2019 Male Player: Art Reboletti

Art Reboletti

Art Reboletti has played over 25 years of USSSA softball starting at the age of 20. His tournament career started with The Gamblers, and moved quickly landing a spot on The Kings the following year. Art first saw The Kings playing against them in a Bensenville league. He knew that was the team he would get himself on and was achieved by the end of that season. He spent the remainder of his career playing with the nucleus of that team moving to other teams such as the Screwballs, Rogers Drywall, Shockers, Tron Piping, Ken Adams Softball, and Ken’s Beverage.

Art is an incredible athlete and absolutely dominated on the pitcher’s mound. His glove was unmatched up the middle. He would cover second on force plays allowing his defenders to play a deep infield. His love of competition and devotion to making himself a better player never diminished. “I was so fortunate to play on the teams that I did, we all had the same dedication to the game never missing a weekend to play. We all made sacrifices to play, missing family events, weddings and so on… but that’s what it takes to excel!”

He was a part of 5 State Championship wins, several runners-up, numerous Regional and World Tournaments with exceptional finishes. He has several All Tournament and MVP awards to back his game up. He boasted a .650 plus average with over 500 home runs. One year with Rogers Drywall hitting over .750 for the season. 

Bill Sahagian will be the first to tell you how hard Art worked at his game taking countless rounds of batting practice. (Although he would not shag balls before games because he did not want to get his feet wet in the morning and evening dew!) Bill was my mentor and I owe so much of my success to him teaching me how to play and love this game the right way. “I was blessed to play with Bill, his brother Jeff Sahagian, Jim Walsh, Jim Cushing, these are some of the finest players and was an honor to be on the field with them.”

2019 Male Player: Ron Funderberg

Ron “T-Bird” Funderberg

Written by Pete Williams – Manager/Coach Lilly Air Systems (1996 IL USSSA HOF Inductee) 

Ron Funderberg is THE softball player from Waukegan, Illinois. He specializes in two things; hitting and pitching. I first saw him play when my team from Deerfield, the Hilltoppers, started playing in the Waukegan house league, says Pete Williams, former manager and coach.

Waukegan was probably the most competitive league in Illinois although some people from Rockford might doubt that. Anyway, there are a lot of great players in the league, but it did not take me long to figure out that Ron ‘T-Bird’ Funderberg was the best. He would regularly hit high fly balls over the fence and above the adjacent building. Over the years, I have seen many home run hitters, but none that provided the defence in the field like T-Bird.

T-Bird was a pitcher who could throw high arc in an ASA league and keep the ball at the 3-foot level when playing USSSA. His skills as a defender was that he would back up quickly after pitching the ball and get in the crouched position ready to field ground balls heading his way. This, along with his wide body stance, would almost eliminate all the players that would try to hit the ball up the middle. In fact, when playing ASA, he would go back so far that often he would take the throw from middle infielders on force plays at second base.

In the years we played in the Waukegan League as the Hilltoppers and later as Lilly Air Systems, I continued to try and recruit him to play with our team. But he was loyal and continued to play with his team Big Al’s and with his buddy, John Foster. However, when John Lilly decided to sponsor and play for a team on a National level, T-Bird was one of the first players we selected to help us win tournaments on weekends all over the country.

In 1980, Lilly won enough tournaments to qualify the play in the USSSA World Series in Concord, California. With the help of T-Bird and others of his skill, we were able to finish fourth in the country. In 984, we were one of the 80 teams to qualify for the ASA Men’s Major World Tournament in Dallas, Texas. With T-Bird pitching and timely hitting and the rest of the talented team members, Lilly went 7-0 and captured the World Championship at the Major Level.

T-Bird’s playing days didn’t end with Lilly Air Systems, however. The Bird then joined Joe Black’s Softball Club and continued his prowess on the mound, helping them attain National success as well. Softball has been a big part of T-Bird’s life and he deserves the honor given to him tonight, inducting him into the Illinois USSSA Hall of Fame.

2019 Male Player: Lincoln Adams

Lincoln Adams

Growing up, Lincoln Adams used to watch his brothers play for the Rockford Lithuanian Club. He never imagined that he would one day play softball at an elite level, traveling the country playing softball… for free! He was just a kid playing basketball for Aurora University when he started playing softball with his brothers on the Bulldogs out of Crystal Lake. He next received an opportunity to play with Steve Lane, Jim Phad and Terry Speed on Team Easton from Joliet.

Linc’s most exciting memory was how he got his start on Ken Adams Softball team. Dave Shaff tells the story that Ken wanted him to “take a look” at Linc, a centerfielder. Dave told Ken, “I’m the centerfielder for Ken Adams Softball.” After Dave watched Linc play a few innings, Dave told Ken to get Lincoln and that he would be okay moving to right field. 

Linc also remembers the first time he played in a USSSA World Tournament with Ken Adams Softball, He was playing with a lot of future Hall of Famers, while learning the game of softball. He remembers going in to run for Jimmy Walsh (HOF 2015) and finishing the game in centerfield. Linc learned a lot from the likes of Dave Shaff (HOF 2015), Bill Sahagian (HOF 2005), Don Vlcek (HOF 2014), and Jim Cushing (HOFF 1998).

Over the time Linc spent with KA Softball, he felt it was awesome to play in some of the biggest tournaments in the country each year. He especially remembers the Dudley in Minnesota and the Music City in Nashville, and numerous trips to Liberty Park in Michigan. One of the big thrills was playing in the USSSA Major World Series in the stadium at Disney ESPN Wide World of Sports. Linc remembers when KA traveled out of state, other teams couldn’t believe that everybody on the team was from the same area, as most teams had players from multiple states. 

Unfortunately, Linc missed a lot of family weddings over the years, but had a great time spending those weekends with some great groups of guys, many of whom are still good friends. Those friendships played a big part in Lincoln turning down an opportunity to play with a Major team. It was an easy decision when he knew how much his teammates relied upon and had invested in him.

Lincoln recalls that the USSSA was always regarded as the cream of the crop organization, one that everyone looked forward to playing at the end of the season in the USSSA World Tournaments. He wishes he could have played the years earlier, prior to the advent of the super bats. He believes that would have made playing centerfield a lot more fun with a good ball and single wall bats. Linc says the game has taken on a false identity for some over the years.