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Jim Wessel and Wessel Sports
– The Story
For me I started playing D ball in
Cincinnati leagues when I was 22 or 23. The very first team I played
with was Serv-All Electric which was mainly a bunch of guys I played
high school baseball that decided we would make a pretty good
softball team. Fact is we were pretty good. Over the next few years
my drive was always to be involved with the best. I helped sponsor
and played on several teams till we became a pretty competitive A
team. At that point I was becoming a better manager than a player. I
was only playing about half the time on my men’s team. Along about
that time my wife Kelly, also a softball player and I started a coed
team that was the best coed team in Cincinnati and competed at the A
level nationally. It was a blast we played in men’s leagues in
Cincinnati and normally won the leagues if that gives you an idea of
how good the team was. Some special players to me during that
stretch were Mike Stockmeier, Rob Dearinger, John Steele, Jeff
Stamper, Mike Adleta and Ken Wilp. In the winter between the 1995
and 1996 season I received a call from Jeff Hague asking me to meet.
We held our first meeting at a Wendy’s halfway between Cincinnati
and Columbus, where Jeff is from. He invited me to join up with him
and Greg Tavrell from Ohio Transport to run the Hague team. That was
the year after they had just come off winning the USSSA World
Series, so I was on board from the first meeting. That started Jeff
and I into a great friendship and trust that are as strong today as
then. We were together 96, 97 and 98.Early players like Kevin
Birkhofer, Tommy Thompson, Rod Hughes and Mark Cobb were great
players that played for me The Wessel /Hague squad from 1998 can
make an argument to be one of the best if not the best AA team of
all time. With players such as Jim “Birdie” Burbrink, Howie Krause,
Tom White, Tim Cocco, Brett Helmer, Joe Foley, Tim Linson, Mutzy
Matzdorf, Dale Sensenig, Mike Much, Randy Volmer, Chris Lashley,
Mitch Kroell and Chop Willis. On our sidelines were Jerry Angel,
Brad Altimore, Chic Salmon and Donny Young and Lou Hammeril. That
opened the door for myself and Jerry Backman, of Aurora Indiana, to
approach Worth prior to the 1999 season about taking over Worth’s
flagship team. Worth awarded us the team and I flew to San Francisco
and forged a partnership with Dan Smith. It started Dan and Jerry
into the top level of softball ownership. We were together in 1999
and 2000 with such players through that stretch of Carl Rose,
Wendell Rickard, Jeff Hall, Robbie Ergle, Scott Striebel, Paul
Drilling, Albert Davis, Greg Cannedy, Greg Harding, Ed Rosado and
many others. In 2000 our team finished number one and I had several
awards, it was a great season. In 2001 Dan wanted to take the team
another direction and I moved to managing Hague / Resmondo in 2001
and as a team picked to be third by almost everyone we spent the
majority of the season number two behind Long Haul. It formed added
new players to my managed list including Demond Thomas, Randy
Kordokrax, Britt Hightower, Paul Brannen and Larry Carter. In 2002
and 2003 I was again back with Dan Smith / Backman / Menosse. In
2002 we were the number one ranked team and I was named to the
initial all Disney all tournament team as manager. I managed Brett
Helmer and Jeff Hall again two of my very favorite all time players.
They were my leaders and it leant to a special relationship with
both those guys. Also were Scott Brown, Shane Dubose, Todd Joerling,
DeWayne Nevitt, David Hood, Jason Kendrick, Rick Baker and Robin
“Higgy” Higginbotham. The last tournament I managed was the WSL
Super World in 2003 which we won. In 2006 I was called back to Major
Softball to manage Specialty Tank for John Riccio. The team won the
ISA World and finished 2nd in the inaugural Conference
USSSA tournament. I’m not sure what the future holds in running
softball teams for me but if I do decide to continue it will be
greatly enjoyed just as every season to date has been.
What drew me to softball and
created my passion was that I came from an athletic family and was a
fan of all sports from a young age. As I grew up I spent every
summer with my Dad and my family around softball at the highest
level. My Dad, Jim Wessel, Sr. played for Wilsman Trucking where I
was a batboy for several years as they competed at the top of Open
softball. It started a love for the talent that exists at the top of
all large sports. In 1999 I was in away at a softball tournament
when my wife, Kelly, and a buddy, Jon Zinn, who coached a kid’s
t-ball team with me dropped my son off at the house and saw a
Softball Newspaper setting on the island in our kitchen and asked my
wife if we might be interested in buying a softball park. In the
next few days Jon and I met and looked hard at Eggleston Park and
completed the purchase in early 2000 making the 2000 season our
first year. Our first priority was to invest a substantial amount of
money into the park to take advantage of the beautiful setting on
the river and bring the balance of the facility to a state of the
art facility. Our philosophy is to make our park a place where
softball players get more than just a game but a night out. With a
sports bar on site as well as our outdoor trees and elevated seating
areas we have the best of both worlds. The second priority was to
make the park manager friendly and responsive to team needs. We
wanted to have everything from organized tournaments and leagues to
top quality food and beverages. After a couple years the teams
recognized that we were returning money into the parks and they
appreciated our approach and it made our job of bonding with the
teams easier. At the end of 2002 I bought out Jon Zinn and Kelly and
I became sole owners. That is also when we went from Eggleston Park,
LLC to Wessel Sports, LLC. In the fall of 2003 we purchased 50%
interest in Riverstar Park. Prior to the 2004 season we made
dramatic improvements to the facility that was built in the late
70’s from converting a concession area into a sports bar, added a
pavilion, added new fencing, installed a new lighting system and a
handful of other improvements.
Now we pride ourselves in our two
complexes, Riverstar and Eggleston, along with Starlite Ballroom
located on site with Riverstar. Wessel Sports handles nearly 1,000
separate teams over the course of a season through leagues and
tournaments. Are marquis events are The Bash for Cash, The City
Slam, USSSA Major NIT, Pipefitters National Tournament, Cincinnati
Metro Tournament and several NIT’s. The best part of the job is to
visit the parks and seeing the players and their families having a
good time based around softball and outdoor activities in an upbeat
atmosphere. Softball players have a passion for our game it is easy
for all us softballers to bond. On benefit of Wessel Sports is that
it works nicely as a hands on family business. From my wife, Kelly,
to my three kids, Chris (21) – Manager at Starlite, Malorie
(18) – A Freshman at Florida State and Matt (14) – a Freshman at
Moeller, it is great that we have the chance to work together at the
business and as the family gets older my hopes are the family will
continue to work together and become even more involved.
Come visit Dave Maury at Eggleston
Park or Bill Chard at Riverstar. They are two excellent park
managers that are truly in touch with all levels of ball and glove
sports and work year round on making Wessel Sports, LLC the best it
can be.
Jim Wessel
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