J.D. Morton is a 96-year-old Chattanooga resident who first played softball at Warner Park in 1932.

“I played for St. Elmo Methodist,” Morton said. “I was a pitcher. It was fastpitch, but you had to have your arm to the side. There was no windmill. The pitcher’s mound was 37 feet from home plate, and only the catcher and first baseman were allowed to wear gloves.”

Morton said his team won the first city series involving the eight to 10 league champions.

“The modern-day players are so much better,” Morton said. “We couldn’t compete with any of these teams today.”

Men’s fastpitch softball was a featured attraction not long afterward. DuPont,Combustion and other local companies sponsored teams in the Dixie Major League, which played its games on Van Zant Field, named in honor of News-Free Press reporter Dexter Van Zant.

The late Eddie Feigner of the King and His Court fame pitched numerous times there. Bobby McDaniel’s wife, Judy, recalled her husband pitching all 17 innings when the Gas Flames stopped the Aurora, Ill., Sealmasters’ and Joe Lynch’s 56-game winning streak.

Before the park closed for restoration last summer, Akie McDaniel — among the last to play in a men’s fastpitch league in Chattanooga — got the pitching rubber from Van Zant Field and gave it to his uncle Bobby as a present.

“Softball legends, that’s what they all are,” Judy McDaniel said. “We just don’t want them to be forgotten. We should say, ‘Hey, they led the way.’ You wouldn’t have what you have now if it wasn’t for them.”

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