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
Gordon Zuverink joined his local National Guard unit in Holland, Michigan, after graduating from high school in 1939. His unit was federalized in 1940 and sent to train in Louisiana. In 1942, his division was sent to Australia and then to New...
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--Personal narratives,...
Jane Jacobs Badini was born in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, in 1924. She grew up playing softball, first with her brothers, and later with organized teams. She was a talented pitcher, and one of the players recruited by the AAGPBL when it was formed in...
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; Baseball players--Michigan;...
Earlene “Beans” Risinger was born in Hess, Oklahoma, in 1927. She grew up on a farm in Dust Bowl country, and played baseball from a young age with family and friends, and practiced with boys’ teams in her community. She saw a newspaper...
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;...
Norma Dearfield was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania in 1928. She talked her parents into giving her a baseball glove for Christmas when she was twelve, and played on local girls’ teams while in high school. She saw an ad in the newspaper for...
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,...
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...
Universities & colleges--Michigan--Allendale; Grand Valley State University--Periodicals; College publications
Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication for faculty, staff, students, and alumni published by the Grand Valley State University News & Information Services.
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans ; Video recordings; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American; United States. Army
Richard Dorsey was born in 1946 in Gary, Indiana. After graduating from high school and briefly attending college, Dorsey attempted to the join the Air Force, who denied him because of a bad knee, although the Army eventually drafted him. Following...
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; United States. Army; Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American; Video recordings
Robert Green served in the military for two years during the Korean War. He was drafted, but served at Fort Carson, Colorado. He was raised in Lowell, Michigan along with his two younger siblings. While in the Army, he was a mechanic on tracked...
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--Michigan;...
Dolly Konwinski was born on May 27, 1931 in Chicago Illinois. Starting at the age of seven, she played baseball with a neighborhood team and her father who encouraged her to pursue it. In 1947, Konwinski got her big break and tried out for one of...
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--Michigan;...
Marilyn Jenkins was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1934. She grew up in Grand Rapids and played baseball with family and friends, and played softball with the neighborhood kids. When the Grand Rapids Chicks arrived in 1945, she talked her way...
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;...
Helen Filarski Steffes was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1924. She grew up playing baseball with boys in the neighborhood. She met some of the players from the All American league who encouraged her to try out, and went on to play third base for...
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,...
Noella Le Duc was born in Graniteville, Massachusetts in 1933. She grew up playing baseball with the boys, and when she was sixteen, a friend of her mother’s introduced her to one of the AAGPBL players, Rita Briggs, who arranged a tryout for her...
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...
Philanthropy and society--Personal narratives; Charities--Michigan; Associations, institutions, etc.--Michigan; Grand Valley State University; Grand Haven (Mich.); Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership;
Dorothy “Dottie” Johnson discusses her early life in Los Angeles and her education in public schools and at UC Berkeley and Harvard. She talks about working for J. Walter Thompson in New York and about moving to Grand Haven, Mich. where she...
Universities & colleges--Michigan--Allendale; Grand Valley State University--Periodicals; College publications
Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication for faculty, staff, students, and alumni published by the Grand Valley State University News & Information Services.
Oral history; Veterans History Project (U.S.); United States--History, Military; Michigan--History, Military; Veterans; Video recordings; United States. Navy; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
John Wessels, born and in Grand Rapids Michigan in 1924, served in the U.S. Navy from January 1941 to November 1945 during World War II. After having completed his basic training, John was assigned to be an aviation radioman. His first deployment...
