TEAM SPOTLIGHT: SCRAP IRON 65'S Gregg ... - Softball Magazine

TEAM SPOTLIGHT: SCRAP IRON 65’S
Gregg Near
Feature and photos by Jack Eberhard
“Your pride kicks in!”
That’s how Ken Green, a 68 year old
alternate hitter on the over 65 men’s
team, explained his motivation for creating
one of the unique and successful
senior softball organizations in America.
As it turns out, ego, in the best sense of
the word, was the driving force behind
the formation of the Scrap Iron Softball
Club.
Today, the Colorado based organization
has nine teams competing in all age
groups at tournaments throughout the
country. From 50 to 75 Plus, Scrap Iron
has in excess of 130 players competing
with their trademark logo emblazoned
across their chest. And they are enjoying
tremendous success.
Since their inception, the Scrap Iron
teams have won the Senior World Series,
World Senior Games and countless other
titles. In 2005, the organization’s 60’s
team (players from 60 to 64) won six
tournaments, and that is just scratching
the surface.
In 2006 The Scrap Iron/Worth team
won the Western Nationals, U.S. National
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Joe DeCristofaro
Tom Shell
Championship and the World Championship. This is
very rare to do in the same season and is noted as
the “Triple Grand Slam.” Only a few teams have
achieved this feat. Mike Massong was the MVP and
Bill Nero coached the team.
“There is nothing like us,” Phil Field, the club’s secretary/treasurer
said about Scrap Iron’s commitment
to excellence. “We go to a tournament and we are a
force.”
Which leads us back to how this all got started –
the origins of a dynasty.
“I had just turned 50, so I joined a team in
Broomfield, Colorado,” Ken Green explained. “It was
just a bunch of old guys getting together after church.
We’d go to tournaments in Las Vegas and Reno and
teams would just kill us. Finally I said ‘no more’ so I
started recruiting guys to play on a new team.”
This one man who had been playing competitive
softball since he was twenty-one didn’t want to just go
through the motions. He wanted to compete. So he
took matters into his own hands.
Finding players was easier than he had imagined.
Just because Father Time moved them beyond fifty
didn’t mean that the competitive juices had stopped
flowing. There were plenty of guys out there with
loads of scrappiness left. They just needed a place to
play.
“We’re good players who just got old,” Green says.
And the results proved his point. In addition to all of
the championships, the league also boasts some
players with tremendous numbers. Last year, two
Softball Magazine Issue 3 2009 • Page 33

TEAM SPOTLIGHT: SCRAP IRON 65’S
Greg Broeckelman
Murl Skalla
Scrap Irons batted over .800 and a
couple more eclipsed the .700 mark.
“We played our sons’ team and beat
them,” Green said with a measure of
pride. “I thought they were going to
cry.”
While being competitive was the
motivation for forming his own softball
empire, it’s not the only driving
force behind Green’s desire to stay
on the field. It’s not all about winning.
“I’m just proud to be alive,” he said.
“There’s a lot to be said for just being
able to do it. I’m lucky to be able to
do it.”
But that’s not to say winning isn’t
nice.
“We won the Fifty-five Worlds in
‘97,” Green added. “And that overshadowed
anything I’d ever done in
my life.”
With corporate sponsors backing
their expansion, there would be many
more victories on the horizon for
Green, Field and their Scrap Iron
Teammates and they want others to
be a part of the fun.
“We’re always open to new players,”
Field noted. “We want to
expand, to both men and women.
That requires that new people keep
coming in.” And they’re coming in
from everywhere.
“There are people knocking on our
door to be a part of it,” Green said
about the allure of the Scrap Iron
moniker. “We have players from
Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Florida
and everywhere!”
Despite the club’s penchant for
success, they are overly choosy
when it comes to newcomers.
“For any senior softball player to
play on a national level, they just
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Kenny Green
Glenn Bodnar
have to be ambulatory, “ joked
Green.
As long as they can keep swinging
the bat, run the bases and field
the ball, Ken Green and Phil Field
will keep playing competitive softball.
And as the founders of the
Scrap Iron Softball Club, they’ll keep
representing Colorado well at tournaments
around the country.
Terry Hennessey, Chief Executive
Officer of SSUSA, the largest and
best Senior Softball Association in
the United States said, “The Scrap
Iron organization has been a fundamental
force in the growth of senior
softball in Colorado. It has produced
numerous National and World championships
teams over the course of
the past several years and has
come to symbolize quality teams
and great sportsmanship whenever
Scrap Iron teams are competing.”
Editorial note: Co-Authors of
this article in its original format,
Kenny Green and Murl Skalla,
have since passed away. Kenny
Green passed on in February of
2009 and Murl Skalla passed in
July of 2008. Kenny and Murl,
who all suspect are playing on bigger
and better softball fields now,
were the founding fathers of Scrap
Iron and are missed dearly.
Softball Magazine Issue 3 2009 • Page 35