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In a League of Their Own
For four decades, the Brakettes ruled women's amateur softball.
Now the team is seeking corporate sponsorship to keep the tradition alive
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Business New Haven
4/3/2000
By: Fiona Phelan
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You think the UConn women's basketball team has an awesome record, with nine Big East championship wins and one national title? Well, then, how 'bout them Brakettes, with 23 national titles to brag about?
You remember the Brakettes - the Hi-Ho D'Addario Brakettes, the Raybestos Brakettes? Connecticut's women's amateur softball champs season after season?
The team, which formed in 1947, is still going strong under the management of W.C. Sports, LLC, a subsidiary of Seymour-based Wirz & Associates, a sports-management company.
Although W.C. Sports provides day-to-day funding, the team is seeking a corporate sponsor. According to Bob Wirz, managing director of Wirz & Associates, a sponsor would provide the financial backing to allow the team to compete in national and international tournament and exhibition games - just like in the team's heyday back in the 1980s.
And with a newly renovated home stadium in Stratford that will play host to the U.S. Olympic softball team this summer, the timing is perfect for an area business to snatch up the Brakettes' bragging rights.
While W.C. Sports has provided almost $250,000 in funding over the past five years, it's just not enough to extend the playing season beyond the current schedule, says Bob Wirz, a former director of information for the office of the Major League Baseball commissioner. Wirz provides the day-to-day management of the team's budget, while Westport financier Dave Carpenter provides the capital.
“Consider the cost of sending 18 women to a tournament in California - there's airfare, hotel stays - it all gets quite prohibitive,” says Wirz. “A corporate sponsor would be able to pay for those things and at the same time get national exposure for their business and be associated with a championship team.
“This the first time in five years that we have actively gone out and sought corporate sponsorship for the Brakettes,” notes Wirz. “Until the renovations of the home field took place, we didn't feel we had much to offer a corporation. Now we have a first-class team and a first-class stadium.”
“This team is paramount in women's sports,” asserts Peaches Quinn, an avid fan who has taken on the daunting task of finding a corporate sponsor for the Brakettes. “This is an ideal team for a business to associate itself with. These women are excellent role models and have a winning reputation to boot.”
So far Quinn has come up empty-gloved in her quest to find a business ready, willing and able to commit to $100,000 a year in sponsorship money over the next three years. Wirz and Quinn consider the $300,000 a small price to pay to be associated with a top-notch team that boasts Olympic-caliber players. If Quinn is successful in her mission, she will earn a commission.
“I don't understand why someone hasn't grabbed at this opportunity,” says Quinn. “This is a terrific public-relations opportunity for a company to be associated with a winning team and to be associated with women's sports.
“Connecticut is not a heavy sports state,” Quinn adds. “People go to either New York or Massachusetts for their sports. It's hard to develop fans here, but the Brakettes have always had a following. They attract top-caliber athletes.”
The sponsorship, note both Quinn and Wirz, will allow the Brakettes to restore the team's schedule and activities to include off-season play and exhibition games around the country and perhaps internationally.
“We're looking for a sponsor who's interested in national exposure,” says Quinn. “It doesn't have to be a national-level company, but may be one that would like to be or plans to be.
“It's been tough in this state to find funding for women's sports. This has been a state that has directed its resources at men's teams. There is a parity issue at the state level when it comes to funding for women's sports,” adds Quinn. Meanwhile, Quinn is also pursuing opportunities to support the team with public funds.
And just who are these top-caliber athletes? Brakettes players are highly recruited softball stars, college age and beyond, in school or enjoying careers, many in various aspects of sports.
Each summer plays commit to eight to ten weeks of weekend play in hopes of winning the national championship or an invitation to join the next Olympic team. Since players are not compensated for playing, they are lured by the team's reputation, fan support and the quality of the competition. Players are recruited from around the country.
The team is so good that the softball team that will represent the U.S. at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia this September boasts one current Brakette player and three former players. Team USA's coach is also a former Brakette manager.
The 1996 Olympic softball team that won the gold medal in Atlanta included a former Brakette pitcher, along with four other teammates - and the team's head coach.
At home in Stratford, the Brakettes play at Frank DeLuca Field. Such is the town's faith in and commitment to the team that it recently purchased the field outright from the previous owner (the town was leasing the field) and is pumping nearly $1 million into renovating the ballpark.
With the support of State Rep. John Harkins, Stratford would like to make DeLuca Field the premier softball facility in the Northeast. Improvements include a new parking lot and renovation to the lighting system to allow television broadcasts. Additional funding has been allocated to increase the bleacher seating capacity to 2,000. Pepsico donated a new scoreboard.
\Also in the works are a softball/Brakettes Hall of Fame and museum along with new locker room facilities that will be built through in-kind donations by Stratford-area builders and suppliers.
“With the improvements to the field we will be able to attract more tournaments to Stratford,” says Stratford recreation superintendent Pat Patusky. “I think this new facility will also make it more attractive for a business to want to support the Brakettes and continue the tradition.
“We certainly hope that someone will step forward.”
The town has already lined up several major tournaments for the coming summer season. Team USA will play three games in Stratford as part of the “2000 Coca-Cola USA Softball Road to Sydney” tour. On June 30, Team USA will play against the Brakettes in a doubleheader. On July 1, Team USA will play a nationally televised game against a team from the Women's Professional Softball League (WPSL).
Stratford will also host the Men's Major Industrial Slow Pitch National ASA tournament both this year and next. Patusky believes that the upgrades to DeLuca Field were key to securing this tournament.
Wirz would also like to see a not-for-profit softball training center open at the site. Fees paid to use the center would provide additional funding for the Brakettes and support more junior-level teams. The Brakettes currently sponsor a junior team (girls 18 and under) that goes by the name Brakettes Tradition (they have won the past two National Fastpitch PONY titles).
When organized in 1947, the Brakettes were originally called the All-Stars. They so dominated in women's amateur softball that the team won an astonishing 34 out of 35 national championship games played between 1958 and 1993.
That's when the team was sponsored by Raybestos (later Raytech Corp.) and named after the brake linings the company manufactured in Stratford. The team was formed as a way for factory workers to interact in a sport that was rapidly gaining popularity in the years following World War II. Raybestos sponsored the team until the factory closed. Then, in the early 1990s, Bridgeport-based D'Addario Industries took over sponsorship for about five years.
In 1999, according to the American Softball Association, there were 2,445,585 adult players registered in amateur softball leagues around the country. Additionally, there were 1.25 million Junior Olympic players (18 and under), and almost 45,000 registered umpires.
That's a lot of players, and a lot of teams. But none so storied as the Brakettes.
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