Remembering Steve Andrew

CEDAR RAPIDS - Steve Andrew, one of the most celebrated softball players in Cedar Rapids' rich fast-pitch past, died of cancer Thursday at age 63.

“Rookie,” as he was known from his first playing days to his last, was a member of three of the greatest fast-pitch teams to come out of this town. He helped win national titles with Welty Way in 1971 and Teleconnect in 1987 and was a member of the 1980 national runner-up Midwest Galleries team.

“He was Mr. Softball in my mind,” said LeRoy Wegmann, a member of the Teleconnect team that won the International Softball Congress World title.

“We had three or four of the best players in the game,” said Jim Caviness, who managed Andrew and Welty Way to the '71 Amateur Softball Association national title. “And Steve was one of them. He was just a heck of a ballplayer ... he could do everything.”

For Ed White, a teammate with Welty Way and Midwest Galleries, Andrew was that and much more.

“He was my best friend,” said White, who was by Andrew's side Thursday. “He was just a wonderful Christian human being.”

Andrew started playing fast-pitch shortly after a standout prep career at Mount Vernon High School.

“We picked him up from a town team out of Mount Vernon,” Caviness said. He was an instant smash and became “Rookie” as a member of a veteran team.

“He had a couple, three tremendous years for us,” Caviness said.

Andrew moved on to King Richards, Midwest Galleries and, eventually, became player/manager for Teleconnect.

“He was such a clutch hitter,” said friend and former teammate Steve Anderson, who recalled a story when Andrew called his shot at the 1986 ISC World tournament. With his team down in the bottom of the seventh, Andrew was facing an 0-2 count against one of the game's top pitchers. Andrew called time and walked back to the dugout.

“He said ‘boys, take your shoes off, I'm hitting the next one out of here,'” Anderson said. “He did. We won it with a walk-off homer.”

Andrew played in six national tournaments, six world tournaments and three Olympic Festivals. A two-time Major Open league batting champ, he was one of the best third basemen in the country, winning All-World selection twice and All-American honors once.

“He was born to play third base,” Anderson said.

“He was beyond Cedar Rapids good,” said Ralph Palmer, a former softball great and Andrew's boss at the Ar-Jay Center for more than 20 years.

“Steve was a man of principles in the way he spoke and the actions of how he lived,” Palmer said.

“He was just a wonderful person,” White added.