One of Cleveland’s all-time great players, Al “Oppie” Dorenkott was a member of several of the city’s outstanding teams that won numerous Muny League titles in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was invited to join the famous Rosenblum-Celtics team in 1932, but declined. A guard, Oppie excelled in rebounding and was a superior play maker.
A gifted athlete at Cleveland East High School, John Olszewski starred for the Union Trust Bank basketball team which dominated the Cleveland amateur basketball scene in the 1920s, winning league, city, inter-city and national titles. An outstanding scorer and exceptionally fast, he later played professionally with the Rosenblum-Celtics. John was also a talented bowler and sandlot baseball standout.
Eddie Finnigan was an all-around athletic standout at Cleveland John Adams High School and Western Reserve University. He starred in three sports at WRU, achieving his greatest success in basketball, where he was a first team Little All-American. Eddie also earned Little All-American honors in football and starred in track, and garnered new fame as the head track coach at Baldwin-Wallace College, where he produced Olympic champion Harrison Dillard.
After starring with several Cleveland amateur league teams, Willie Smith was signed by the New York Renaissance in 1932 and played with them through the 1941-42 season. He started for the 1935 Rens team which set a pro record by winning 88 straight games, was picked as the top player on the 1937-38 team and played on the first World’s Professional Championship team in 1939. Willie was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1964.
An outstanding high school (Euclid Shore) and amateur basketball player, Mel Riebe became a basketball pro at the age of 27 in 1943 and led the National Basketball League in scoring in 1943-44 and 1944-45 as a member of the Cleveland Chase Brass team. After a military stint, he played for the Cleveland Rebels in the Basketball Association of America in 1946-47, was drafted by the Boston Celtics and played two seasons with them.
A graduate of Cleveland Central High in 1936, Louis “Babe” Pressley signed with the Harlem Globetrotters in 1937 to launch a professional career that lasted until 1958, captaining and later serving as playing coach of the world-famous team. He was named Outstanding Player in the championship tournament of the 1940 World Professional International Tour and placed on the all-star team in the 1943-44 International Cup Tour.
A lefthanded pitcher who played with championship girls fastpitch softball teams throughout her career, Jean Simms Pierman won particular fame as a strikeout artist. She once struck out 21 batters in a no-hit game. Jean played in numerous city, national and international championships. She also starred in basketball and became an excellent bowler after her softball career ended.
A ten-time All-American pick at ASA National Slow Pitch Tournaments, Ida Jean Hopkins was chosen as the tournament’s most valuable player in 1967, 1968 and 1970, when she was the tourney’s leading hitter with a .704 average. She played fastpitch softball for ten years before switching to slow pitch in 1960. Ida began managing slow pitch teams in 1964, and coached her teams to eleven Regional ASA Tournament wins in 12 years and the national tournament in 1967.
Marge Wood played in nine World Softball tournaments as an outfielder and pitcher, and on an equal number of Metropolitan Cleveland championship teams between 1936 and 1951. She threw numerous no-hitters, several in World Tournament competition, and averaged ten strikeouts per game. Marge once hit four home runs in four at bats for the Rosenblums in a championship qualifier contest.
Rated one of the greatest catchers in the history of the sport, Ann Smith Downs was equally renowned for her hitting, her throwing arm and her ability to handle pitchers. She played on the Cleveland area’s finest teams, ending her career with the National Screw & Manufacturing Co. team that won the World Girls Softball championship. Ann also became one of the top women basketball players in Cleveland.