “Dick” Christensen, one of the country’s best pitchers during the glory days of men’s fastpitch softball, died suddenly in Puerto Rico on Jan. 1 while on vacation. He was 70.

Mr. Christensen, a two-time ASA All-American, played in more than 15 national tournaments, several world tournaments and the Pan American Games. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound right-hander, nicknamed “The Horse,” because of his durability, pitched for Federal Old Line, Pay ‘N Pak, Yakima Pepsi and several other top teams. He was inducted into the Seattle Metro Fastpitch Hall of Fame in 1992.

“He was one of the three or four hardest throwers in the country,” said his former coach and friend, Jim Porter. “He was clocked at over 100 (mph).”

Mr. Christensen was born in Boise, Idaho, on April 16, 1939, and grew up in Castle Rock, where he graduated high school in 1957. He played baseball for the University of Washington, and learned to throw underhand in the Navy, tossing softballs against mattresses on a destroyer.

“He wore out about 20 of those mattresses,” Porter said.

Mr. Christensen saved only a few trophies and newspaper clippings and rarely talked about his softball achievements.

“He never, ever bragged,” said his wife, Terri Christensen, of Renton. “I knew it was important to him, but he was so humble.”

Mr. Christensen is also survived by his father, Keir Stone of Fort Worth, Texas; sister Karen Buker of Anacortes, as well as three children and four step children,

Services are pending.

From Bryan Lathrop:

SOFTBALL TEAMS:

After giving it considerable thought, I have decided due to travel and financial constraints that I will no longer play for New Image Salon.

It was a great four years, winning the NAFA National Championship three times and once the ASA Class A National. No one will ever forget the 97-3 year.

I would like to thank manager Jeremie Holman; sponsor Peg Holman; team fans; and all my teammates. No one could have asked for a greater bunch of guys to be teammates with. Wishing them the best of luck in 2010 and beyond.

I do feel I still have some wins left in this old arm so if anyone is in need of a pitcher, please contact me. My phone number is 608-846-6813 or 608-628-9015. My e-mail address is balnickel (at) yahoo.com. If you can not reach me, you may contact my dad, NAFA Vice-President at 608-225-1321. His e-mail is oldfab (at) hotmail.com The decision will ultimately be mine but will listen to any good advice. Hopefully so teams can get there schedule set, a decision as to who I will pitch for will be made by February 1st.

Bryan Lathrop

(Ed Note) Pitched for Kitchener-Waterloo Cubs, runner-up in 2009 ISC II Tournament of Champions)

Cap tip to Colorado’s Randy Davenport for this news story. (Randy pitched for the 1991 ASA “A” National champion Boulder Springers. Trivia question: Who was the runner-up that year?)

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Reporter Irv Moss writes about stars from the past
By Irv Moss
The Denver Post


Harvey Sterkel learned his trade in Denver at City Park during the late 1940s. (Courtesy of National Softball Hall of Fame )

If you saw the finished product, it would be difficult to think Harvey Sterkel had to be talked into pitching softball.

As the “in crowd” would say, “He could bring it.”

In 1959, Sterkel single-handedly pitched the Aurora, Ill., Sealmasters team to the ASA national championship. Sterkel won eight games in a row, including 24 scoreless innings in three games on the final day, and in 60 2/3 innings he struck out 84. He beat the Clearwater (Fla.) Bombers twice on the final day by 1-0 scores.

“I threw fairly hard and was able to make the ball move on every pitch,” Sterkel said. “My best pitches were a low-rise ball and a low outside curve. I had pretty good control and was able to keep my pitches low in the strike zone.”

While Sterkel gained his most prominence as a softball pitcher after leaving Denver, he got his start at the storied softball field at City Park. It was there that he watched Larry Bollig pitch as a youngster. Sterkel became determined that pitching softball would be in his future.

“I would sit in the dirt at City Park and watch Bollig pitch,” Sterkel said. “He was the ultimate pitcher around here at that time.”

The time was the late 1940s, and, as everywhere, Denver’s residents were trying to move on from the World War II years. Softball at City Park provided summer evening entertainment.

The field, since gone, had bleacher seats down each line to the outfield fence, and there were portions of the outfield fence where cars could pull up to the fence and passengers could watch games from their cars.

“The City Park League was a very good league,” Sterkel said. “When I look back, I realize that the players there were as good as any in the country.”

Sterkel remembered an important event in his softball development occurred about the time he was watching Bollig pitch. His older brother, Robert Sterkel, had just gotten home from World War II military service in the Navy and became his mentor.

“I’d come home from school and he’d say, ‘Let’s go pitch.’ And I’d say, ‘Not tonight.’ But he’d always insist,” Sterkel said.

After pitching in Denver, several times against Bollig, Sterkel came on the radar screen of the Sealmasters team. In 1956 he moved to Aurora, Ill., and became one of the greatest softball pitchers ever.

Sterkel’s credentials are on record at the National Softball Hall of Fame, where he is an inductee. They note that he posted a 345-33 record for the Aurora team from 1956-69, including 60 no-hitters and 15 perfect games. In ASA national championship play, he was 43-24. And in two appearances in the ISF World Tournament, he chalked up a 7-0 record, striking out 75 batters in 45 1/3 innings, and was the MVP of the tournament in 1966.

Sterkel said his pitches were never clocked, but some comparable pitchers who were timed sent the ball at hitters standing 46 feet away at 94 miles per hour.

Sterkel pitched for 31 years, including stops with Denver teams Western Springs, Public Service, Naval Air Station and Denver Merchants. He returns to Denver on occasion to visit family members, including brothers Donald and John Sterkel.

He has one pitching loss that he remembers. His fifth-grade boys team at Garden Place School lost to the sixth-grade girls team. The winning pitcher was his future wife, Gloria.

His name brings back memories of a different Denver and a different time.

“I

grew up in Globeville and in those days that was at the edge of town,” Sterkel said. “I played in the Oldtimers Baseball League, but really all we needed was a ball, bat and a glove and a few of us to get together, and we’d make up our own games.”
Harvey Sterkel bio

Born: May 19, 1934, in Denver.

High school: Denver North.

College: Aurora (Ill.) University.

Family: Wife, Gloria; sons Robert, Ronald and Steven; daughter, Susan.

Hobbies: Woodworking, church choir, barbershop quartet.

Outlook: Sterkel still works full time and plans to continue doing so as long as it’s fun and he’s contributing.