STOCKTON – Pete Turner Jr. will address a group of about 450 people inside a hotel ballroom this evening in Louisville, Ky.
The Stockton native will speak about his lifelong love affair with fastpitch softball. He will thank his teammates and coaches, and the Amateur Softball Association of America, which is inducting him into its Hall of Fame.
“Pete is being honored for what he did on the field as a player and as a manager,” said Ron Radigonda, executive director of the ASA, the national governing body of softball. “And as someone who continues to give back to the game.”
At some point during his acceptance speech, Turner, 51, will look into the audience and try to compose himself as he thanks his father, Pete Turner Sr., who introduced him to the game and taught him how to excel at every position on the field.
Tonight’s ceremony honoring a true softball legend is very much a family induction. If it weren’t for the father, the son never would have succeeded in a sport that requires tremendous skill, but doesn’t receive much attention.
“I spent my childhood at Oak Park on weekdays and throughout the region watching my dad on weekends,” said the younger Turner, who ASA officials say is the first Stocktonian to be inducted into its Hall of Fame. “Other kids’ idols were baseball and football players. My idols were softball players.”
His biggest idol was his dad, an outstanding softball player during the game’s heyday in the 1960s and ’70s, whose travelingteams sent the family packing to tournaments throughout California, Canada, Mexico and Hawaii.
“I’d like to say I got his heart into it,” said the elder Turner, 71. “If you are in this game at such a high level this long, you really must love it.”
The skills and work ethic he passed on to his son helped pave a remarkable career.
As a player, the younger Turner was a five-time ASA All-American and an ASA national champion in 1991 with Guenalla Brothers of Santa Rosa. He competed in five U.S. Olympic Festivals, and played and coached in the Pan-American Games.
He coached women’s softball for 14 years at Delta College, and won two league titles in three years as its head coach from 2004-06. Turner now is in his second season as the head coach at San Jose State. Since 2001, he also has been the head coach of the United States men’s fastpitch team, which finished second at the International Softball Federation World Cup this summer in Prague, Czech Republic.
Softball has taken Turner all over the world, yet he has maintained a sales career in the high-tech and publishing industries and has raised a family with three children.
“That was always my dream, to do what I did,” Turner said. “I just didn’t think I would do it on this level.”
Turner was a standout football and baseball player at Franklin High and began playing high-level fastpitch softball on his dad’s teams when he was 16 years old.
“We’d have him fill in for us,” Turner Sr. said. “He could play almost any position well, and he was always a great hitter.”
Turner played baseball at University of the Pacific but lost his passion for the game his sophomore season. He transferred to Sacramento State intent on playing football, but he didn’t pass his physical because of a previous knee injury. Turner focused on his studies and made the dean’s list, graduating with a degree in sociology with minors in history and psychology. He earned a master’s degree in business from Hamilton University.
After college, Turner turned his competitive energy toward softball. He played on traveling teams based in California, Seattle, Midland, Mich., and Salt Lake City, and he played on the national team. Turner was a solid hitter and a strong defensive player in the infield, outfield and behind the plate. He also pitched. But what set him apart was his combustible internal engine that never quit.
“He was very competitive; he played on a high edge, just on the edge of anger,” said Mitch Munthe, a teacher and baseball coach at Beyer High in Modesto who played softball with Turner for nine years. “You wouldn’t see it on the outside because he always had a very professional demeanor.”
It will be quite a night for father and son.
Contact sports editor Bob Highfill at (209) 546-8282 or bhighfill@recordnet.com.
