Teams from the
two small towns of Covington and Newport in Northern Kentucky
dominated the first 11 years of the ASA Slowpitch World
Tournament. These teams won the Open Division title in 1953,
1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, and 1963. In 1956, the title game was
played in Cleveland between a team from Covington and a team from
Newport. In both 1964 and 1965, a Northern Kentucky team claimed
runner-up.
ASA Slowpitch World Champion
Teams from Northern Kentucky
The Top Slowpitch Players
The Tournaments
The Days Of Fastpitch
Up until abount 1950, most of the
softball played in the Northern Kentucky area was of the
fastpitch variety. In 1939, Nick Carr's Kentucky Boosters of
Covington went to Soldier field in Chicago and won the ASA
Fastpitch title. Two members of this team, Bernie Kampschmidt and
Jim Ramage, were recruited to play for the Ft. Wayne Zollner
Pistons and won three more championships in 1945, 1946, and 1947.
Another Northern Kentucky player, Bill West, was also recruited
to Ft. Wayne and pitched them to victory in the 1946 and 1947
championships. All three of these men are members of the ASA Hall
of Fame. Also heavily recruited by Ft. Wayne was hurler Norb
"The Cyclone" Warken. However, he elected to stay and
play locally. Though he never made it to the ASA Hall of Fame, he
was one of the most dominating pitchers of the era. Check his
page below to see how he dominated tournaments, including the
1939 World.
The Top Fastpitch Players
Other Links
