Acknowledgments

Many, many thanks to:

Carol Spanks and Shirley Topley for putting together two huge scrapbooks on the 1976 Santa Ana Lionettes. Each scrapbook was 20x25 inches and together 3-1/2 inches thick. And were they heavy. Almost all of the information about the 1976 Lionettes (photos, news articles, program) on the Santa Ana Lionettes website and the 1976 teams (8 out of 10 teams), All Star and World Series programs on this website are from their scrapbooks.

Joan Chandler for the many photos found on this website and the Connecticut Falcons website. Joan, who was the Falcons' team photographer, took thousands of photos throughout the years. She has donated over 36,000 photos to the Women's Sports Foundation.

Jackie Ledbetter, my good friend and fellow catcher who played for the Santa Ana Lionettes in 1977 and the Connecticut Falcons in 1978 and 1979. Jackie was a darn good catcher with a rocket arm and smooth swing. And she was left-handed to boot. Jackie has a collection of news articles, photos and memorabilia from her playing days in the IWPSA. Her collection is now part of this website as well as the Lionettes and Falcons websites.

Janice Zimmerman, my good friend and fellow catcher who played for the San Jose Sunbirds in 1976, Buffalo Bisons in 1978 and New York Golden Apples in 1979. Janice joined the Sunbirds from St. Louis, where she made the national All-Star team for two years running. Janice inherited Charlotte Graham's softball collection of her playing days in the IWPSA. When she heard of the website she sent Char's collection to me. Char's collection is part of this website as well as the San Jose Sunbirds, Santa Ana Lionettes (Char played for the Lionettes in 1976) and Golden Apple websites.

Diane Kalliam who played for San Jose in 1976, 1977 and 1979. She could do everything (hit, run, field and throw) and she did it very well. Diane was an All-American in 1971, 1973, 1974 and 1975. In 1974, Diane won the national batting championship with a torrid mark of .444. In 1975, set broke a 25-year national tournament record by batting .632. In 1984, Diane was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame. Diane (in my humble opinion) was the best centerfielder that has ever played the game and her softball collection of her playing days with San Jose is now part of this website as well as the San Jose website.