Gaston Penn reflects on the development of BVI Softball

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Softball has come a long way since the first league was held in 1952. It reached its peak 18 years ago in 1987 with a fourth place finish in the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, Indiana, following a 4-3 loss to Cuba in the bronze medal game. There has been a steady decline since. This season, the BVI Amateur Softball Association named its league after Gaston E. Penn, its first president.

Traditionally starting in February, the league got off to its latest start in history on May 1. “Too see, after being the first president and softball being in the community, after 53 years, this is the first time this has happened,” Penn said. “It annoys me, but, no malice in it.”

Standing and overlooking the Old Recreation Grounds—now a designated softball field—Penn recalled when the league started, there were no facilities whatsoever. Pointing to a Man Jack Tree just beyond the outfield wall at the Old Recreation Grounds, by the Band Stand, Penn said they would cut limbs from the tree to make their own bats because they couldn’t afford to buy them. “We’d take them to the school and use a lathe to make bats,” he recalled. “The first outside team we played was a team from French Town, St. Thomas. Although they knew the game better than us—I hate to use the word but, they stole us to beat us,” he noted. “After that, we played against a St. John team. They beat us to teach us and that’s where we got into the grip of softball.”

After an eventual league was established and spread throughout Tortola, Penn said from there, the move was to get into the Caribbean and Central American Softball Confederation, (CONCACAS) and eventually, the International Softball Federation, but they faced numerous obstacles.

In 1974, he went to the Dominican Republic and through Sam Richards of Anegada, a bilingual friend in Santo Domingo he was able to make the right contact through the Dominican Republic Softball Federation and learnt they needed to contact an official in Curacao, Clovis Lodewijks. “Richards worked at a cloth factory for $8 a day and I told him not to worry, I’ll pay him,” Penn recalled. “He interpreted for me, and that’s when I got a true address and direction.”

On his return to the BVI, he discussed with Carlos Downing—who later became the Commissioner and the only one to serve in that capacity—what he had learnt and they sent a letter to the regional official in Curacao. “I told Mr. Downing, I think I have a good set up now,” Penn said. “He said to me, he’s not worrying, because, we have been trying all the time and we can’t get through. I said to him, ‘Mr. Downing, stick with me,’ and he told me to come to his Island Sun Newspaper office that Sunday afternoon, which I did.”

A letter was written and sent off to Lodewijks in Curacao on the Monday, Penn remembered. “In 10 days time, we received a letter asking why we wanted separate membership when the Virgin Islands are already a member. We had to write another letter to explain, and every time we came to the word ‘British’ we underlined it so there could be no confusion between the British and American Virgin Islands,” Penn noted. “In another 10 days, we had an answer back, got our membership in the regional body, and, an invitation to attend a tournament in Panama in 1975.”

Penn said a telethon was held to raise the funds for the trip to Panama. “I can’t help but mention Mustard Seed (Keith Matthews) because he played a big role and we collected enough money to pay our way to Panama,” he pointed out. “While there, Calvin ‘Tully’ Baronville and myself as the two delegates, I got an invitation to go to San Francisco to the International Softball Federation meeting,” he noted. “And that same man, Mr. Lodewijks, we sat side by side and he helped me out by interpreting and I came back here with membership in the International Softball Federation.”

While in San Francisco, Penn requested help in obtaining a trainer to further develop softball in the territory, a request that was granted by the International Softball Federation. “When I came back and told the government what had been obtained, the first word was, ‘we can’t afford it,’” he painfully recalled, shaking his head. “All they had to do was to pay for his accommodations for the two weeks he would be here, because the association was paying his transportation costs. But, they refused it. So, that is how we stayed so far back in our softball development I must say, because, if we ever had a professional trainer, our team would have been so far advanced, but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

The sport today, Penn says, is quite different and he’s not happy to see the fall from the glory days when softball was not centralized but played throughout villages on Tortola, including Baughers Bay, East End-Long Look, Brewers Bay, Sea Cows Bay, Cappoons Bay and Cane Garden Bay.

“It has gone down the drain. Down, down, down,” he pointed out. “And you can’t find the caliber of players that we had in those days. And, that’s not only with me. I must say, that Isaiah ‘Pablo’ Lettsome should have been honored. He was the first manager to take a team out of the BVI to any tournament—this one was in St. Thomas in 1960 and also included teams from St. John, St. Croix and Puerto Rico—and came back undefeated with the championship. Although he’s deceased I think he should still be honored for it, even if they have to give a trophy or whatever to his wife.”

Another area of contention Penn noted, is that players in this era don’t have that national pride that past players had. “All the players on those days, they all wanted to get on the national team,” he recalled. “You had trouble selecting a team in those days, because the players were enthusiastic. They played to go. You didn’t have to beg anybody to go. But, everything has changed. Players today just don’t have the pride, but, everybody wants to go to a tournament. I know, if they were putting interest in what they are doing, they could have a good national team—both men and women.”

Also in the early 60s, Penn said there was a competitive women’s softball team that was developed by Randolph ‘Mose’ Malone and others. “That girl’s team was so strong, that we the boys had the devil to beat them,” Penn said. “The players today just don’t have the pride. The people who were in charge of Softball since I came back with that international membership, everyone wants to be involved in the association, but, just by name and not doing the work.”