So are we sure you are old enough to enter his hallowed hall?? Just playin, but you are one of the younger entrants into the Kenosha HOF…how does that feel?
It is pretty cool. I’ve been lucky enough to play with some great teams that have done really well. And I always believe individual accolades don’t happen if the team doesn’t win. Every guy I played with should know they influenced how I ended up going in this early.
You have obviously seen the game experience massive changes..some for the better….some not so much, your thoughts on the evolution of what has become Kenosha Softball?
Kenosha softball is still good, just not many teams left. It’s like this everywhere we go. Where there were 120 teams in a world tournament, there is now 40.
How about a list of 5 of the greatest you played with or against?
I can’t list 5 guys I played with over the years. I’d leave someone out and that wouldn’t be right. The 5 I played against would have to Travis Clark, Mike Umschied, Jerry Reeves, Ransley Pressley, and Scott Atkins. I did play with all 5 of them over the course of time, but briefly.
Now name a couple of good players but great personalities you have ran this run with?
Eric Povich, Josh Hearn, and Keith Anderson. Great ball players and even better people off the field. The stories could go on for days about all 3 of them.
Name a game that really sticks out in your head as one of your sweetest victories.
I did an article with the Kenosha News about our 1993 Rob’s Rockin Sports Bar team as the greatest game. Still the greatest game I’ve been a part of.
The City Tournament is dead and The Rotary Tournament seems like it may be on life support, are you ready to swoop in and somehow save the day?
We as a team (Shenanigans) have been lending support to the Rotary tournament for years. Myself, James Zych, and Nick Melito have been working in different ways to help keep that tournament going. While the upper division was cancelled this year and we aren’t able to play, the lower division looks like it has quite a few teams this year.
The double header league from back in the day was pretty much your baby, were those your “best of times”?
Rocky and I came up with that idea to do that in 1996. It brought the best teams around to Kenosha to play in the league. Yeah, it was really good. I learned a lot playing against them.
Who hit you the hardest? Which big hitter did you own?
Who didn’t hit me hard? Lol. Having pitched for 30 years, everybody got me some time or another. And I don’t think I owned anybody. I just tried to attack every batter the best I could and hopefully get them to do what they didn’t want to do.
You are a heavy “Czar Family Group”…your immediate family including your softball playing brothers gotta be happy for you.
None of what I have done would be possible without the unending support of my wife Karen and my daughters Emily and Lauren and I share this honor with them. They allowed me to be selfish and continue to play a child’s game to this day. And yes, my brothers are very proud as well, I asked them to do my induction on Sunday.
Does WTP qualify as a legit Kenosha Softball Dynasty?
I’m not sure if Dynasty is the word. We’ve had a hell of a run. 4 Rotaries, 1 City, multiple runners up, multiple state titles, and the 2012 NSA world championship makes for some serious hardware. If people want to put us in that talk, I’m not going to disagree. We played as hard as we could on the field, and had fun win or lose off the field.
Lastly, who the hell is on as “Greg Czarnecki” more on Facebook, you or Rock?
That would be Rock. I don’t post much. Everybody knows when it’s him and when it’s me.