Obituary

Ted Larsen, Sacramento Golden Senior Pioneer, Dies

May 1, 2000 – Senior Softball-USA

The founder of one of the largest senior softball clubs in the country, the Sacramento Golden Seniors, died recently at age 94.

Ted Larsen, who served as the club's first and third presidents, helped found the Golden Seniors in 1976.

The Golden Seniors started that first season with 14 players and today, almost 25 years later, there are more than 600 players in the greater Sacramento area, scores of teams and a thriving tradition of senior softball. Dozens of Sacramento teams have won world and national championships.

Larsen's efforts actually began with letters to the St. Petersburg senior softball club in 1973. After finding out that senior softball had been flourishing in St. Petersburg since the 1930s, Larsen began talking the sport up with local seniors.

He approached the Sacramento Recreation Department, which helped launch the program.

For several years before national softball programs began, the Kids & Kubs from St. Petersburg and the Sacramento Golden Seniors traveled back and forth to play each other.