At 54 years and counting, Bill Pfeiffer can’t walk away from the game he loves.
For that, granddaughter Brooke Pfeiffer considers herself fortunate.
When the junior third baseman takes the field for home games this season, she’s one of three generations of her family actively involved with Rosary softball.
Brooke’s father, Dave, coaches the team with another parent, Rich Capparelli.
Bill Pfeiffer, Brooke’s grandfather, teams up with Marty Feltes, the grandfather of Emily Hurst, to form a volunteer grounds crew for the Royals.
After preparing the field, they join the players’ entourage of fans in lawn chairs watching from behind the backstop.
“It is neat,” Dave Pfeiffer said. “It’s kind of a whole family thing, and we’ve really enjoyed it.”
Three generations on hand for high school game isn’t that unusual in any sport, but having a Hall of Fame inductee involved in the sport like Bill Pfeiffer certainly is.
“I always had a lot of respect for him,” Brooke said of her grandfather. “Obviously, I never got to see him play, but I wish I could have.
“I’ve seen a couple videos and pictures. It’s an honor to be related to him. He’s a very impressive guy.”
That he is.
Last fall, along with former teammate Terry Muck, Bill Pfeiffer was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame as a member of the 2020 class in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
From 1972 to 1985, Pfeiffer played fast-pitch softball for 14 years for Aurora Home Savings, which made 13 ASA national championship appearances in that span and won the 1980 International Softball Congress World title.
He won multiple All-American honors and played for the USA softball men’s national team, coached by Home Savings manager Cliff Smith, that won a silver medal in 1979 at the inaugural Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
“We would play 95 to 100 games in a season,” Bill said. “I figured I’ve played in 24 different states, Puerto Rico for the Pan Am games and Canada. Then, we were invited in 1981 to go to Japan to play in what they called the Friendship Games in Japan and hold clinics.”
Following his playing career, Pfeiffer cofounded the Aurora Fastpitch Softball Association to help promote the sport in Chicagoland. He continues to serve the group.
A 1965 West Aurora graduate, Pfeiffer played football and baseball for four years and wrestled at Illinois Wesleyan, graduating in 1969.
He didn’t play high school baseball because West Aurora didn’t start its program until the 1968-69 school year. He came up through Aurora’s youth programs and summer legion play.
“I tried out and made the team at Wesleyan,” said Pfeiffer, an outfielder who batted left-handed. “The baseball coach didn’t know anything about me. I primarily went there for football.”
He grew up watching Aurora City and Industrial League fast-pitch games as well as Home Savings predecessor Sealmasters before trying city league play the summer after his junior season of college.
“I felt if baseball wasn’t in my future, I’d play fast pitch,” Pfeiffer said.
That’s how it worked out.
“Home Savings picked me up for a Wednesday game up in Rockford in 1972 and I never left,” Pfeiffer said.
Both his sons played baseball for West Aurora and went on to play fast-pitch softball as well.
“I played for about 15 years and even played against my dad,” Dave Pfeiffer said. “S-A Field, where they played, was my mecca, my favorite place. I grew up there.
“All our vacations when we were kids were softball related and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We’d go to the national tournaments. I was around it forever.”
And the beat goes on.
Emily Hurst, who’s hitting a blistering .733, and Brooke Pfeiffer, who’s second on the team at .515, will lead Rosary (9-11) into the Class 2A Genoa-Kingston Regional.
The Royals open at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against Aurora Central Catholic, a team that has beaten them twice.
“I look forward to playing them again,” Brooke said. “I’m hoping we can end on a better note, especially for our seniors.”
