Posted by Joe O
on 2/22/2008, 11:00 pm
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Daily Times, Delco Sport: Dunbar...The greatest of the greats
By Terry Toohey, Times Assistant Sports Editor
This is a reprint in part of an article that was written in the summer of 1999.
It's been 13 years since Theresa Dunbar squared off against former Greenhalgh Piper pitcher Don Westbrook in a charity softball game between Sharon Hill A.A. and a group of Over 50 League all-stars.
The two groups played a benefit game for the family of umpire Tommy Morrison, who died earlier in the summer of 1986. It was a natural matchup, featuring the best team in the Del Val Women's Fast Pitch League against some of the top players from the defunct Chester Major Softball League, which folded nearly 20 years earlier.
Dunbar went hitless against Westbrook, who pitched the first three innings for the Over 50 squad. However, Dunbar later reached base on an error and scored the first run on a wild pitch as Sharon Hill topped the Over 50 stars, 2-0.
Little did Dunbar and Westbrook realize that 13 years later they would be linked again, this time forever, as the Delco Softball Players of the Millennium.
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How do you pick the softball figure of the millennium from the hundreds of potential candidates? What are the parameters? Do you pick one player, or one from each type of game -- fast, slow, men's and women's?
That was the dilemma the Daily Times sports staff faced when it set out to select the greatest softball player for our year-long athletes of the millennium series.
After consulting with several of the top softball experts in the county, the decision was made to choose two players -- one male and one female. And while many names cropped up in numerous conversations with people who have been involved with Delaware County softball for more than 50 years, the two names that came up more often than any others were Theresa Dunbar and Don Westbrook.
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Although she played softball in high school and college, basketball was Dunbar's game after she graduated from West Chester University in 1977. She played professionally for three years in Germany.
``I was only supposed to play for one year, but stayed for three,'' Dunbar said. ``It was a terrific experience.''
Upon returning home, the former three-sport star at Archbishop Prendergast and West Chester looked for another way to stay active. A phone call from old friend Nancy Keeley in the spring of 1977 changed Dunbar's athletic path forever.
Keeley was putting together the Sharon Hill A.A. softball team, which would play in the Del Val Women's Fast Pitch League.
``It was just a call between friends,'' Dunbar recalled. ``Nancy was looking through the yearbook and started to call people to see if they were interested in playing softball that summer.''
Dunbar was interested.
``Without that phone call, I don't know what I would be doing right now,'' Dunbar said. ``I don't know if I'd even be playing softball.''
But Keeley made the call, and it started Dunbar and her Sharon Hill A.A. teammates on an incredible 15-year journey that would include 11 Del Val Fast Pitch titles, three Pennsylvania Class A championships, three other tournament crowns, plus trips to Ireland, Hawaii and Curacao.
``The camaraderie and the lifelong friendships that I've made are what I remember most about playing softball,'' Dunbar said. ``The games were fun, but the trips were even more exciting. And a lot of that was Mary Quinlan. She said if we were going to play softball we might as well travel. She was our travel agent.
``We went to a lot of places. When we won the state title in 1984 and qualified for nationals in Albuquerque, New Mexico, it was Mary who came up with the idea to go out a week early and seeing some of the sights. We flew into Las Vegas, stayed there for a couple of days, then took a bus trip to the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon. There are some unbelievable memories.''
The memories are ongoing. Dunbar is still going strong on the local softball circuit, 22 years later. She still plays fast pitch, leading Sporting Goods Place to the Delco Women's Fast Pitch title this season, and she also made the successful transition to the slow-pitch game several years ago.
``She was the most dominant player in our league in the 1980s,'' said Quinlan, a teammate and friend. ``When we didn't win the state tournament, the teams that did would pick her up for nationals. That's how good she was.''
``It's more than her talent that makes her special,'' said Janet DiIorio, who coached Dunbar with Sporting Goods Place and played against her as a member of the Friendly's team in the Del Val Women's Fast Pitch League. ``It's her passion for the game. She loves softball. She'll always be involved in the game. She coaches at Interboro (as a varsity assistant). She helps out with other kids teams, and she still plays in a couple of leagues. She's incredible.''
Even when Dunbar was hurt, she was better than most. Dunbar broke her thumb shortly before the 1986 state tournament and did not play in the first game. She took batting practice before the second game, and wound up batting .500 for the tournament.
``She went back to the doctor when she got home,'' Quinlan said. ``He asked her what she had been doing and she said she said, Nothing. Then the doctor pulls out the article from the paper which said, Dunbar leads Sharon Hill to state title with broken thumb.''
That was one of the few times Dunbar has been hurt.
``I've been very fortunate,'' Dunbar said. ``I've only had a couple of serious injuries during my career. I broke my thumb one time, and I tore my hamstring in 1990. That was the most severe injury I've ever had. But other than that, I've been pretty healthy and that's the key.
``It takes me a little longer to recover from playing two games in one night or four games in five days. I feel it the next day, but overall I've been very lucky. I've been healthy over the course of my career, and to play this long you have to be healthy.''
You also have to be good, and as a player Dunbar has few equals. At 43, she is still one of the best leadoff hitters and one of the best outfielders in the women's game, fast or slow pitch.
And she's been a winner everywhere she's played. Sharon Hill A.A. won the Del Val Women's Fast Pitch title 11 times from 1977-91, and won the state Class A title in 1983, 1984 and 1986. Sharon Hill passed up the 1985 state tournament to play in Ireland.
Dunbar also has been a champion in the slow-pitch ranks, helping Media Spirit of the Del Val Women's Slow Pitch League win the last five Daily Times/Budweiser Champs 'n' Charity Classics. This season, she will play with the Red Lantern Flames of the Suburban Women's Slow Pitch League in the Champs 'n' Charity Classic.
But Dunbar is best remembered as a fast-pitch outfielder for Sharon Hill A.A.
``My dad (Dixie) still talks about those Sharon Hill teams,'' Dunbar said. ``It was such a fun time, and we had so many good players.''
The list of Dunbar's teammates reads like a who's who of Delaware County women's softball. Keeley was one of the most dominant pitchers in the league, and the first player inducted into the league's Hall of Fame. Garnet Valley softball coach Barb Robinson was a charter member of that Sharon Hill team. Quinlan, Mickey Totman, Chris Greeley, Vici Smith, Barb Miller and Vicky (Greenwood) Pecunia are among the 55 players who wore a Sharon Hill A.A. uniform.
In the 15-year history of the franchise, Sharon Hill was 337-141 overall, 197-61 in regular-season league play, 61-25 in the playoffs and 79-55 in tournaments.
Theresa Dunbar was there for almost every win and loss, and all the good times in between.
And best of all, she's still going strong.
``I know people talk about God and how fortunate they are, but I've truly been blessed,'' Dunbar said. ``Lord knows I'm not the smartest person in the world, but God blessed me with athletic ability and gave me the opportunity to play softball for as long as I have. I have nothing to complain about when I get out of bed each morning. I'm truly thankful.''
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