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The brief version of the history of the GDWL, scroll down further to see MORE DETAILED version...
How it all began, lets see, it started in the summer of 2002 when 5 neighborhood kids/teenagers (Josh Smith, Jennifer Elkins, William Held, Matt Thornton, & Katherine Held, Kevin is considered by some to be the 6th, but whatever) decided to start a wiffleball league, due to being bored & having nothing to do. They just had exhibition games that year, the following spring, they had Spring Training, in which they continued to have fun. The regular season came, & about half of the season the fun was still there, then in September 2003 the Kung-Fu Pandas joined the league, it was good at first, but Josh Smith & Grant Smith (Capt. of Pandas) didn't exactly see eye to eye on things, & nearly had a huge fight at the Grassy Knool, after that Josh appointed Chestar Sowards as Commisioner of the league & then Funky Green left the league forever to start it back up at Garrett Drive where it all began when it was all about fun. So, that's what is going on currently, that is the past, lets forget the last part of it & move on & have fun.
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GDWL history (1992-1999)
Ahhh...yes, back in '92, when we all were so young. It was during these years that friends & memories were made. We saw great players come & go during these years, including: Anthony Johnson, Jamison, Braxton, Cory Gibson, Derek Krall, Todd High, & many others. These years when we all were still learning & above all, having tons of fun. These years were a beautiful blur of our childhoods.
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GDWL history (2000-2001)
During this time, we grew older & more competitive, we started trying a little harder when it came to playing the game. But...yet, the GDWL still wasn't officially in existence...
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GDWL History (2002)
It started like all of the other summers, just playing around for fun, then Josh Smith (who would be later known as Dr. Funky Green) thought that it'd be a cool idea if they started a wiffleball league (assuming that there wasn't already such thing). They got a late start (establishing the league in August, just weeks before summer vacation ended). They named the league after the street that they've been playing on since '92, Garrett Drive. Since the league established so late, no "real" games were played, they just finished the remainder of the year with exhibition games.
The founders of the Garrett Drive Wiffleball League: Josh "Dr. Funky Green" Smith, Matt "Hollywood" Thornton, William Held, Jennifer Elkins, & Katherine "Fashionably Late" Held.
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GDWL History (2003)
In March, the league was quick about getting it together & starting on the league’s first spring training. GDWL Spring Training 2004 was surprisingly a moderate success; contracts & commitments began. Josh Smith (aka Dr. Funky Green) signed a lifetime contract with his brainchild, the Green Bears. Matt Thornton (aka Hollywood) along with William Held (aka Killer) signed unlimited contracts with their team, the Vipers. Greg Sowards (aka Chestar) showed up in mid-spring, due to being invited by friend/future teammate Dr. Funky Green. He (Chestar) would agree to a one-year deal with the Green Bears. Then Justin Bailey (aka Big ‘J’) signed a 3-year contract with the Green Bears. The Green Bears appeared to be rather stacked, when Katherine Held (aka Fashionably Late) signed an unlimited contract with the team she co-found, the Green Bears. But, the Vipers weren’t out of it, they signed one of the league’s most talented & mysterious players, the recent newcomer, Ryan Hale (aka Rhino) to an 8-year contract. Kevin White chose to remain unsigned by either team, but continued to play when he could for the Vipers despite not having a contract. Jen Elkins finally was the last one to sign on the dotted line, agreeing to a contract with the Green Bears. The signing frenzy was over.
With the Green Bears roster full & the Vipers with a promising trio, Spring Training was over & the season had begun, the season opener, the Green Bears won. The season continued with fun & grace with occasional petty arguments about rules, nothing serious. Then came the time, in August, to vote on the first 3 inductees in to the GDWL Hall of Fame. The votes were in, the inductees: Chestar (who was having a spectacular season), Dr. Funky Green, & (the very talented & respected) Kevin White. The Green Bears were having a marvelous season, with a 6-1 record, the Vipers with a 1-6 season, but having fun at least. That all changed in September when Dr. Funky Green & Chestar invited 3 friends into the league. They were Grant “back & to the left” Smith, Aaron “Agent Matthew Jones”, & Greg “The Polish Wonder” Szepelak, they formed a team & called themselves the Kung-Fu Pandas. They were warmly welcomed into the league by most of the league. As the days went by, Grant Smith began to criticize the then current commissioner of the league (Dr. Funky Green) accusing him of doing a poor job with the league & showing favoritism towards his own team & Grant was using profanity against Dr. Funky Green. Rumors scattered throughout the league, & trash-talk began with everyone. All of it came to a head in an October game at the Grassy Knoll (Pandas home field) when Grant Smith & Dr. Funky Green started fighting, this lead to a bench clearing brawl. When the fight was over, they all went to the front porch & discussed league business. Dr. Funky Green resigned as the commissioner & appointed Chestar as new commissioner & Dr. Funky Green left for what seemed as for good from the sport he loved, saying : “Fine!…if they want to destroy the league, they might as well do it by themselves, I don’t want to play the sport I love with people who take it too seriously as to resort to violence to get what they want, it’s pathetic really. So I’m gone.” That wasn’t the last of Dr. Funky Green, Chestar very soon resigned as commissioner & joined Dr. Funky Green. The both of them returned to Garrett Drive & met with the rest of the founding members & discussed the Pandas. Dr. Funky Green had already kicked the Kung-Fu Pandas out of the league until they voted on weather or not to kick them out for good or not. In the end, it was unanimous…the kung-fu pandas were out forever! Later Greg Szpepelak left the pandas & joined Dr. Funky Green & the Green Bears, since he never really took part in the verbal accusations. That was known as “the GDWL/Kung-Fu Pandas incident’. Later as a result, all stats achieved by the Kung-Fu Pandas were revoked & they were also refused the opportunity to play the Green Bears in the 2003 GDWL World Series. The GDWL decided to call it a season after that, no world series, no more games (since the seasons usually end in September, October did not cooperate very well weather-wise).
The GDWL took a breather & began planning & brainstorming for what to do in the fall & winter, so they began planning for a fall/winter wiffleball training program. Things were beginning to calm down & look up before Kevin White announced that he was moving (although he’d be in the Hurricane area still, he wouldn’t be in the neighborhood & playing anymore). His legend will continue to flourish in the GDWL history books & he will be remembered forever for his achievements.
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GDWL History (2004)
Things were starting off semi-grim with the GDWL near the beginning of the season, there was hardly any spring training after the first 3 days of January (we had some freaky mild weather that we played in the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd of January '04), & the practices & exhibition games they did have were very loosely organized. Things were not looking good. As the spring time came closer & closer to summer, the founding members couldn't take it anymore, & had an off-the-wall season opener game on Mother's Day '04, since they were all there, which was a rarity throughout the winter & spring. But it wasn't really that rare union that gave them the push to go ahead & have the earliest regular season game ever in the GDWL's history, it was the fact that their sister league, the Marina Wiffleball League, visited GDWL ballpark a few days prior & had a blast. So thus, they decided to go ahead & kick off the season. "I was afraid that if we didn't go ahead & start it then, it wouldn't have happened for a while longer, or not at all, for that matter" said Josh "Dr. Funky Green" Smith, he continued "And even then, it worked, but I knew it'd probably be a rough season for consistency, the Kung-Fu Panda split was still bitter, but we got Zep out of it, but Zep was still a little distant, but no one was really enthused." That Mother's Day season opener game took place in the afternoon of May 9th, 2004; it would be a month & 11 days before the next time they'd have a regular season game (on June 30th), that game, the Vipers would win 9 to 6, and another league first - the Vipers & Green Bears both having .500 records with a win & a loss a piece. The Vipers had improved, & The Green Bears were coping. It would, again, be another while before the next regular season game, which would take place on August 5th, but the game would be called at 9:45 p.m. due to darkness. Then it'd be another 10 day wait before another game, which would be completed, not only that, but history would be made : CHESTAR THREW A COMPLETE GAME NO-HITTER. Even this, didn't spark up a lot of consistent gameplay, Dr. Funky Green elaborated why exactly this was "Every single one of us had something going on that summer, no lie, Chestar & I had jobs, Zep was in Illinois a lot, William "Killer" had baseball, Katherine had softball & soccer; it was just so busy & we kept cancelling eachother out with our extra activities that when one of us had free time, the other(s) were doing something. It was the hardest thing ever to try to contact everyone & despirately try to get just that one more game together, even as stoked as everyone was when Chestar threw that no-hitter, things just didn't pick up..." That August 20th no-hitter would be the last game until September, which is when the season would finally pick up, Dr. Funky Green got a car, so did Zep, & the games were about to begin. But, it was late September before all of the games would take place. "Getting back into the swing of school, took some time, with it being most ours senior year & all, but it was easier for us all to confirm & consult with eachother, which lead to an extremely busy September" Dr. Funky Green commented. September 23rd, they'd be back & ready for action, and a friend from just down the road would join them, Allen Meadows (who'd go on to start his own wiffleball league literally days later). They played another game 2 days later. They played a lot of exhibition games between games & that afternoon & evening they did what they called "The Tour De Hurricane" in which it was basically, to begin with, an orientation of Winners Circle (Allen's neighborhood) to start up a league there, but it turned into a tour all over town playing at the City Park, visiting the Bricks Nest (Marina Wiffleball League) & GDWL Ballpark (to play a regular season game) & back to Lextington Estates/winners circle for more exhibition games. "That was a fun experience, & I will never forget it, we played for hours & were on the road for about 1/3 of it, it was just straightforward fun wiffleball, everywhere we went, we played wiffleball, it was one of the best times we've ever had as a league." --- Dr. Funky Green. That sort of ended the season, excitement wise, there was a double header 3 days later on the 28th, in which the Vipers won both games, but they still finished a game back, behind the Green Bears, which means that the Green Bears won their second consecutive GDWL Championship. "I was very pleased with how the season ended, with 4 games in virtually the same week, we played about as many games (game-wise) as we did the season before, & with fewer cancellations & delays. If only the league would have had it's excitement that it had when the season ended, at the beginning of the season, it would have most definately been a remarkable season, but I'm happy with the way it turned out this way though" said Dr. Funky Green looking back.
Plans were to once again to try to plan some winterwiffleball at Catholic Heights, but yet again, it didn't happen with conflicting schedules & things of that matter.
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