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Softball tourney marks 15th year; started in Cleveland
by Curt Gage
Cleveland-The North Coast Athletic Association (NCAA) gay and lesbian softball league is in its 17th year in Cleveland. Two years after the formation of NCAA, league leaders from four cities got together and thought it would be fun to stage an annual tournament, held over Labor Day weekend, that would rotate between the four cities.
The Midwestern Invitational Softball Tournament, or MIST, was originally the idea of a few Cleveland men who contacted their friends in Columbus, Detroit and Pittsburgh. This would be one of the first gay and lesbian softball tournaments in the country and the only traveling tournament. Over the years Pittsburgh would drop out as a core city and be replaced by Milwaukee.
The early years saw only the core cities sending teams to compete against each other. As word of the tournament spread, combined with the growing popularity of gay and lesbian sports organizations, MIST began to draw teams from other Midwest cities and eventually gained not only a national, but an international presence.
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Besides the core cities, teams have represented Chicago, Minneapolis, Baltimore, New York, Boston, Tampa, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Toronto, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Atlanta, London England, and many more.
MIST was held in Cleveland in 1998 and will return in 2002. The 1998 tournament drew over 25 teams from ten states and a Canadian province. The Cleveland MIST Committee and scores of volunteers put on a well-organized, competitive, and fun-filled weekend.
As the original host city in 1985, the Cleveland contingent always goes out of their way to make sure the players are not only entertained on the fields, but off the fields as well.
A typical MIST weekend in Cleveland starts in the hospitality suite at the host hotel. As the players arrive to sign in, they find complimentary food and drinks, see old friends and make new ones. Saturday morning and afternoon are spent playing ball followed by a banquet where upwards of 400 hungry players and their guests are treated to a hot meal, drinks and dancing. Sunday brings the championship rounds of the tournament,
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The 1998 tournament did not go unnoticed from local, state, and national officials. MIST received letters officially welcoming the players to our city from Mayor Michael White, Cleveland City Council, the Cuyahoga County Commissioners, then-Governor George Voinovich and President Bill Clinton.
Scores and standings
The 1999 tournament is being held in Detroit, followed by Columbus in 2000 and Milwaukee in 2001. The Detroit MIST Committee is busy raising funds and planning this year's tournament. As usual, Cleveland will be well represented.
Cleveland's softball community wishes our comrades in Detroit the best of luck in hosting another successful tournament. ✔
Scores of NCAA games played on June 20:
Four Play 7, Rudy's 0
Tuscany Tile and Marble 14, Four Play 7
Club Cleveland Mustangs 29, Nationwide LeMonte Agency 0 Team Yellow/Twist 32, Nationwide LeMonte Agency 1 Miller Time 14, Twist 9
Club Cleveland Mustangs 7, Rudy's 0
Twist 13, Team Yellow/Twist 1
-
Miller Time 17, Nickel Queens/Hard Hatted Women 0
Tuscany Tile and Marble 24, Nickel Queens/Hard Hatted Women 0
Final Seeding Round Standings. The top five are seeded in competitive division, the bottom four are seeded in the recreational division.
Team
W L % GB
Club Cleveland Mustangs Tuscany Tile and Marble Twist
7
1 .875
0
7 1 .875
0
6
2 .750
1.0
Four Play
Miller Time
Rudy's
Team Yellow/Twist
Nickel Queens/
Hard Hatted Women
5 3 .625 2.0
2532
1
Nationwide LeMonte Agency 0
3 .625 2.0 .375
156
4.0
6 .250 5.0
78
.125 6.0 .000
7.0
A long path, leading to Stonewall, leads onward
by Richard Oldrieve
Cleveland-My affiliation with Stonewall Cleveland officially began five years ago when I was running for political office. Shortly after filing for the primary, I called up then-Stonewall president John Nolan and asked if I could attend a meeting. Nolan said I could come, but that I couldn't tell anybody what I was doing there. For some strange reason I accepted his terms and I began attending meetings regularly.
Last Saturday I ran in the first annual Pride 5K run. As I lined up wearing a purple singlet, green shorts, and matching purple and green racing flats, I remembered that my unofficial affiliation with Stonewall began twenty-six years ago on a similar field several miles up Lake Erie.
On that distant Tuesday evening, I jogged up to Cahoon Park to run in my first time trial for the Bay High School cross-country team. Instead of a carefully selected outfit, I was wearing white canvas tennis shoes; green tie-dyed cut-offs; and a yellow, short-sleeve, button-down dress shirt.
Some twelve minutes after the gun went off, sexual politics whopped me in the head. You see, even though I was a 5-foot, 98-pound freshmanto-be who was wearing funny-looking clothes, I had the audacity to beat most of my future teammates.
Admittedly, a few juniors and seniors who beat me solidly were impressed enough to take me under their wing to explain how to dress more appropriately and how to become a better runner.
But those who didn't beat me began grumbling. As September approached and I came close to making the varsity squad, a fellow freshman seized upon my junior high nickname, "The Big O," and announced that I should be called. "Mo," as in homo. The people who felt threatened by my athletic, academic, and moral dedication used the nickname Mo to attack and intimidate me. Even one of my coaches, during a team party, introduced me to his brother by saying, "This is Mo-you know what a 'mo is, don't you?"
The comment was so rude that I didn't know how to respond. Fortunately, I had the strength and passion to ignore the comment and stay on the team.
Twenty-six years later it's time for me to move on from Stonewall. I've recently been awarded a graduate assistantship to Kent State University's doctoral program in literacy education.
As I move on, I hope that several people reading this column decide to help Stonewall Cleveland succeed. Stonewall is a great place for fledging activists. The name "Stonewall" is like a brand name that generates donations without much hype.
Stonewall has attracted candidates and audience members to four election year forums. Lastly, Stonewall has a long history of success in helping to get fair housing ordinances passed in Westlake, North Olmsted, Cleveland, and Lakewood.
If you want to know how you can help continue and expand the tradition, please attend the next general meeting at the Red Star Cafe on Thursday, September 23. It would seem a shame to let it all slide away.
Richard M. Oldrieve, M.Ed., has been an active member of Stonewall Cleveland for the past five years. The staff of the Gay People's Chronicle would like to thank him for his years of service to Cleveland's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and wish him well as he heads off to "tilt the windmills of educational reform."
Community Groups
our organization would like to mit a column for this page, contact the Chronicle's naging editor, Doreen Cudnik at 531-8646, toll.