NSA Hall of Fame: Midwest Sports Complex (2002)
CATEGORY: Park
YEAR INDUCTED: 2002
Hugh Cantrell, in his speech inducting MidWest Sports Complex into the NSA Sports Hall of Fame, thanked his nephew David Stapleton, who most of the NSA family has never met. David’s team played in the first NSA national tournament in Lexington, KY. He also brought with him a team from Indianapolis, IN. That team just happened to play their league and tournament games at MidWest Sports Complex in Indianapolis, IN. The information that this one solitary team from Indianapolis provided Hugh led him to make a phone call, and in Hugh’s own words, was the most important phone call that he ever made in his life.
Chuck Walters owned MidWest at that time, and he agreed to meet Hugh. After a trip to MidWest to meet with Chuck and the MidWest personnel, Chuck, his wife Marlene and a young gentleman by the name of Tim Fishburn came to the 1983 National Convention. Before leaving Lexington and the convention, Chuck and Hugh had a gentleman’s agreement that Midwest Sports Complex would become the first complex to join NSA with all leagues and all tournaments being run under the NSA Banner. A few years later MidWest hosted the World’s largest Slow Pitch World Series in one class up to that point with 220 teams. Since that time, there have been well over 250 post-season tournaments run at MidWest, and all have been run with class and professionalism.
In 1984, Tim Fishburn worked at MidWest as an Umpire. In 1986, Tim became the Park Manager at MidWest. In 1989, R.N. Thompson purchased MidWest from Chuck Walters, and Tim remained as the manager. In 2000, Tim Fishburn purchased MidWest Sports Complex. Like any building, after a few years it needed attention. Tim has given MidWest that attention, and today MidWest stands as one of the top softball complexes in the United States. For 19 years (at the time of this writing), NSA has had loyalty and support from the MidWest Sports Complex organization.
On November 7th, 2002, MidWest Sports Complex became the 1st park to be inducted into NSA’s Sports Hall of Fame.
