Gadsden resident Pat Adkison was inducted into the Central Alabama Softball Association 2014 Hall of Fame on Aug. 16 in Birmingham.
Adkison’s softball career began in 1952 as a player. He started with fast pitch in Samson as a catcher and later played fast pitch in Tuscaloosa.
Adkison turned to the slow pitch game in Milton, Fla., where he played with Joe’s House of Pizza in the Men’s Major National Slow Pitch Tournament. In his playing years, Adkison participated in 11 ASA Nationals.
Upon moving to Gadsden, Adkison began umpiring, working both fast and slow pitch. In 1966 Adkison organized the Gadsden Umpire’s Association, which quickly grew to over 80 members.
In 1967, Adkison helped organize the AASA into districts and organized umpires across the state of Alabama. He was named Associate State Commissioner as well as the State UIC. During his umpiring career, Adkison worked many state, region and national tournaments. Administratively, Adkison was elected Commissioner of Alabama Amateur Softball Association in 1976. He served the association in that capacity until March 2006 and is still a voting member of the ASA Council and attends the organization’s national convention. Adkison was ASA Commissioner when the ASA presented Alabama an award for 18 consecutive years of having the most teams participating in ASA championship play.
Adkison was a commissioner for three different softball associations – Alabama, Mobile and Central Alabama. He was Chairman of the Umpire Committee for 12 years and served on the Hall of Fame Selection Committee for 16 years. In 1992, Adkison was inducted into the Alabama Softball Hall of Fame, which is located in Tuscaloosa.
Adkison was elected President of the ASA four different times and served as ASA Commissioner of three different ASA associations.
As ASA Commissioner, he hosted 334 ASA National Tournaments, with 332 of those tournaments receiving the ASA Award of Excellence.
Adkison continues to be active as an Amateur Softball Association Council Member.
Joining Adkison in the Class of 2014 were Russ Arthur, Jack Baker, Jim Brown, Dr. Ronald Cater, Joseph Lovoy, Jr., Ronnie Muro, Patrick Murphy, Jerry (Wizzard) White and Dr. Faye Wilson.