Fayetteville Hustlers Reunion
June 5 - Saturday members of The Fayetteville Hustlers, a pioneer team for girls fast pitch softball in the area, gathered at Cahoot’s to relive their glory days and to honor Coach Max Raby.
The Hustlers were organized in 1968 and continued to play together until 1975. It was their first team reunion.
Coach Raby was a PE teacher and Coach in the City School system spending 31 years at Robert E. Lee and Fayetteville Junior High prior to spending 10 years coaching in Ardmore. He has been retired 8 years.
“Don McAlister was over the Department of Recreation at the time and asked if I’d coach a bunch of girls that wanted to play softball,” Coach Raby said. “Of course it didn’t pay anything but at that time in my life I just wanted to coach.”
“In our third year we won the local fast pitch league and that was the last year they had it,” Coach Raby added. “The next year it went slow pitch. From that point on we had to travel to find games. We spent a lot of time in Chattanooga and Nashville. These girls loved to play softball and wanted to be good at it. We played double headers most everywhere we went. There weren’t a lot of softball tournaments the way it is today.”
“Though most the girls were young teenagers at the time they played against adults in women’s leagues and did a great job,” Raby added. “It’s a shame girls high school softball hadn’t taken off at that time – these girls could have competed at a high level in the state.”
In 1975, the final year for the organization the ladies finished third in the American Softball Association’s State Fast-Pitch Tournament in Nashville. According to Coach Raby that would be the highest finish for a Hustler’s team.
Coach Raby was presented a plaque with the inscription, “To an Outstanding Coach and Man Who Taught Us Softball Skills on the Field And Life Skills for the Future.” A signed ball by those on hand was presented to Raby as well as a Case pocketknife.
While players set reliving events from 40 years ago words like “dedication” and “work ethic” were frequently used describing Coach Raby.
“He loved coaching and loved doing it for us,” said former Hustler Gloria Meadows. “Dedicated describes Coach Raby the most to me.”
“I probably coach more like Coach Raby than any other coach I’ve had,” said Pat Hemphill Cavender who has spent her life as a coach in North Alabama.
“I appreciate Max Raby so much,” said Nancy Gray. “We laugh about being a hand picked travel team before travel teams even existed. Some of my fondest memories were spent as a Fayetteville Hustler.”
Former Fayetteville Hustler present were Lisa Winkler, Nancy Gray, Barbara Muse, Gloria Meadows, Alice Syler, Pat Cavender, Sissy Parks, Linda Tallman, Jan Pylant, Sherry Horton, Veronica King, Kathy Towry and Janet Gardner.
