Michigan--History; Local histories; Memoirs; Oral histories (document genre); Grand Rapids (Mich.); Personal narratives; Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.); Grand Valley State University; Women
Nellie Calder was born in Chicago on 12 August 1893. She married Earle Clements in 1914. She organized the Junior League with Josephine Bender and was at one time the president of the Women’s City Club. Mrs. Clements traveled to Europe with the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army;
Felix Gullick spent most of his childhood on a farm in Kansas, and then moved to Muskegon, Michigan in 1939. He was drafted and served in the US Army between 1943 and 1946. He did his basic training in California, and spent about a year working on...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Mary Louise “Wimp” Baumgartner was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1930. She played in the AAGPBL from 1949 to 1954 as a catcher for Peoria and South Bend. She went to college in the off season, and after the league folded she became a teacher...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Helen La Camera was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1931. She grew up playing sports with neighborhood kids, and started playing organized softball in eighth grade. Her coach, Mary Pratt, had played in the AAGPBL, and arranged for her to try out...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Mary Froning O’Meara was born in Minster, Ohio, in 1934. She played on softball teams run by the local Catholic Youth Organization while in school, and was recruited into the AAGPBL in 1951. She played outfield for the South Bend Blue Sox from...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Jeneane Lesko was born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1935. She grew up playing sports, practicing with men’s baseball and basketball teams. She was playing for a softball team in Lima, Ohio, when she was recruited into the AAGPBL. She was a pitcher...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Joan Holderness was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1933. She learned to play baseball from her father, and after the Kenosha Comets came to town, she started going to their games and became their bat girl, and was recruited to join the team as an...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Ginger Gascon was born in Chicago in 1931 and grew up playing softball. She played on softball teams used by the AAGPL as farm clubs while she was in highschool, then joined the Springfield Sallies for the league’s barnstorming tour in 1949. ...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Jerre Denoble was born in Oakland, California in 1923. She learned to play ball from her father, and while she was a teenager she started playing softball in an industrial league. A friend encouraged her to try out for the AAGPBL, and she joined...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Mary Moore was born in 1932 and grew up outside of Detroit, Michigan. She played ball with the boys in vacant lots in her neighborhood growing up, and met some of the Detroit Tiger players who lived in the area. She was recruited into the AAGPBL...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Kate Vonderau was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1927. She grew up playing ball with her brothers. She learned about the AAGPBL when the Daisies came to Fort Wayne, and tried out for and made the team in 1946. She was a catcher, and eventually...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives,...
Joyce Barnes McCoy was born in on a farm south of Hutchinson, Kansas on October 18, 1925. She played softball with her siblings and then played various sports throughout grade and high schools. One day while still in high school she was reading a...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Illinois;...
Jean Cione was born in Rockford, Illinois in 1928. She grew up in the Rockford area and played softball with the neighborhood boys and then also played with the local industrial teams. When the Rockford Peaches made Rockford their headquarters,...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Illinois;...
Mary Pratt was born in 1918 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Throughout her early childhood and on through college she played baseball. Before joining the All American Girls Professional Baseball League, Pratt played hockey for two seasons with the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Illinois;...
Maybelle Blair was born in 1927 in Longvale, California. Before joining the All American Girl’s Baseball League she played baseball with her brothers at the age of nine and then later in 1942 at age twelve began playing organized softball. At...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Illinois;...
Shirley Burkovich was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She played softball with the neighborhood boys and her brother throughout her childhood. She first heard about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League one day when she was reading...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Illinois;...
Toni Palermo was born and grew up in Forest Park, Illinois. When she was ten, her P.E. teacher encouraged her to try out for a professional softball league in Chicago. She played for a farm team until she turned fourteen when she joined the...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Illinois;...
Elma Weiss was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1923. She attended Ohio State University and then enlisted in the Navy in 1943. She served in Oakland, California during the war and subsequently attended the University of California and was playing in a...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Indiana;...
Audrey Daniels was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1927. She grew up playing ball with the boys in the neighborhood, and then joined a girls’ team when she was fifteen. She was later spotted by Dotty Hunter, who had played in the All American...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); Video recordings; All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives; Baseball for women--United States; Baseball; Sports for women; World War, 1939-1945; Baseball players--Indiana;...
Mary Lou Caden (née Studnicka) was born in Oak Lawn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. She grew up in the Oak Lawn area and started playing softball with the neighborhood kids and transitioned to playing for local teams. She played as a short-stop in...
