Jared Says for June 2000

This month I want to tell you Wilma Briggs. Wilma is a former professional baseball player from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). She played with the Ft Wayne Daisies 1948-1953 and the South Bend Blue Sox in 1954. Her managers were Max Carey and Jimmy Foxx.

I first met Wilma about 3 years ago when I was studying about the AAGPBL and discovered that she lived in the same town as my summer home: Wakefield, RI.

Since then we have breakfast about once a month during the summer. Wilma regales me with wonderful stories of her playing days telling me of the events and the women she played with. These players were virtually unknown until the movie "A League of Their Own" and the advent of women's baseball at the Olympic games. If you rent the video you can see Wilma's beautiful swing during the scenes from the "old timers" game at the end of the movie.

Last month a great honor was bestowed upon Wilma. She was elected to the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI. An athlete must have achieved a high level of athletic competition, scholastic accomplishments, and a dedication to their community after athletics to meet the criteria of eligibility.

2000 is the Hall of Fame's the second year. Wilma joins others there including Bill Bradley, Arthur Ashe, Joan Benoit Samuelson, George Bush, Paul Robeson, and 29 others.

She also appeared in the special century end issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED as one of the 50 greatest sports figures of the century from Rhode Island.

These honors are richly deserved and she is a wonderful person who has greatlu enriched my life greatly.

Have a good month.

    Jared Aaronson, J-RED