Hall of Famer Doc Metcalf Dies

June 1, 2013

Gene “Doc” Metcalf, longtime SSUSA national director who was inducted into the Senior Softball USA Hall of Fame in the special category of “Senior Softball Ambassador” in 2012, died in March at age 80.

Doc was a key member of teams that won five major World or National Championships and has been an ambassador for the sport for the better part of the last decade, including promotion in a full-length film that helped launch the sport in Japan.

“He not only played, but helped establish the Sun Lakes Senior Softball League and made a name for himself on the national tournament circuit with sharp humor and more than a little skill,” said Terry Hennessy, SSUSA’s chief executive officer, at the time of Metcalf’s Hall of Fame induction.

Metcalf’s colorful life began in the middle of America’s Plains in Parsons, Kan., and took him to the semi-pro Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League where he pitched and became friends with Mickey Mantle, Ralph Terry and the Boyer boys (Clete, Clyde and Kenny), and an assortment of other future major league players.

He began playing senior softball in Arizona when he moved to the Phoenix area to retire 23 years ago. He was named “Ambassador of Senior Softball” in 2001.