HALL OF FAME - Dan Richards is pictured above alonside members of his family, including: granddaughter, Torey Richards; Tomm Richards, Sue Richards, Dan, granddaughter, Maya; grandson, Maxx; Jessica Richards and Brett Richards.
Star Eagle photo by Kathy Paulson
By KATHY PAULSON
Contributing writer
Dan “Fox” Richards of Geneva was one of 19 individuals inducted into the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame Saturday, Oct. 30 at Wedgewood Cove Golf Club in Albert Lea.
The 31st annual event recognizes individuals who made outstanding contributions to the sport of softball either as a player, manager, umpire, sponsor, promotor, administrator, organizer, volunteer, or as a media contributor.
Over the years several fastpitch softball players and coaches from the NRHEG area have been inducted. Those honored include: Harold “Hank” Thompson in 1994, Daryl Paulsen in 2004, Scott Christensen in 2008; David “Dub Richards, Ron Bergstrom and Ken Hagen in 2014 and Dave “Gilly” Gilbertson in 2016 and this year Dan Richards.
Dan played fastpitch softball in the Southern Minnesota area for nearly three decades.
With his family in attendance, Richards addressed the crowd after he received his Hall of Fame plaque.
Dan’s wife, Sue; sons, Tomm and Brett, as well as Jessica Richards, David and Joyce Richards, DeWayne and Lauri Jensen, Harold Thompson, Daryl and Kathy Paulsen, and Ron and Gaye Bergstrom, were among those in attendance.
Wayne Eddy of Northfield served as Master of Ceremonies this year. Also included in the evening program was a special recognition of Jim Prestholdt, from Dawson.
Following the dinner this years’ inductees were recognized and a review of their accomplishments was presented.
Dan played fastpitch softball from 1968-1995, less the two years he served his country in the military, which included a tour in Vietnam.
Following his years of service Dan served as a Physicians’ Assistant for 41½ years at the Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea before retiring in 2011.
Over his 25 year career on the diamond, Dan earned himself quite the reputation. Mainly playing center field, he earned himself the nickname “Foxy” because of his quick reaction time and ability to make highlight reel plays.
Dan generally batted third in the lineup and finished with a lifetime batting average of .330. He averaged about five home runs per season.
Dan started his fastpitch career playing for the Geneva State Bank Team, and went on to play for Ellendale-Geneva, Cottage Café, Geneva Fastpitch, Hudrilik Furniture, Gordy’s Nursery, the Nelson Decorating teams, and he also played for the Geneva Over 40 fastpitch team.
Most notably, while playing for the Cottage Café, the team won 7 money tournaments in a row.
Over Dan’s many years he played on two Class A State Champion Teams, two Class A Runner-Up teams, and two Class A 3rd place teams.
Dan also played on the St. James “40 and Over division team” which took 3rd place in a National Tournament in the early 1990s.
Dan said he finally had to put his cleats away following quadruple heart bypass surgery.
“I appreciated being able to play with great players and coaches, including Hank Thompson and Ken Stensvold.”
Dan and his wife, Sue, are the parents of two boys, Tomm and Brett, and grandparents of six grandchildren, one boy and five girls. Tomm and Brett enjoyed watching their father play fastpitch softball for many years and followed in their dad’s footsteps, accomplishing a great deal on the softball diamonds too.
In addition to playing, Dan also served as a head coach for several younger fastpitch softball teams in the Geneva area, including 12u, 14u, 16u, and 18u teams before he served as head coach of “DaBoys” 23u fastpitch team, which he also helped start. Dan’s two sons played for the team during his six years as head coach in which time they won five State Tournaments.
“I enjoyed my time as a coach and player,” Dan said. “The years were filled with many great memories.”
Along with Dan, the following individuals were also inducted this year: Tom “Whale” Anderson of Owatonna, Jeb Blais of Austin, Roger Cotton of Rochester, Dick Erickson of Dawson, Stan Fredrickson of Lakeville, Gordy Gerlach, of Hastings, Laurie Hanrahan, of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Perry Hansen, of Lucan-Redwood Falls, Dan Huisman of Ellsworth, Jim Langowski of Winona, Dan Lee of Dawson, Gary Letendre, of Austin, Elwyn Mensink of Ostrander-Preston, Bob Montague of Coon Rapids, Lou Petterson of Minneapolis, Dave Prehn of Hollywood-Delano, Jon Rehwaldt of Minneapolis-Burnsville, and Ray Schmidt of Morgan.
Each of the honorees were presented with a Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame plaque that stated, “Given in Recognition of Superior Performance and Contribution to the Sport of Softball and Shall Forever Be Inducted in the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame.”
“We congratulate Daniel Richards on this great honor,” Kathy Paulson said. “The night provided a wonderful opportunity for the 300 plus people in attendance to reminisce about the friendships and memories made over the many years, as well as replay many great softball games played in our area and throughout Minnesota.”