Remembering 2 of softball’s best

If you grew up in or around Cedar Rapids and are of a certain age — shall we say “older” — you likely played or attended an amateur softball game.

Or you knew somebody who played or spent a lot of time at Ellis Park or the Kirkwood Softball Complex, two of the popular venues in softball’s heyday.

If you fit that description, chances are you knew Jim Caviness and Dennis Usher.

Softball produced many interesting characters during the 1960s, ’70s and in into the ’80s and ’90s before the game’s popularity waned. There were great players, outstanding managers and wonderful men and women who worked behind the scenes, setting up fields, running tournaments and facilities.

Caviness was in that manager group, “Wally” Usher in all those groups.

Both men died recently, Jim on Dec. 19 and Dennis on Jan. 11.

I cut my journalism teeth at The Gazette on softball — covering Major Open games at Ellis and watching Caviness do his magic with Modern Piping and the Iowans. I spent plenty of weekends at the Kirkwood complex covering tournaments. Usher, as well as his wife Judy, was a constant companion during those days. Dennis did a little bit of everything to make sure the tournaments ran smoothly.

“Jim had a love for softball, earning him a place in both the Iowa and Cedar Rapids Men's Fast-pitch Softball Hall of Fame,” Caviness’ obit read. “The highlight was when his team won the USA National Tournament and represented the United States in the World Tournament in Manila, Philippines in 1972.”

The Welty Way run was a bit before my time at The Gazette, but I remember the stories and the pride that team brought to Cedar Rapids. Softball folks still were talking about Caviness and those players long after many had retired from the game.

  Buy Photo

He had many more memorable moments with Modern Piping, too, managing some of the greatest players in Cedar Rapids fast-pitch history.

“He was a ‘bigger than life’ figure whenever he walked onto a softball field,” one former fast-pitch player posted on the Cedar Rapids Fastpitch: Days Gone By page on Facebook.

“Jim was one of the all-time greats!” one of his former pitchers posted.

Known as an intense competitor who wasn’t afraid to share his opinion with an umpire or opposing manger or player, Caviness also had a great sense of humor and big heart.

“In recent years Jim has wanted to help the homeless. To honor Jim's memory, the family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Willis Dady Homeless Services,” his obit concluded.

Usher was quite a competitor, too. He was a standout football player at his beloved Jefferson High School, earning all-state honors and helping the J-Hawks to a 6-2 record in 1961. He played one season at UNI, too.

He also was a standout on the basketball court, but, in his later years, was a “staple of the 16-inch softball community,” his obit noted.

“He played and coached for over 30 years. He played with his great friends on the Paradise Lounge teams in the ’70s and ’80s, coached a league team named the Kirkwood Eagles in the ’90s, and later coached his son on the Union Station team in the ’90s and early 2000s.”

Usher was inducted into the state 16-inch Hall of Fame in July.

For those who don’t remember, Cedar Rapids was once softball mecca. This city produced some of the best 14- and 16-inch slow-pitch teams in Iowa and the Midwest, some of the best men’s fast-pitch teams in the nation.

It was important because men like Jim Caviness and Dennis Usher made it important. But it also was fun because men like Caviness and Usher — and many more — made it fun.

Comments: (319) 398-5861; jr.ogden@thegazette.com